The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-08-29
20 below with an Irish sapper in a

! the apparatus and proceeded below.
AS we approached the enemy picked
up the end of the air hose and carried
it through with me. We found the
remains of three or more Boche who
had been "sent west by the explos-
ion of the portable charge. We left
the air hose in their gallery and came
back again and climbed out on top.
Raitiing Below Ground.
We then proceeded to pump fresh
air into the gallery from the hand
pumps on the surface. 1 reported
that there was no reason why we
could not get into the Hun galleries.
CAPTAIN B. then ordered us to make
up three raiding parties, with view
to exploring their system. The three
parties were each composed OF an Off
Ger, an n. C. O. and two sappers. The
N. c.. O.'s each carried portable
charge of guncotton with them; the
sappers a few bombs each, and the
officers electric torches and revolvers.
Doherty and 1 at once again put on
the Propo apparatus and proceeded
below for a second investigation. This
time we carried the air hose in fur
ther and got sope distance up the en-
emy gallery. 1 also carried canary
in a small cage in order to test the
air. The canary did not last very
long and soon toppled off his perch.
We could not find any live Huns in
their gallery-much to the disgust of
friend Doherty. They may have been
crawling around in the dark some
where, but gave no signs of life.
Doherty was typical game little
Irishman and was as mad as halter
because we could not find Hun. I
remember his attempts to register an
ger, enveloped as he was in the heavy
Proto apparatus, were very amusing.
I'd like to have a regiment of Doher-
tvs.
On our return to the surface we
posted a guard of six men near The
enemy gallery in order to prevent
their coming into our underground
system while we got ready for further
action.
Hear Enemy Whispers.
| Another officer and sapper came
up the gallery some distance behind
us carrying 60 pounds of guncotton.
Lieutenant G. and 1 after reconnoit-
ering some distance ahead came back
to- these fellows and took the charge
from thep.
We then crawled up to a point
about $50 feet up the Boche tunnel.
We had met no Germans so far on
this trip, but at this point could hear
the stealthy walking and whispering
of some Germans who were evidently
just around the gallery to the right
about Is or 20 feet ahead of us. AS
we had only short piece of time
fuse on the guncotton charges l sug-
gested to Lieutenant G. the advisa-
bility of firing them at this spot. He
seemed to be anxious to reach the
| German shaft ahead, but there was
no chance of doing this, so we laid
our guncotton on the floor of the
gallery, collected a number of Ger
man sand bags filed with clay, and
tamped the charge as best we could.
While he lit the fuse l covered the
gallery with my gun. After the fuse
was lit, we turned our torches on
and hustled out as quick as we could,
expecting a few bullets or bombs on
our way. Fortunately for us, we got
! back far enough to be safe before the
explosion occurred.
! Steal German Mine.
This last charge was effective in
closing the gallery for a time. In
short order we laid charge of sev-
eral hundred pounds of guncotton.
While laying the charge, however,
the enemy had managed to clear
enough of dirt away so that they
could fire through it. We we're in
luck, however, for neither the charge
itself nor any of our fellows were
hit by their bullets. We blew this
charge successfully. Some IL hours
later the Germans also fired big
charge which blew a crater near the
spot.
1 was down below three times that
day with Doherty, almost directly
after we had fired our small charges,
and it is a significant fact that we
i met no Germans. 1t was quite evil
dent that it took them some time to
summon up enough courage to in
vestigate. incidentally, think this
is typical of the Hun. They seem to