The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1918-11-07

against your ear 1t was fascinating
on account Of its horror.
After the barrage had crept forward
short distance men We're seen to
rise all along the line and cautiously,
at first, creep forward. They would
advance for a while, then stop and
seek what protection a shell hole
afforded then up again and going in
the direction of Berlin. AT first the
men seemed to be gun shy" or
afraid Of themselves, but they hadn't
advanced thirty PAGES till the captain
lit a cigarette; then every one along
the line lit either a pipe or flag,
end with a smile on his face, seemed
to consider himself safe. This one
little incident seemed to put more
faith and confidence in the men than
anything that could have happened.
1t was wonderful the way those
men advanced, utterly 0bliyious to
danger, into the very jaws Of hell
with smile on their faces and smok-
ing a cigarette. / never expect to
see anything like it again as long
as live.
Jerry was sending up green lights
all along the line now, calling for a
retaliatory barrage, but his artillery
is so far inferior to ours that one
could hardly notice its effect.
The fog seemed to get heavier, but
| suppose that it was on account Of
The smoke of battle. One could hard
~ see his hand in front of him-at
least, one couldn't see thirty feet off.
Imagine my surprise when out of
this there came the tanks nosing
their way along like some prehistoric
armored beast. They were to assist
us in breaking down the resistance
Of the enemy and they did it very
we'll
By this time we were well along
in No Mans land, and were encoun-
tering some Of the enemy's barbed
wire entanglements. 1t was here
that we got our first Boche prison
ers. They came out Of the fog with
their hands held high, and trembling
" shutting "Kamerad." We relieved
them of all arms and some convent
ences, and with a kick sent them,
without an escort, to the rear. They
didn't even know that the Yanks were
out in front of them, SO were dumb
stricken when they saw US and found
out who we were. We didn't stop
the advance for prisoners, however.
Instead, it seemed to put new life
into the men, and it was necessary
to caution them and keen them from
running into our own barrage, SO anx-
ious were they to reach Jerry and
come to grips with him.
We (Headquarters) were marching
down an old railroad track, and at
times | would have to go out in front
of the rest to locate certain positions
for our headquarters. On one Of
these occasions | was goino down
the track with my gun at the son
guard" position, when out Of the fog
and darkness there came a Jerry.
He was walking with his head down,
trying to avoid the shell holes that
pitted this particular spot at intervals
of about three yards. | could have
killed him as easily as anything, but
i didn't have the heart, so | simply
waited, and when he got within reach
of my bayonet / shouted at the top
of my voice to halt. You should have
seen the look Of surprise and chagrin
on his face. He thought that he was
going toward Hun-land, and ma urally
he wasn't expecting to see me, per-
feet stranger, so close This was my
first prisoner of the war, and it was
quite a pleasant slnsation-takin
him. | searched him, and most Of
the souvenirs / am sending you came
off him.
BY this time we were in the edge of
the town, our objective, and the Boche
was in full flight-not even attempt
ing to resist. The prisoners that we
were taking seemed glad to be out Of
it, and one one officer that / turned
over frankly admitted that he was
delighted. / took one bunch of 30
back. they were all chattering and
kidding each other about being cap
tured.
The fog had lifted now, and one
could mike a closer inspection of the
town, so another sergeant and / start
ed to mop it up" We went in and
found it in terrible shape. There
wasn't a building which wasn't in
ruins, and everything was filthy and
out Of order, just as the Hun had