Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1918-06-21
OVER THE TOP
From psge 2
By Arthur Guy Empey. an American aol

neck and no matter II Tommy wishes
to return TO his trenches at the walk,
trot, or gallop. Fritz is perfectly agree
able 10 maintain TOmmy's rate Of
speed.
We were ordered TO black our faces
and hands. For this reason; At night,
the English and Germans use what
they call star shells. sort of rocket
affair. They are fred from q large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
Ii held over the sandbag parapet of the
trench. and discharged into the air.
These star shells attaIn a height of
about sixty feet. and range OF from
fifty to seventy-fve yards. When they
hit the ground they explode, throwing
out a strong calcium light which lights
up the ground In circle Of radius OF
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have parachute star shell which,
after reaching height Of about sixty
feet, explodes. A parachute unfoids
and slowly floats to the ground, light
ing up large circle In No Mans Land.
The Official name OF the star shell is
q "Very.light." Very-lights are used
TO prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. II star shell falls in
front Of you. or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detec-
tion. as the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain of light.
But II It falls behind you and, as Tom
my says, you get In the star shell
zone." then the fun begins; you have
to lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light of
the shell dies out. This takes any
where from forty 10 seventy seconds.
II you haven't time to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
stfll In whatever position VOC were in
when the light exploded; It is advis-
able not to breathe. as Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When star
shell is burning In Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for q week.
You blacken your face and hands so
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on your pale face. In
trench raid there is quite sufficient
reason for your face to be pale. II you
don't believe me. try 1t Just once.
Then another reason for blackening
your face and hands Is that. after you
have entered the German trench at
night, white face" means Germans,
'black face" English. Coming around
traverse you see q white face In
front Of you. With prayer and wish
ing Fritz "the best O. luck" you intro
duce him to your ''persuader" or
knuekle knife.
"A little later we arrived at the CON-
munication trench named Whisky
street. which led to the fire trench at
the point we were to 60 over the top
and out In front.
In our rear were four streteher bear
err and a corporal of the r. A. NJ. G.
carrying a pouch continuing medicines
and frst-aid appliances. Kind of a
grim reminder to us that our expedi.
ton was not going to be exactly a pic.
mic. The order Of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come f1rst. with the undertakers tag.
ging In the rear and then the insur-
ance man, but In our case, the under
takers were leading, with the doctors
trailing behind, minus the insurance
adjuster.
The presence of the R. A. NJ. G. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders, be-
cause many Joke made In an under
tone, was passed along the winding
column. as to who would be first to
take a ride on one Of the stretchers.
This was generally followed by wish
that, If you were to be the one. the
wound would be "cushy Bllghty
one"
The stretcher bearers, no doubt,
hoping that, If they did have to carry
anyone to the rear, he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked at me
when wishing, because could feel an
uncomfortable. boring sensation be-
tween my shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench, about every
sixty yards or SO we would pass lone
ly sentry, who In whisper would
wish US ''the best o. luck, mates" We
would blind at him under our breaths /;
/ that Jonah phrase to US sounded very
ominous.
Without any casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch, the
front-line trench. Previously, wiring
party Of the Royal Engineers had cut
a lane through our barbed wire to en-
able US to get out into No Mans Land,
Crawling through this lane. our
party Of twenty took up an extended
order formation about one yard apart.
We had tap code arranged for our
movements while In No Mans Land,
because for various reasons 1t is not
safe to carry on heated conversation
a few yards in front of Fritz lines.
The officer was on the right Of the
line, while Twas on the extreme left.
Two taps from the right would be
passed down the line until / received
them, then I would send back one tap.
The officer, In receiving this one tap
would know that his order had gone
Ahn xxhnla ftna haA kaon ,,ndoy.