Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-07-17
Over the Top In q Charge.

In q Charge.
in laundering voice asked:
"What did you sayT
The sergeant with scarlet look on
his face and his knees trembling,
smartly saiuted and answered:
"Nothing, SIR"
Old Pepper said:
"Well don't say it so loudly the next
time"
Then Old Pepper continued:
"In this section Of the German
trenches there are two or three ma
chine guns which our artillery, in the
last two or three days, has been un-
able to tape These guns command the
sector where two of our cOmmunica-
ton trenches join the front line, and
as the brigade Is to go over the top to-
morrow morning want to capture two
or three men from these guns crews.
and from them may be able to obtain
valuable information as to the exact
location Of the guns, and our artillery
will therefore be able to demolish them
before the attack, and thus prevent
our losing a lot of men while using
these communication trenches to bring
up re-enforcements."
These were the instructions he gave
US:
"Take off your Identification disks,
strip your uniforms Of all numerals,
insignia, etc., leave your papers with
your captains, because don't want the
Boches to know what regiments are
against them as this would be valuable
information to them in our attack to-
morrow and I don't want any of you
to be taken alive. What want Is two
prisoners and If I get them I have
way which will make them divulge
all necessary information as to their
guns. You have your choice of two
weapons-you may carry your per
suaders or your knuckle knives, and
each man will arm himself with four
Mills bombs, these to be used only in
case of emergency"
A persuader is Tommy's nickname
for club carried by the bombers. 1t
is about two feet long, thin at one end
and very thick at the other. The thick
end is studded with sharp steel spikes,
while through the center of the club
it weight and balance. When you get
q prisoner all you have to do is just
stick this club up in front Of him, and
believe me, the prisoners patriotism
for Deutschland ueber Allies" fades
away and he very willingly obeys the
orders Of his captQr. II, however. the
prisoner gets heightened and refuses to
follow you, simply persuade" him by
first removing his tin hat, and then
well, the use of the lead weight In the
persuader Is demonstrated, and Tom.
my looks for another prisoner.
The knuckle knife is dagger affair,
the blade of which is about eight
inches long with a heavy steel guard
over the grip. This guard is studded
with steel projections. AT night in
trench. which is only about three to
four feet wide, it makes very handy
weapon. One punch in the face gen.
orally skaters mans jaw and you
can get him with the knife as he goes
down.
Then we had what we called our
"come-alongs" These are strands of
barbed wire about three feet long,
made into a moose at one end; at the
other end, the barbs are cut off and
Tommy slips his wrist through loop
to get a good grip on the wire. If the
prisoner wants to argue the point, why
just place the large loop around his
neck and no matter if Tommy wishes
to return to his trenches at the walk,
trot, or gallop, Fritz is perfectly agree
able to 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
affdr. They are fired from large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
is 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-five yards. When they
hit the ground they explode, throwing
out strong calcium light which lights
up the ground in circle Of a radius Of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have parachute star shell which.
after reaching height of about sixty
feet, explodes. A parachute unfOlds
and slowly floats to the ground, light
ing up large circle in No Mans Land.
The official name Of the star shell Is
a "Very-light." Very-lights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. If star shell falls In
front Of you or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detec-
ton, as the enemy cannot see you
But if 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 to seventy seconds.
If you haven't time to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you 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
l. 4 Ii.