The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-04-12


,ed for Blighty."
them. They said plenty about its ter
rors, but when they mentioned that
they had been in that spot for three
weeks, and then indicated with a wave
Of the hand, the wreckage and des-
truction about them-well, it seemed
unnecessary to add more. Words
would have been futile to describe ar
| tillery which could play such havoc
as that.
Doctor and Three HoSpitable FFitzies
| OF course, you never know your
Hun, and SO, to make sure that the
tea-party was not a ''blind' we had
thorough search Of the wreckage,
but found nothing discriminating as
you might say.
There were helmets and belts ga
lore, and a few revolvers, but even
the latter were not of great interest
except as souvenirs. When we left that
spot we came upon German doctor
next in our cleaning up process.
He was nice fellow, and made
no bones about the obvious fact that
he vas glad to be taken
He told US he had been a practi-
toner in Germany for many years and
had been taken in the army since the
war started. 1t was to be a short bust
ness then-so everybody thought
but here was the third year of it
trailing on, and his army now in re-
treat! No wonder he expressed so sin
cere a wish that it was all over.
| No, there was no doubt about his
joy at being taken a prisoner.
! HRah IL
Fritzies in the dug-out were only
items, however, in the great bag which
we made that day. The total ran
into many hundreds,
1 had a good scrutiny of them, and
I noted several things. One of them
was the extraordinary difference in
the ages of the men. For the most
part they were middle-aged or very
young. With few exceptions there was
not a fellow amongst them compar-
able to the average Britisher. Perhaps
Hindenburg is keeping his best wine
to the last. I don't know, but what we
got that day were a shabby lot physic-
ally.
And their physique was not enhan-
ced by their clothing. 1t was exceed
ingly poor and shoddy stuff, apart
from the wear and tear" to use a fam
iliar phrase of the battlefield. They
were particularly ill-shod, too, in fact
as I've said, what we saw of the Ger
man army left the impression that il
was prettydown-at -heel assortment
But one can't judge the whole mass
from individual units, and before long
we found that, whatever their dress
and their boots might be like, there
were game enough fighters amongs
them. And the nearer we got to the
Hindenburg line the more apparent
that became.
The Kind of Fighting
Before nighttime on this eventfu
| day the Huns had been ousted from
all their trenches, and the first phase!
of the fierce battle still raging haG
I commenced. 1 mean the fighting fron
sheu-hole to shell-hole and through
A and about the ruins of farms and vii
l lagos.
Reports were now current that thu
g cavalry were in action, and certainl.
( we saw them returning from one vii
lage but they did not seem to hav
I had much scrapping, so spruce AM
. jaunty were they.
4 However, the reason was not far t
seek. The Huns had fled at the yer
= sound of the horsemen!
a But if the cavalry did not get thei
proper innings at this particular spo
i can't say what they got elsewher
q the infantry got theirs a little far
y Their on.
!, The first sign of the coming storT
was when shells began to burst wit
= uncanny regularity along side tn
roadway which they were threading
, The Huns have every inch of the va
= Gated ground registered, and it wa
not long before our men were begin
-, ming to hop around a bit to avoid tn
= German "heavies'' which came hum
ming from far in the rear of the re
>. treating line.
may say have heard a good de-
about the Germans throwing du
shells and all the rest of it, but ca
4 assure you that, with some exception
those that fell around at this spc
- were not dud by any means.
- Despite the dangers, however. til
:. boys took it all in good part. For, a,
!; ter all, they were conquerors that da,
- and they were ready for anything til
AAAoAA wv AAlAS4lI WIN II was a mar
Ia and fearful grind all the same, an
= believe me, we were glad when W
=, could slip into the comfortable dus
:. outs which the Huns had left benin
= in the hurry of that strategic retreat
- of theirs.
Is Tells Another Story
That's my story of the part our Il
took in the battle of Arras, but let n
r add this yarn to a great capture v
Re once made down near Loos of imno
I'D tai memory.
m 1t occurred at dead of night
Some of us were out on business
We one kind or another-T forget it's n
Ily ture-when suddenly we ran plum
ne into-what do you think?
Nothing more or less than a full
as equipped German ration party, load
h to the neck with goodies" of
r. kinds, and staggering along as be
they could under their delectable,
he heavy, burdens.
nv Did we scrap?
re Not bit of it
as The fellows were loaded up, al
-er could not have knocked a fly off the
noses, let alone put up fight. 1t W
- simply case of making the FRITZ
right about" to our lines, instead
FOR "left-about" to their own, which tn
II did in double quick time. too, I c
n assure you For this was too ii