El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-03-12

!
( HurI Bombs at BOehes.
/ We crawled along for about 10 min
utes and Mr.. May passed the word in
/ nearly on them-f Each of US got out
/ bomb, pulled the pin with our teeth
and waited for the signal 1t was
/ fairly still. Away off to the rear
guns were going, but they seemed a
/ long way off. Forward and away off
/ to Ae right beyond the wood. there
was a lot of rifle and machine gun
| fire, and we could see the sharp little
J stabs of flame like electric flashes
1t was light enough SO that we could
see dimly.
Just ahead we could hear the muir
mur Of the Huns as they chatted in
| the trench They hadn't seen US Evil
I IDENTIFY they didn't suspect and were
more or less careless.
] Mr.. May waited until the SOUND OF
voices was a little louder than before.
! the Boches evidently being in fire
side argument of some kind, and then
he jumped to his feet shouting;
Throwing Bombs.
Now then, my lads. All together"
We came up all standing and let 'em
90. It was about Is yards to Fritz
and that is easy to a good bomber. as
my men all were 4 yell OF surprise
I and fright went up from the trench
and they started TO run We spread
out so as to get room, gave them an
/ other round of Milises and rushed
The trench wasn't really a trench at
all. It was the remains Of perfectly
| good one, but had been Dashed all 10
pieces and was now five or six shell
craters connected by the ruined ira
verses. At no point was IL more than
waist high and in some places only
knee high We swarmed into what
there was left OF the trench and after
the Heinies-
and il didn't take them long to flnd
out that we were only a dozen. Then
they acme back at US. We got into
! a crooked bit of traverse that was IN
relatively good shape and threw up
a barricade of sandbags- There was
any amount OF them lying about
A see-ssw Fight.
The Germans gave US a bomb or
two and considerable rifle fire, and
bay Then we had it back and forth,
: a regular see-saw game We would
chase them back from the barri-
cade and then they would rush US
and back we would go. AFTER We hao
lost three men and Mr.. Nay had got a
] slight wound We got desperate and
got out Of the trench and rushed them
for further orders
[ We fairly showered them and fol-
: lowed I'D regardless OF danger TO our
l
, hadn't done anything with the ma
chine guns. One was in our end or
the trench and we found that the
other vas out OF commission. They
must have been short OF small arms
] ammunition and bombs because on
! that last strafing they cleared out and
? stayed
After the row was over we counted
I noses and found four dead and three
slightly wounded / detailed two men
L. nd
/, pack. That left four OF US to consoli-
date the position Mt. May promised
to return with relief. As It turned
out he was worse than he thought
and he didn't get back
, Needed Relief Never Came.
turned to and inspected the posi-
= ton II was rpetty hopeless. There
really wasn't much to consolidate. The
whole works was knocked about and
: was only fit for temporary defence
{ There were about a dozen German
= dead and we searched them but found
? nothing OF value So we strengthened
5 our cross trench barricade and waited
for the relief. It never came.
] When it began to get light the place
looked even more discoura Eing- There
was little or no cover We knew tha'
? unless we got some sort Of conceal
. ment that the airplanes Woula spol
4 US and that we would get shell OF
two So we got. out the entrenching
tools and dug into the side Of the best
mart OF the shallow traverse we
finally got a slight overhang scraped
= We didn't dare go very far under
for fear that it would cave We got
some sandbags up on the sides and
three Of US crawled into the shelter
: The other man made similar place
! for himself little distance OIL
A Hot Day.
> Tha dav da Wued clear and bright
1 and gave promise of being hot Alone
about we began to get hungry a
Tommy is always hungry, whether ne
is in danger or not When we took
account OF stock and found that none
of US had brought along iron rations
? we discovered that we were all nearl,
! starved Killing is hungry work
We had only ourselves to blame
We had been told repeatedly never tS
= 20 anywhere without Iron rations,
but Tommy is a good deal of a chilC
and unless you show him the immedi
ate reason for a thing he is likely 4
disregard instructions. rathel
, blamed myself in this case for no
u seeing that the men had their emer-
gency food. In fact it was my dutl
q to see that they had. But I had over
o looked it And I hadn't brought an,
= myself.
The Hiron ration" consists OF
s mound of sbully-beef." a small til
: containing tea and sugar enough foi
/ two doses. some Oxo cubes and few
biscuits made OF reinforced concrete
They are issued for just such ar
= / emergency as we were IN as We Ia,
I in our isolated dugout The soldier i
d.. apt to get into THAI sort Of situation
! almost any time. and it is folly owe
. to be without the ration.
There was a considerable lombard
4 ment going on all the forenoon, bu
= few shells came anywhere near us
: Some shrapnel burst over US a littl
| way off to the right, and some Of thu
fragments fell in the trench, but OF
the whole the morning was uncom'
Portable, but not angerous.-Copy
r right by the Boston Post