Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-01-17
SYNOPSIS

William J. Robinson. . young American
on a business trip In London. catches the
war foyer and enIists In q British cavalry
regiment and lands at Ostend In October.
1914
Made driver OF an armored car and takes
part in battles about Ypres Transferred
to tho army service corps. has further
fighting experiences IN a motorcycle rider
with machine gun attached and a. . dis
patch ridsr
Describes Christmas Of 1914 IN uencne
sourh of Ypres Fearful losses A''" .
SINNER and tells OF Belgian spies.
Witnesses Royal Horse artillery In 40
zion Has a narrow escape and takes reg
urs in a cellar Is sent to Paris.
CHAPTER VI.
Bomb Throwing Psrilous Work.
r SOON found the reason for Tom
my's absence. for as soon as l left
the car and started out on foot l
was continually being stopped and ask
ed who was. what was where did
] come from. what was l doing and
what was going to do. Being on
special duty. had pass in my pos
session which bore the French stamp
as we'll as the British. This pass
would take me anywhere in France or
Belgium. and fash of 1t. coupled
with the words especial duty" permit
ted me to so where l pleased. Had !
I,een without 1t would have been ar.
rested about every ten minutes.
The defenses In Paris against hostile
aircraft attack were revelation to
me- never saw anything more
thorough LII my life. Any OF the more
vcnturesome Germans who cure to
make IN attempt against Paris are In
for hot reception.
Two days after my arrival the officer
whom | was to take back to the front
said he was ready to start and to pre-
pare the car for the return journey on
the morrow. The ride back was I'M
eventful. but when we arrived We
ing to be moved north across the BEL
gian frontier the next day. We were
to take over the job Of holding the
town Of Poperinghe. which the French
had been occupying. We were then
taking over more front than we had
been holding previously.
At this time the roads were In a ter
rible condition. They are made Of cob
blestones in the middle but either side
is nothing but mud. 30 after few
days rain II one slips OF tho stones he
finds himself In regular qungmire
and will sink IN over the nx!e.
We took Poperinehe from the French.
and while we We're moving In they
were moving out. and the two lines OF
transport each going over the same
road. resulted In some fine mixups
Eventually we arrived all right and
found that this place was much better
than Hazebrouck. which we had left
HaZeDrouck was the junction of sevon
railroad lines and consequently popu-
lar target for German aircraft.
There was every facility for quarter
ing the men and horses. good Offices
for the staff. and we were much nearer
the firing line ut Poperinghe. III my
car have made the run from our
trenches to Poperinghe In less than
twenty minutes. SO you can see that we
were not very far behind the actual
fighting.
The people In PoperinShe. while they
had seen British troops before. had
never had them In the town for any
length Of time. and they seemed to he
very glad to see us. We had ssvera
Scotch regiments in our corps. and
when they came out Of the trenches thu
0rst time they created a great sensa
ton In the town. Their kits were q
never falling source Of astonishment K
tho Belyians. The woman In the house
where | was bllleted thought that Il
was cruel to make them wear the lit
tie dresses" In the cold weather. Sh,
wanted to know what they wore un
derneath them. and when told he
that they wore nothing she wouldn'
believe me. l explained to her that !
was against orders for them to wea
trousers under the kilt. but still she re
fused to believe.
At this time bomb throwing was be
coming more and more popular. an
besides using the hand bombs We wer
using larger ones. which we're throw
BY q catapault arrangement The
could be thrown long distance an
in many cases proved TO be very o
fective. Bomb and grenade schools Il
every division were opened, and IL
men were trained TO throw bomt
scientifically.
In some places We started using Il
slingshot arrangement with which Il
French throw bombs. but II didn't tni
out a. well for Us as II did for. ther
saw ono case IN which the usins
one OF these things was very disa