The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-24
Corp. Holmes Fights at Vimy Ridge

was no bridge or net in sight. The
river was not over ten feet wide and
there was supposed to be foot bridge
of two planks where the net was.
got back into the grass and made
my way down stream. L could dimly
make out the forms of two men stand
ing on the nearer end of the plank
bridge. They were. l should judge.
about ten yards away. and hadn't
heard me. 1 got out a Mills. pulled the
pin. counted two and pitched It. The
bomb exploded. perhaps five feet this
side of the men. One dropped ana the
other ran.
After a short wait / ran over TO the
German. / searched him for papers.
found none. and rolled him into the
river.
After few days in the quarries we
were moved to what was know as the
warren. so-called because the works
resem bled a rabbit warren. This was
on the lower side and about In the
middle of Vimy ridge, and was extra
dangerous, 1t did seem as though eacn
place was worse than tho last The
Warren was a regular network OF
trenches. burrows and funk holes. ana
We needed them all.
The position was down hill from
the Huns, they kept sending over and
down q continuous stream OF PIP
%queaks, .'Whiz- bags and ''mLnnles.
The "pip-squcak, is shell that starts
with a silly pip" goes on with a sill
licr 'squeeeeee," and goes Oft with ii
man's-size bang.
The 'whiz- bang starts with a rough
whirl like flushing cock partridge,
and goes of on contact with a ire
mendoua bang. It is not as dangerous
as it sounds but bad enough.
is concentrated death and destruction
a two ga Hon kerosense can and comes
somersaulting over in a high arce and
is concentrated dtath and destruction
when it lands II has one virtue
you can see it coming and dodge, and
at night it most considerably leaves a
trail OF sparks.
The Boche served us full portions
81 all there of these man killers in the
Warren and kept us ducking in and
out pretty much all the time, night
and day
/ was lucky enough after the first
day to be put on sappers' duty. The
sappers. or engineers, are the men
whose duty IL As TO run mines under
No Mans Land and plant huge quaint
ties of explosives There was a great
amount Of mining going on all the time
at Why Ridge from both sides.
Sometimes Fritz would run a sap
out reasonably near the surface and
we would counter with one lower
down. Then he'd go us one better and
so still deeper. Some OF the mines
/ went dow4 and under hundreds Of feet
The result of all this was that on our
side at least the sappers were under
manned and a good many infantry
were drafted into that service.
/ / had charge of a gang and had 70
fin sand bags with the earth removed
from the end OF the sap and get II
out and pile the bags on the parapets.
We were well out toward the German
Hines and deep under the hin when We
heard them digging below us. An
/ engineer officer came in and listened
for an hour and decided that they
were Eettig in explosives and that 1t
was up 10 lis to beat them 10 it. Dig.
ging stopped al once and we began
rushing in II. E In 5o-pouud boxes.
nay section.
MEN RUSH MINE CRATER
Right here l began to have luck.
Just see how this worked out. First
rushing party was organized whose
duty it was to rush the crater made
by the mine explosion and occupy u
before the Germans got there Sixty
men were selected. few from Ach
company. and placed where they were
supposedly safe but where they could
get up fast. This is the most danger
Gus duty an infantrymamhas to do. De-
cause both sides after mine explosion
den death, including a perfect rain OF
machine gun bullets The chances OF
coming out OF rushing party with a
whole hide are about one in FIVE.
Well, for wonder. ] didn't get
drawn for this one. and hreathed one
long. deep sigh of relief. put my hand
inside my tunic and patted Blinky on
the back Blinky is my mascot. III
tell you about him later.
On top of that another bit OF luck
came along. though II didn't seem like
! 1t at the moment. 1t was the custom
at the Warren for a ration party tc
go out each night and get up the grub
This party had TO go over the duck
walk and was under fire both going
and coming. One OF the corporals
who had been out on rations two
nights in succession began to grouse
or course Sergeant Wells spotted
me and detailed me to the ''wangler's
duty. I "groused" like a good fellow
but had TO go.
earn says Wellsie. "Wot's the
diff IL yer gets it ere or there? If ye
clicks III draw yer flags from Blighty
Fnr
way"
Cheerful beggar, Weilsie. He was
doing me a favor and didn't know IT,
I did the three miles along the ducb