Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-01

five yards short Of the trench, whore
the parapet protected the men Inside
but the noise stirred them up. The
dynamite bombers were chosen es-
throwing grenades, as they had to be
very careful not to hit the trench and
SO cause casualties.
In order 70 be sure they would not
strike the trench with a bomb, they
had a nan pace off the distance to the
foot Of the parapet. They they 'set'
their throwing muscles to place the
bombs just 10 yards short of the
trench. A good bomber can always
place a grenade within two or three
yards OF any object within his range.
even II he cannot see it, by being given
its location, as twenty yards forward,
three right"
After a few minutes the last smoke
bomb had flashed its Ereenish glare
over the space between the trenches
and the last tear-gas bomb had
sprayed its load Of anguish over the
defending in~fantrymen. The gas men
gathered together again. each with
a comment on what had happened.
zone Of you fellows dropped a tear
gas bomb right al my feet" said one.
II had to take to my mask" Until
that time, none of the attackers had
used a q mask. as they were work
ing to the windward side Of their OBJ
.jectives and the air currents had car.
ried the gas away from them.
Stumbling over rocks and leapins
over. trenches in the dark. the gas
med wendell their way up to one end
of the trench area, to make a cloud
cylinders there. But the wind had
changed, and for the next few minutes
1t was'a case of "all hands turn to
and carry gas c~ylinders!" With six
or eight men to a cylinder the gas
men had heavy going getting the big
containers across trenches and down
a hill to a new point Of attack q quar-.
ter OF a mile away
They. had, only a few minutes left
in which to change their plans. but
when the appointed time In they
a row Of Smoke candles ready be-
hind the gas cylinders they waited q
moment and then turned on all the
cylinders and lighted all the candles
at once. The smoke and chlorine
rolled over toward the trenches in a
dense cloud. A gas sentry raw it and
sounded the alarm. a different one
from that used for bomb attacks, and
after a few shouts here and there the
men settled down to await the deadly
vapor in silence. None Of them cared
to take a chance at talking, even in
side a mask, until the gas was gone.
For perhaps five minutes the smoke
candles fixed and. the chlorine Kissed
from the tanks. Then the order was
Turn it off," and the cloud was
stopped. The gas, however. hung
over the trenches some minutes. cut
ting them off from observation from
outside.
Venturins down into the area the
gas had covered, the gas non-com-
missioned officers encountered the
lingering fumes and most Of them
hurried into their masks. A few who
state the use OF masks changed their
minds hurrtedly q moment :ater.
After that the attacking party
broke up, each member going about a
different task. Some crawled along
communicating trenches and BOMBED
the "liason sentrtes" who maintained
communication trenches between d:f-
fereat lines; others bombed working
parties, and . special section devoted
its attention to battalion headquarters,
where were q number Of officers.
from popular with the men in the
trenches. Sometimes these threat
ened to- return the Are with rocks.
One OF the bombers who was throw
Ing dynamite bombs, feared his Yea.
pors might hurl pebbles into a trench
and injure someone.
Are there any rocks over there ?'
he asked = comrade who had been
a trench.
him. You're too far away from them
Tn " thSA(H \ n 70 ~ II HtASA ip.Al~ 49,