Omaha daily bee., 1918-05-10

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trench building. There was no para
pet of sandbags, but the ditch was
deep and we'll drained and the FIRE
step was solid and at the right
height.
There was the customary lack OF
dugouts-nothing you Could really
cali more than a head-and-shoulder
shelter. -
The rumor went around that first
night that there was almost certain
to be German counter-attaek within
a few hours. There,was some reason
for expecting this, for, although Fritz
had been somewhat tame, he had a
victory to his credit that heartened
him a lot.
1t had happened in this way. Dur
ing the time that our bait was out
resting the British had tried an at
tack in front Of Hollebeke that had
been a complete washout. Not only
had it been failure, but it had been
terribly costly.
The Germans seemed to know every
move that our troops were about to
make, their objectives, the number to
come to each point, and so on; and
they had met the British at every
point with perfect preparation.
I The reason for this was disclosed
to the men officially--that is, each bait
was paraded and a statement was
read as issued from headquarters.
This was it.
Two days before the attack ser
geant named Phillips nom Welsh
regiment had been taken prisoner by
the Germans. When the attack came
off a German officer was taken pris-
oner, and on him were found docu-
ments giving every detail OF the pro-
posed attack and the statement that
the information had been furnished
by the man Phillips who had disap-
peared. Now it was not known
whether or not Phillips was deserter
or whether he had given up the in
formation under torture, or what. II
was enough that he had given Ve
information. And the story was read
out to us as warning.
| do not mention this occurrence to
give the impression that it was a
common things for inside plans to be
betrayed by men in Our ranks. 1t was
not. As rule a British soldier will
suffer the worst kind of third degree
before he will give up. 1t simply
shows how easy it is for man to
ruin the plans of his superiors and
play into the hands of the enemy.
1t can readily be seen what dis
astrous thing it might turn out to
have alien enemies in our army. !
personally believe that in a great ha-
ton like ours, which is really a con
glomeration of many nationalities, we
should examine very carefully the
record, the ancestory and the sympa-
THE. Of every soldier, high and low
Our first night up at Hollebeke we
were under a heavy bombardment
which continued through the next day
Our casualties were quite heavy. II
was clear that the attack might come
off at any minute, and all hands had
to stand to all the time. We had to
keep a sharp lookout all the time for
gas, too, and the officers were watch
ing the wind every moment. In prep
aration for the attack an extra large
number of machine guns had beer
brought up and were emplaced both
on the parapets of the front trench
and in the supports. The artillery tc
!, the rear had the range marked dowr
and were ready for the signal to be
gin to pepper Fritz when he started
to come over.
We felt sure enough that we coulC
stop him, but the waiting, bumped uI
on the fire step under the parapet, wa!
wearing. Along about half past fou1
the bombardmefit increased to ter
rible fury and held so for half u
!, hour; then the shells began dropping
to the rear and in the supports ant
we saw the Germans coming over.
1t really was a magnificent sight
! They were Bavarians, big, husky
heavyset lads, and they came in mas
formation, four deep. Our rocket
. went up and before they were we'll OF
: their way we were dropping she'll
; into them and over there. They cam
! forward in great gray wave at
] double, heads down, rifles at the hir
We cut loose with a hellish machin
gun fire and every man was on tn
: fire steD. going through the ina
t minute"-that is, rapid fire Of a.
, the cartridges your rifle will hold
!. and some OF the men were so excite
, that they jumped up on the parape
: yelling,
Come on, you blighters, come on
E They came. We had no wire u
S and it looked as though they migt
!, come right on through. But the she
FIRE got them early. Great gar