The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1918-04-05
CHAPTER XVI.
Battery D 232.

tne advanced artillery observation
post. This dugout was roomy affair,
J dry as tinder, and real cots In it.
These cots had been made by the
X. E.'s who had previously occupied
the dugout. i was the first to enter
, and promptly made a signboard with
my name and number on il and sus-
pended Ii from the foot of the most
comfortable cot therein.
In the trenches IL Is always first
come, first served" and this Is lived
up to by all.
Two r. F. A. men (Royal Field ar
tillery) from the nearby observation
post were allowed the privilege of
stopping in this duxout when Off duty.
One of these men, Bombardier Will
! son by name, who belonged to Bat
terry ID 23S. seemed to take liking
to me. and returned this feeling.
In two days time we were pretty
chummy, and he told me how his bat
terry in the early days of the war had
put over a stunt on Old Pepper, and
had gotten away with It,
/ will endeaver to give the story as
far as memory will permit in his own
words:
81 came out with the first expedi-
tionary force. and, like all the rest,
thought we would have the enemy
licked In jig time, and be able to eat
Christmas dinner at home. Well. so
far, have eaten two Christmas din.
nerS In the trenches and am liable to
eat two more. the way things are
pointing. That is. if Fritz don't drop
'whizz-bang' on me, and send me to
Blighty. Sometimes | wish I would
get hit, because it's no great picnic
out here, and twenty-five months of II
makes you fed up.
ITS fairly cuShy now compared to
what IL used to be, although / admit
this trench is trife rough Now.
we send over five shells to their one.
We are getting our own back, but in
the early days II was different. Then
YOU had 10 take everything without
reply. In fact. we would get twenty
shells in return for every one we sent
over. Fritz seemed to enjoy il. but
we British didn't; we were the Suf.
ferers. Just one casualty after an.
other. Sometimes whole platoOns
would disappear, especially when n
Jack Johnson plunked into their
middle. II got so bad hat fellow
when writing home, wouldn't ask for
any cigarettes to be sent out because
he was afraid he wouldn't be there &c
receive them.
After the drive to Paris was turned
back, tr:nch warfare started. Our
general grabbed map, drew a pencil
across II. and said. Dig here Their
he went back TO his tea, and Tommy
armed himself with pick and shovel
and started digging. He's been dig
ging ever since.
"of course we dug those trenches at
night, but II was hot work, what with
the rlHe and machine-gun fire The
stretcher bearers worked harder than
the diggers.
Those trenches, bloomin' bitches
call them, were nightmares. They were
ONLY about five feet deep. and Won used
70 get the backache from bending
down. 1t wasn't exactly safe to stand
upright, either because as soon as
your napper showed over the top
bullet would bounce off IT, or else come
SO close II would make your hair stand.
I'VE used 10 fiji sandbags and stick
them on top of the parnpet to make II
higher, hut no use; they would be
there about an hour and then Fritz
would turn loose and blow them to
bits. MY neck used 10 be sore from
ducking shells and bullets.
where my battery was stationed
hasty trench had been dug. which
the boys nlcknamed Suicide ditch
and believe me, Yank, this was the
original Suicide ditch All the others
are limitations.
when fellow went into that
trench 1t was an even gamble that he
would come out on Stretcher. AT one
time Scotch battalion held II. and
when they heard tl,e betting was even
money that they'd come out on
stretchers, they grabbed all the bets
In slght. Like lot of bally idiots. sew
eral OF the battery men fell for their
game, and put up real money. The
JOCKS suffered lot of casualties. and
the prospects looked bright for the
battery men to collect some easv
money. So when the battalion was re-
heved the gamblers lined up. Several
Jocks got their money for emerging
safely, but the ones who clicked II
weren't there to pay. The artillery
men had never thought It out that
way. Those Scotties were bound to
be sure winners, no matter how the
wind blew. So take a tip from me,
never bet with Scottie, cause youIl
lose money.