Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-08-13


two" howitzers pulled by immense
caterpillar engines.
When one Of these caterpillars would
pass me with Its mighty monster In
tow. a flush of pride would mount to
my face, because I could plainly read
on the name plate. "Made in q. s. A."
and I would remember that If wore a
name plate 1t would also read, From
the q. s. A." Then / would stop to
think how thin and straggly that
mighty stream would be If all the
"AIade in U. s. A." parts Of 1t were
withdrawn.
Then would come hundreds Of lin
bers and &c. s." wagons drawn by
sleek, well-fed mules, ridden by sleek,
well-fed men, ever smiling, although
grimy with sweat and covered with the
fine, white dust Of the marvelOusly
well-made French roads.
What discouraging report the Ger
man airmen must have taken back to
their division commanders, and this
stream is slowly bat surely getting big
ger and bigger every day, and the pace
Is always the same. No slower. no
faster, but ever onward, ever forward.
Three weeks before the big push OF
July las the battle Of the Somme has
been called-started, exact duplicates
of the German trenches were dug
about thirty kilos behind our lines.
The layout. of the trenches was taken
from airplane photographs submitted
by the Royal flying corps. The trench
es were correct to the foot; they
showed dugouts, saps, barbed wire de-
fenses and danger spots.
Battalions that were to 90 over In
the first waves were sent back for
three days to study these trenches, en-
gage in practice attacks and have night
maneuvers. Each man was required to
make a map Of the trenches and fa-
miliarize himself with the names and
location Of the parts bis battalion was
to attack.
In the American army noncommis.
stoned officers are put through course
Of map making or road sketching, and
during my six years service In the
United States cavalry I had plenty Of
practice in this work. therefore map
ping these trenches was q compara'
lively easy task for me. Each man
had to submit his map to the company
commander to be passed upon. and /
was lucky enough to have mine select
ed as being sufficiently authentic to use
in the attack.
No photographs or maps are allowed
to leave France, but In this case 1t ap-
pealed to me as q valuable souvenir of
the great war and I managed to SNUG
gle 1t through. At this time 1t carries
no military importance as the British
lines, am happy to say, have since
been advanced beyond this point, so
In having It in my possession I am not
breaking any regulation or cautions
Of the British army.
The whole attack was rehearsed
and rehearsed until we heartily cursed
the one who had conceived the idea.
The trenches were named according
to system which made 1t very simple
for Tommy to find. even in the dark,
any point In the German lines.
These imitation trenches, or trench
models, were well guarded from obser-
vation by numerous allied planes
which constantly circled above them.
No German airplane could approach
within observation distance. A re-
stricted area was maintained and no
civilian was allowed within three
miles, go we felt sure that we had
great surprise in store for Fritz.
When we took over the front line
we received an awful shock. The
Germans displayed stgnboards over
the top of their trench showing the
names that we had called their
trenches. The signs read "Fair,"
Fact" "Fate," and "Fancy," and SO
on, according to the code names on
our map. Then to rub 1t In. they
hoisted some more signs which read,
"Come on, we are ready, stupid Eng
lish."
It Is still a mystery to me how they
obtained this knowledge. There had
been no raids or prisoners taken, so
1t must have been the work Of spies
In our own lines.
Three or four days before the big
push we tried to shatter Fritz's nerves
by feint attacks, and partially sue
ceeded as the official reports Of July
l show.
Although we were constantly bonn
harding their lines day and night, still
we fooled the Germans several times.
This was accomplished by throwing
an intense barrage into his lines
then using smoke shells we would put
a curtain of white smoke across No
Mans Land. completely obstructing
his view Of our trenches. and
would raise our curtain Of fire
as II In an actual attack. All
down our trenches the men would
shout and cheer, and Fritz would turn
loose with machinegun, rife, and
shrapnel fire, thinking we were COM
ing over. gw
After three or four Of these dummy
attacks his nerves must have been
near the breaking point. ,s
On June "a, 1919. at 0:40 in the
morning our guns opened up, and hell
was let loose. The din was terrific, q
constant bOom-boom-boom In your ear.
At night the sky was red glare.
Our bombardment had lasted about
two hours when Fritz started reply
Ing. Although we were sending over
ten shells to his one, our casualties
were heavy. There was a constant
stream Of stretchers coming out Of the
communication trenches and burial
parties were common sight.
!. In the duguuts the noise u the guns
almost hurt. You had the same sensa.
tion % when riding on the subway you
enter the tube under the river going
to Brooklyn-a sort Of pressure on the