Norwich bulletin., 1918-03-04
OVER THE TOPs ARruR (: :!,'.! EMrEY .'l'
 

course of map making or road sketch : ing. and during my six years service in the United States cavalry, had plenty Of practice in this work there fore mapping tkese trenches was. l comparatively easy task for me. Each man had to submit his map to the company comrnander to be passed upon. and was lucky enough to have mine selected as being sufficiently authentic to use in the Attack. No photographs or mans are al- lowed to leave France. but in this case 1t appealed to me as a valuable sou venir of the Great War. and I man aged to smuggie 1t through. At this time it carries no military importance as the British lines, am harpy to say. have sinced been advanced beyond this point. The whole attack was re- hearsed and rehearsed until we heart fly cursed the one who had conceived 1 the idea
 1 The trenches were named accord ing to system which made it very l simple for Tommy to find, even in the dark, any point in the German lines.
 l These imitation trenches, or trench models. were well guarded from ob- servation by numerous allied plaines which constantly cirted above them No German aeroplane could approach within observing distance. A re- l str1cted area was maintained and nc civilian was allowed within three
 miles, so we felt sure that we had q great surprise in store for Fritz. When we took over the front line we received an awful shock. The the top of their trench showing the ! Y7o TT1es l. l. s- trenches. The sign read Fair.H " Fact" "Fate" and Fancy" and SC on, according to the code names or our map. Then to rub it in, they hoisted some more signs which read: When are you coming over?" o1 Come on, we are ready, stupid Eng llish"
 1 It is still a mystery to me how they l obtained this knowledge. There had been no raids or prisoners taken, se l 1t must have been the work of spies in our own lines.
 l Three CT four days before the Big 1 Push we tried to shelter Fritz's nerves by feint attacks. and. partially sue ceeded as the. official reports of July 1st show.
 Although we were constantly bom- l barding their lines dav and nieht stiI | This was accomplished by tnrowin4 an intense barrage into his u-es- then using smoke shells we would put curtain of white smoke across No Mans Land eou1npletely ohstruct. I ing his view of our trenches, and would raise our curtain of fire as if in ar actual attack All down our trenches the men would shout and cheer ant l Fritz would turn loose. with machine gun. rifle and shapnel fire, tilinkinc we were coming over.
 l After. three or four of these dllm- l my attacks his nerves must have beer 1 near the breaking point. I On June A. 1916. at $40 in tht 1 morning our guns opened up, and hel was let loose. The din was terrific, . iconstant boom boon, boom in your ear r At night ,,-e sky was a red glare I-Our 5ornba- >~ ont dad lasted ahou two hours when Fritz started replying
 Although we were sending over ter I shells to his one, our casualties weri heavy There was a constant stream of stretehers coming out of the com lnunication trenches and burial partie ! were common sight
 Tn the dugout3 the noise of the gum
 almost hurt You had the same sen
 cation as when riding on the subwa,
 you enter the tube under the rive
 going to BToklyn-a sort of pressur n the ear drums. and the groun
 constantly trembling.
 The roads behind the trenches wer
 very dangerous because Boche shrap
 1el was constantly bursting oyer then
 We avoided these dangerous spots b,
 'rossing through oiNn fields.
 The destruction in the German line
 was awful and really felt sorry fo them because I realized how they mus
 be clicking it. From our front line trench, ever
 now and again, we could hear shar
 whistle blasts in the German trenche. Thesc t@aats were signals for stretche
 hearers, and meant the woundaing Q
 killing of some German in tbe servie
 Of his FatherIsnd
 Atweg1 and had a tough time of fl
 patrolling the different trenches a
 night, but after awhile got used to i
 My old outfit. the machine gu
 company. was stationed in huge cie
 phant dugouts about four 91uud-@ ards behind the front line trench '' they were in reserve. Occasionally
 would stop in their. dngout asls bay
 a confab with my former matas Al
 though we tried to he jolly, s2Ml. tAsr n'sS O ttta nAilsa hSeAAAS oi in1+SeitaiIs
 disagter. Eseh man v-as wondarin. if, after the slosap. "Cveg the to
 with the best Of luck" had, bee sounded, wo1ld he still be alive c would he be lying somewhere i France" h m old dilapidated hous, the walls of which were scared wit
 machine gun bullets, No. section (
 tho machine gun company had it quarters. The company's cooks pre- pared the meals in this billet On tn fifth evening Of the bombardment German eight-inch shell registered
 direct hit on the billet and wiped ou
 ten men who were asleep in the sup
 poaeAly bomb proof cellar. The
 were buried the next day and I at tended the funeral.
 (To Be Continued Tomorrow)