The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-03

and barmaids and the things they'd
eat and drink, and all of It Blighty.
VOLUNTEERS AS RAIDER.
They were in the midst of n dis
cussion of what part of tho body was
most desirable to part with for a
permanent Blighty wound when a
| young officer pushed aside the burlap
and wedged in He was "a neuten-
ant and was in command OF our
| platoon. His name wss Blofeld.
! Blofeld was most democratic. He
shook hands with the new men and
said he hoped we'd be live wires. and
; then he told US what he wanted
| There was to be a raid the next night
and ne was looking for volunteers.
Nobody spoke for long minute
and then ] offered.
/ think I spoke more to break the
/ embarrassing silence than anything
else ] think. too, that ] was led a
little by kind of youthful curiosity,
and it may be that I wanted to appear
brave in the eyes OF these men who
so evidently held me more or less In
contempt as a newcomer.
Blofeld accepted me and one OF the
other new men offered. He was taken
too.
1t turned out that all the older men
were married and that they were not
expected to volunteer. At least there
was no disgrace attaching TO q re-
fusaI
After Biofeld left Sergeant Page
told us we'd better get down to kip
while We could Kip in this case
meant closing our eyes and doing.
eat bumped up In my original po-
sitton through the night. There
wasn't room for stretching out
Along toward morning ! began to
itch and found had made the ac-
quaintance Of that gay and festive lit
tie soldiers enemy. the "cooty." The
cooty or the chat" as he is called by
the officers, Is the common body
louise Common Is right. ! never got
rid OF mine until l left the service.
Sometimes when I get TO thinking
about 1t I believe / haven't yet
In the morning the members ot
the raiding party were taken back
a mile or 80 to the rear and were
| given instruction and rehearsal. This
: was the first raid that bat had ever
tried. and the staff was anxious. to
have 1t a success. There were nifty
In the party and Blofeld, who had or
ganized the raid, bea our instruc-
: tons into us until we knew theno-b9
, heart.
, The object OF trench raid is 10
L SVt AAAO hIit EhSIftE - LlFiiNIASS ny
} stealth If possible kill az many as
/ possible, take prisoners if practca Bile
2 do q. lot Of DANA ge and get away with
{ g. whole hide.
We got back to the front trenches
just before dark. I noticed a lot OF
metal cylinders arranged along the
parapet. They were about as big s
a stovepipe and four feet long paint
ed brown They were the gas con-
tainers. They were arranged about
four or FIVE to a traverse, and were
connected up by tubes and were COW
cred with sandbags. This was the
poison gas ready for release over the
top through tubes.
The time set for our stunt was II
p. NJ. Eleven o'clock was Zero.
The system on the western front,
and. in fact, all fronts, is to indicate
the time fixed for any event as zero.
Anything before or after is spoken OF
as plus or minus zero.
, BIAACK UP FOR NIGHT RAID.
Around s o'clock we were taken
back to Mechanics trench and fed
a regular meal. with plenty of every
thing, and all good. It looked some
like giving Il condemned man a
| hearty meal but grub is always &C
oeptable to a soldier.
After that we blaclked our faces.
This is always done to prevent the
, whiteness of the skin from showing
under the flare lights. Also to dis
tinguish your own men when you get
to the Boche trench.
Then we wrote letters and gave up
our Identification discs and were
served with persuader sticks or
knuckle knives, and with Mills"
bombs
The persuader is a short, heavy
bludgeon with nail studded head.
You thump Fritz on the head with it.
Very handy at close quarters. The
knuokie knile Is a short dagger with
a heavy brass hilt that covers the
hand. Also very good for close work
as You can either strike or stab with
1T
We moved up TO the front trenches
at about half-past ten. At zero mi
linus ten, that lie. ten minutes of eleven,