The Washington herald., 1918-03-11
"OVER THE TOP"
By ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
CHAPTER xxvI-coNrINUED.
Copyrighted by Arthur Guy Empey.

CHAPTER XXVI-CoNTINUED.
Then We had what We called our
"come-aIongs." These are strands OF
barbed wire about three feet long,
made into a moose at one end; at the
other end, the barbs are cut on and
Tommy slips his wrist through a loop
to get a good grip on the wire, II
the prisoner wants to argue the point,
why Just place the large loop around
his neck and no matter IL Tommy
wishes to return to his trenches at
the walk, trot. or gallop. Fritz is per-
fectly agreeable to maintain Tommy's
rate of speed.
We were ordered to black our faces
and hands. For this reason: at night,
the English and Germans use what
they call star shells, a sort OF rocket
affair These are fired from a large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
Is held over the sandbag parapet Of
the trench, and discharged into the
air. These star shells attain a height
of about sixty feet. and a range OF
from fifty to seventy-five yards.
When they hit the ground they ex-
plode, throwing out a strong calcium
light which lights up the ground in a
circle of a radius of between ten to
fifteen yards. They also have a par
achute star shell which, after reach
ing a height Of about sixty feet, ex-
plodes. A parachute unfolds and slow
ly floats to the ground, lighting up a
large circle in No Mans Land. The
official name of the star shell Is a
''Very-light" Very-lights are used to
prevent night surprise attacks on the
trenches. II star shell falls in front
OF you, or between you and the Ger
man lines, you are safe from detec-
ton, as the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain OF light.
But II it falls behind you and, as
Tommy says. you get into the star
shell zone" then the fun begins: you
have to lie fat on your stomach and
remain absolutely motionless until the
light Of the shell dies out. This takes
anywhere from forty to seventy sec
onds. II you haven't time to fall to
the ground you must remain absolute
ly still in whatever position you were
in when the light exploded; It is ad-
visable not to breathe, as Fritz has
an eye like an eagle when he thinks
you are knocking at his door. When a
star she'll is burning In Tommy's rear
he can hold his breath for a week
You blacken your face and hands so
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on your pale face. In a
trench raid there is quite sufficient rea-
son for your face to be pale. II you
don't believe me. try 1t bst once,
Then another reason for blacking
your face and hands is that, after you
have entered the German trench at
night, white face" means Germans,
black face" English. Coming around
traverse you see a white face in
front Of you. With a prayer and wish
ing Fritz "the best O. luck" you in
troduce him to your ''persuader" or
knuckle knife.
A little later we arrived at the COM
munication trench named Whisky
street, which led to the fire trench
at the point we were to go over the TOP
and out in front.
In our rear were four stretcher bear
ers and a corporal OF the r. A. M. c.
carrying pouch containing medicines
and -first-aid appliances. Kind of a
grim reminder to US that our expe-
dition was not going to be exactly
a picnic The order of things. was re-
versed. In civilian life the doctors
generally come first. with the under
takers tagging in the rear and then
the insurance man, but in our case,
the undertakers were leading. with the
doctors trailing behind, minus the in
surance adjuster.
The presence Of the R. A. NJ. c. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders.
because many Joke, made In an un-
dertone was passed along the wind
ing column. as to who would be first
TO take a ride on one OF the stretchers:
This was generally followed by a wish
that, IL you were to be the one, the
wound would be a "cushy Biighty
one"
The stretcher bearers, no doubt, were
hoping that, II they did have to carry
anyone to the rear. he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked. at me
when wishing, because I could feel
an uncomfortable. boring sensation be-
tween by shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench, about every
sixty yards or so we would pass :