Gunnison news-champion., 1918-05-10

II you haven't TINE to fail to tns
/ ground you must remain absolutely
stu In whatever position you were IN
( when the light exploded: It Is a4YfS.
able not to breathe. as Fritz ha1V an
I eve like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When . star
shell is burning In Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for a week.
You blacken your face and hands %
that the light from the star shells VIII
not reflect on your pale face. In q
trench raid there is quite sum0 NJ
reason for your face TO be pale. II you
don't believe me. try II just once.
Then another reason for blackening
your face and hands is that, after you
have entered the German trench at
night, white face means GermSns.
black face English. Coming around
a traverse you see a white face In
front Of you. With prayer and wish
ing Fritz "the best o. luck" you intro
duce 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 90 over the top
and out in front.
In our rear were four stretcher bear
ers and a corporal Of the II. A. II &C.
carrying a pouch containing medicsses
and hrst-aid appliances. Kind OF Q
grim reminder to US that our expedi-
ton was not going to be exactly a Ne
mic. The order Of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first, with the undertakers tag.
ging In the rear and then the insur-
auce man, but In our case. the under.
takers were leading. with the doctors
trailing behind. minus the insurance
adjuster.
The presence of the r. A. NJ. C. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders, be-
cause many a joke made in an under.
tone, was passed along the windAg
column, as to who would be first to
take n ride on one of the stretchers.
This was generally followed by wish
that. II you were to be the one. the
wound would be "cushy Blighty
one"
The stretcher bearers. no doubt,
hoping that. II they did have to carry
anyone to the rear, he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked ut me
when wishing, because / could feel an
uncomfortable. boring sensation be-
tween my shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench, about every
sixty yards or so we would pass lone
ly sentry. who in a whisper would
wish US "the best O. luck, mates" We
would blind at him under our breaths;
that Jonah phrase to us sounded very
ominous.
Without any casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch. the
front-line trench. Previously, wiring
party Of the Royal Engineers had cut
n lane through our barbed wire to en-
able us to get out into No Mans Land.
Crawling through this lane. our
party Of twenty took up an extended
order formation about one yard ;tpart.
We had d tap code arranged for our
movements while in No Mans Land,
DcSausc iuT SdIlOuS TedsouS IL lS uOI
safe to carry on a heated conversation
few yards In front of Fritz lines.
The officer was on the right Of the
line. while wns on the extreme lef1
Two taps from the right would be
passed down the line until l received
them. then would send back one tap.
The officer. in receiving this one tan
would know that his order had goR4
down the whole line, had been under
stood. and that the party was ready
% obey the twotap signal. Two taps
meant Vnat We were U crawl foTWaFu
slowly-and believe me, very slowly
for i've yards, and then halt to await
further instructions. Three taps meant.
when you arrived within striking dis
tance of the German trench, rush Il
and ln1ict as many casualties ~, pos-
, stble. secure couple Of prisoner, ,end
then back to your own lines with tie
speed clutch open. Four taps meant,
II have gotten you Into q position 1so0
which II is impossible for me to- extEl-
cate you. 30 you are on ,y2lr own"
,(Csatinued Nexf Week
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