The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1918-05-23
Battery D o29

The day after this | received the
glad tidlngs that | would occupy the
machine gunners' dugout right near
the advanced artillery observation
post. This dugout was roomy affair,
dry as finder, and real cots IN +.
These cots had been made bv the
X. Els who had previously occupied
the dugout. ! was the first so enter
and promptly made n signboard with
my name and number on It and sus-
pended it from the foot Of the most
comfortable cot therein.
In the trenches 1t Is always first
come first served" and this Is lived
up to by all.
Two r. f. A. men Royal Field ar
tillery) from the nearby observation
post were allowed the privilege Of
stopping in this duGout when of duty.
One of these men, Bombardier VII
son by name, who belonged 10 Bat
terry y 23s. seemed to take a liking
to me and I returned this feeling.
In two days time We were pretty
chummy, and he told me how his bat
terry In the early days of the w1r had
put over a stunt on Old Pepper, and
had gotten away with it.
| will endeaver to give the story as
far as memory will permit in his own
words:
81 came out with the first expedl-
tionary force, and, like all the rest,
thought we would have the enemy
licked in jig time, and be able to eat
Christmas dinner at home. Well, so
far, l have eaten two Christmas din
ners in the trenches and am liable to
eat two more, the way things are
ting. That Is, If Fritz don't drop
Withholding on me, and send me to
Blighty. Sometimes l wish 1 would
get hit, because it's no great picnic
out here and twenty-five months of 1t
makes you fed up.
Its fairly cushy now compared to
what it used to be, although 1 admit
this trench is trifle rough. Now,
we send over five shells to their one.
We are getting our own back, but In
the early days it was different. Then
YOU had to take everything without
reply. In fact, we would get twenty
shells in return for every one we sent
over. Fritz seemed to enjoy 1t, but
we British didn't; we were the suf-
ferers. Just one casualty after an
other. Sometimes whole platoons
would disappear, especially when n
Jack Johnson plunked into their
middle 1t got so bad that a fellow,
when writing home, wouldn't ask for
any cigarettes to be sent out, because
he was afraid he wouldn't be there to
receive them.
after the drive to Paris was turned
back. trench warfare started. Our
general grabbed map. drew n pencil
across 1t, and said, Dig here Then
he went back to his tea, and Tommy
armed himself with pick and shovel
and started digging. He's been dig
cling ever since.
"Of course we dag those trenches at
night, but 1t was hot work, what with
the rifle and machine-gun fire. The
stretcher bearers worked harder than
the diggers.
"Those trenches, bloomin' bitches,
call them, were nightmares. They were
only about five feet deep, and you used
to get the backache from bending
down. 1t wasn't exactly safe to stand
upright, either because as soon as
your napper showed over the top
bullet would bounce Off 1t, or else come
SO close 1t would make your hair stand.
1--WE used to fill sandbags and stick
them on top of the parapet to make 1t
higher, but no use; they would be
there about an hour and then Fritz
would turn loose and blow them to
bits. My neck used to be sore from
ducking shells and bullets.
"Where my battery was stationed
hasty trench had been dug, which
the boys nlcknamed Suicide ditch
and, believe me, Yank, this was the
original Suicide ditch All the others
are limitations
"When fellow went into that
trench it was an even gamble that he
would come out on stretcher. At one
time a Scotch battalion held it, and
when they heard the betting was even
money that they'd come out on
stretchers they grabbed all the bets
In sight. Like a lot of baliy idiots, sew
eral of the battery men fell for their
game. and put up real money. The
Jocks suffered lot Of casualties, and
the prospects looked bright for the
battery men to collect some easy
money. SO when the battalion was re-