The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1918-08-08
OVER THE TOP
ARTHUR GUY EMPEY

! anu SNNOlld oCllhdn liSh1hSS. AhN
machine gunners went over with the
fourth wave to consolidate the cap
tured line or "dig ~" as Tommy calls
1t.
Crossing No Mans Land without
!. clicking any casualties, We came to
the German trench and mounted our
guns on the parados of same.
/ never saw such mess In my life
punches Of twisted barbed wire lying
about, shell holes everywhere, trench
all Dashed in, parapets gone, and dead
bodies, why, that ditch was full of
them, theirs and ours. 1t was n regu.
lar mOrgue. Some were mangled hor-
ribly from our shell fire, while others
were wholly or partly buried In the
mud, the result of shell explosions cav
ing In the walls of the trench. One
dead German was lying on his back,
with rifle sticking straight up In the
air, the bayonet of which was buried
to the hilt in his chest. Across his feet
lay dead English soldier with bull
let hole IL his forehead. This Tommy
must have been killed just as he ran
his bayonet through the German.
Rifles and equipment were scattered
about, and occasionally steel helmet
could be seen sticking out of the mud.
At one point, just in the entrance to
a communication trench, was a stretch
er. On this stretcher a German was
lying with q white bandage around his
knee, near to him lay one of the
stretcher-bearers, the red cross on his
arm covered with mud and his helmet
filled with blood and brains. Close by,
sitting up against the wall of the
trench, with head resting on his chest
was the other stretcher-bearer He
seemed to be alive, the posture was so
natural and easy; but when l got
closer l could see large, jagged hole
In his temple. The three must have
been killed by the same shell-burst.
The dugouts were all smashed in and
Knocked about, big square-cut timbers
splintered into bits, walls caved In and
entrances choked.
Tommy, after taking a trench, learns
to his sorrow that the hardest part of
the work Is to hold 1t.
In our case this proved to be so.
The German artillery and machine
guns had us tapped (ranged) for fair /;
It was worth your life to expose your
self an instant.
Don't think for a minute that the
Germans were the only sufferers; we
were clicking casualties so fast that
you needed an adding machine to keep
track of them.
Did you ever see one of the steam
shovels at work on the Panama canal?
Well, 1t would look like hen scratch
Ing alongside of Tommy digging in"
while under fire. You couldn't see day.
light through the clouds of dirt from
his shovel.
After losing three out of six men Of
our crew we managed to set up our
machine gun. One of the legs of the
tripod was resting on the chest of u
half-buried body. When the gun was
firing, it gave the impression that the
body was breathing. This was caused
by the excessive vibration.
Three or four feet down the trench,
about three feet from the ground, a
foot was pr0truding from the earth.
We knew 1t was German by the black
leather boot. One of our crew used
that foot to hang extra band6iers Of
ammunition on. This man always was
q handy fellow; made use of little
points that the ordinary person would
overlook.
The Germans made three counter.
attacks, which we repulsed, but not
without heavy loss on our side. They
also suffered severely from our shell
and machlne-gun fire. The ground was
spotted with their dead and dying.
The next day things were somewhat
! quieter, bat not quiet enough to bury
the dead.
We lived, ate and sfept In that trench
with the unburied dead for six days,
1t was awful to watch their faces be-
come swollen and dlscoiored. Towards
the last the stencil was fierce.
What got on my nerves the most was
that foot sticking out of the dirt. 1t
seemed to me, at night, in the moon.
light, to be trying to twist around.
Several times this impression was so
strong that wentSto 1t and grasped 1t
In both hands, to see If l could feel q
movement.
told this to the man who had used
1t for hatrack just before lay down
for little nap, as things were quiet,
and / needed q rest pretty badly.
When / woke up the foot was gone.
He had cut it off with our chain saw
out of the spare parts box, and had
plastered the stump over with mud.
During the next two or three days,
before we were relieved, l missed that
foot dreadfully' seemed as If had
suddenly lost chum.
/ think the worst thing of all was to
watch the rats. at night, and some
times in the day, run over and play
about among the dead.
Near our gun, right across the para
pet, could be seen the body of Ger
man lieutenant, the head and arms of
which were hanging into our trench.
The man who had cut off the foot used
to sit and carry on one-sided CONVEX
sation with this officer, used to argue
and point out why Germany was in the
wrong. During all of this monologue
l never heard him say anything out Of
the way-anything that would have
hurt the officers feelings had he been
! alive He was square all right {.