The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-05-16


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 / got
| closer / could see a 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 u case this proved to be so.
The German artillery and machine
guns had US tapped (ranged) for fair |:
1t 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 n of the steam
shovels at work on the Panama canal7
Well, 1t would look like a hen scratch
Ing alongside of a 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 a
half-buried body. When the gun raj
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 protruding from the earth.
We knew it was a German by the black
leather boot. One of our crew used
that foot to hang extra bandoliers of
ammunition on. This man always was
a 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 machine-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 slept in that trench
with the unburied dead for six days.
1t was awful to watch their faces be-
come swollen and discolored. Towards
the last the stencil vas 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 | yer to it and grasped IL
in both hands, TO see If l could feel q
movement.
/ told this TO the man who had used
1t for a hatrack just before | lay down
for a little nap, as things were quiet.
and / needed a rest pretty badly.
When l 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 l had
suddenly lost a chum.
l 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 N right across the para
pet, could be seen the body Of a 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 a one-sided conver
satiOn with this officer, used to argue
and point out why Germany was In the
wrong. During all of this monologue
| 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
wouldn't even take advantage of a
lead man in an argument.
To civilians this must seem dread
eul. but out here one gets so used to
awful sights that Il makes no impress
sion. In passing a butcher shop you
are not shocked by seeing "a dead tur-l
key hanging from a hook. Well, In
France. a dead body is looked upon
from the same angle.
But. nevertheless. when our six days
were up. we were tiekled to death to
be relieved.
Our machine gun company lost
seventeen killed and thirty-one wound
ed In that little local affair of
Strengthening the line" while the,
other companies clicked 1t worse than
we did.
After the attack we went into re-
serve billets for six days. and on the
seventh once again we were in rest bill
lets.
ITO Be Continued)