The Washington herald., 1918-02-18
'FRONT.'. The Jonah phrase OF the West-

HO JOudu pilIdtC VI lIle " tSl-
ern front. To Tommy 1t means il you
are lucky enough to come back. you
will be minus an arm or a leg. Tom
my hates to be wished the best of
luck; so, when peace is declared. if it
ever is, and you met a Tommy on the
street, Just wish him the best Of luck
and duck the brick that follows.
I glanced again at my wrist-watch.
We all wore them and you could hard
ly call us ''sissies" for doing SO. 1t
was a minute to 1 O'Clock. I could
see the hand move to the Il, then a
dead silence. II hurt. Every one
looked up to see what had happened.
but not for long. Sharp whistle blasts
rang out along the trench, and with
a cheer the men scrambled up the
ladders. The bullets were cracking
overhead. and occasionally a machine
gun would rip and tear the top of the
sand bag parapet How got up that
ladder l will never know. The first
ten feet out in front was agony. Then
we passed through the lanes in our
barbed wire. / knew 1 was running.
but could feel no motion below the
waist. Patches on the ground seemed
, 10 float to the rear as IL were on a
anu SSCAGtlJ was past
me. The Germans had put a barraSe
of shrapnel across No Mans Land. and
you could hear the pieces slap the
ground about you.
After had passed our barbed wire
and gotten into No Mans Land,
Tommy about fifteen feet to my right
front turned around and looking in
my direction. put his hand to his
mouth and yelled something which L
could not make out on account of the
noise from the bursting shells. Then
he coughed. stumbled. pitched for
ward. and lay still. His body seemed
to float to the rear of me. I could
hear sharp cracks in the air about me.
These were caused by passing rifle
bullets. Frequently. to my right and
left, little spurts OF dirt would rise
into the air. and a ricochet bullet
would whine on its way. II Tommy
should see one of these little spurts in
front of him. he would tell the nurse
about it later. The crossing OF No
Mans Land remains a blank to me-
Men on my right and left would
stumble and fall. Some would try to
get up, while others remained huddled
and motionless. Then smashed-up
barbed wire came into view and SEEM
ed carried on a tide to the rear Sud-
denly, in front OF me loomed bashed-
in trench about four feet wide. Queer
looking forms like mud turtles were
scrambling up its wall. One of these
forms seemed to slip and then rolled
to the bottom of the trench. / leaped
across this intervening space. The
man to my left seemed to pause In
mid-air, then pitched head down into
the German trench. ] laughed out
loud in my delirium. Upon alighting
on the other side of the trench I came
to with sudden jolt. Right in front
of me doomed a giant form with a rifle
which looked about ten feet long.
on the end of which seemed
seven bayonets. These flashed
in the air in front of me. Then
through my mind flashed the admoni-
tion of our bayonet instructor back
in Blighty. He had said, whenever
you get in a charge and run your
bayonet up to the hlt into a German,
the Fritz whl fall. Perhaps your rifle
will be wrenched from your grasp. Do
not waste time, IL the bayonet is
fouled in his equipment, by putting
your foot on his stomach and tugging
at the rifle to eXtricate the bayonet.
Simply press the trigger and the bullet
will free it." In my present situation
this was fine logic, but for the life
of me I could not remember how he
had told me to get my bayonet into
the German. To me. this was the
paramount issue. closed my eyes, and
lunged forward. My rifle was torn
from my hands. must have gotten
the German because he had disappear
ed. About twenty feet to my left front
was huge Prussian nearly six feet
four inches in height, fine specimen
OF physical manhood. The bayonet
from his rifle was missing. but he
clutched the barrel In both hands and
was swinging the butt around his
head. I could almost hear the swish
of the butt passing through the air.
Three little Tommies were engaged
with him. They looked like pigmies
alongside of the Prussian. The Tom
my on the left was gradually circling
to the rear of his opponent. 1t was a
funny sight to see them duck the
swinging butt and try to lab him at
the same time. The Tommy nearest
me received the butt of the Germans
rifle in a smashing blow below the
right temple. 1t smashed his head
like an eggshell. He pitched forward
on his side and a convulsive shudder
ran through his body. Meanwhile, the
other Tommy had gained the rear OF
the Prussian. Suddenly about four
inches of bayonet protruded from the
throat of the Prussian soldier, who
staggered forward and fell will
never forget the look of blank aston
ishment that came over his face.
Then something hit me in the left