Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1918-08-30
CHAPTER xxv-Contlnued.


When we took over the front line
We received an awful shock The
Germans displayed slgnboards over
the top OF their trench showing the
names that we had called their
trenches. The signs read Fair"
"Fact," Fate and Fancy" and so
on, according to the code names on
our map. Then to rub II in, they
holsted some more signs which read,
Come on, We are ready, stupid Eng.
Ilsh."
II Is still mystery to me how they
obtained this knowledge. There had
been no raids or prisoners taken, so
II must have been the work of spies
In our own lines.
Three or four days before the big
push we tried to shatter Frltzs nerves
by felnt attacks, aud partially sue.
ceeded as the official reports OF July
show.
Although we We're constantly BON.
harding their lines day and night, still
we fooled the Germans several times.
This was accomplished by throwing
an intense harrage into his lines
then using smoke shells we would put
curtain Of white smoke across No
Mans Land, completely obstructing
his view OF our trenches and
would raise our curtain Of fire
as II IN IN actun attack All
down our trenches the men would
shout and cheer, aud Fritz would turn
loose with machine gun, rifle, ana
shrapnel fire, thinking We were com.
Ing over
After three or four OF these dummy
attacks his nerves must have been
near the breaking point.
On June "a, 1916, ut $40 In the
morning our guns opened up and hell
was let loose The din was terrific,
constant boom-boomboom in your ear
At night the sky was a red glare
Our bombardment had lasted about
two hours when Fritz started reply
ing. Although We were sending over
ten shells TO his one, our casualties
were heavy. There was a constant
stream of stretchers coming out of the
communication trenches and burial
parties were common sight.
In the dugouts the noise OF the guns
almost hurt You had the same sensa
ton as when riding on the subway you
enter the tube under the river going
10 BrOoklyn-a sort of pressure on the
ear drums, and the ground constantly
trembling
The roads behind the trenches were
very dangerous because Boche shrap
mel was constantly bursting over them.
We avoided these dangerous spots By
crossing through open fields.
The destruction In the German lines
was awful and really felt sorry for
them because realized how they must
be clicking 1t.
From our front-line trench every
now and again, we could hear sharp
whistle blasts In the German trenches
These blasts We're the signals for
stretcher bearers, and meant the
or killing Of some German IN
the service of his fatherlund.
Atwell and | had a tough time of II,
the different trenches ut
night, but after awhile got used to ii.
My old outfit the machine gun com
pany, was stationed In huge elephant
iugouts about four hundred yards be.
hind the front-llne trench-they We're
n reserve. Occasionally ! would stop
n their dugout and have confab WITH
my former mates. Although we tried
to be jolly, still, there was a lurking
feeling OF impending disaster. Each
man was wondering II, after the
slogan, "Oyer the top with the best Of
luck had been sounded, would he sim
be alive or would he be lying some
where In France" In nm old dlHpdatpd
house, the walls OF which We're Scared
with maehine-gun bullets, No. 3 sec.
lion OF the machine gun company had
is quarters. The company's cooks pre-
pared the meals In this billet On the
fifth evening of the bombardment
German eight-inch shell registered n
direct hit on the billet and wiped out
zen men who were asleep in the sup
posedly bomb-proof cellar. They were
buried the next day and attended the
funeral.
CHAPTER XVI.