American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-03-19
UNSUNG HEROES.

Fritz does not consider a trench r
set OF trenches lost until at least two
hours after the allied troops have
taken it. In two hours much can hap
pen. The two hours of grace repre-
sent the time Fritz has found French
and British troops consume, under or
binary conditions, in getting lines of
communication established. Until this
is done, the captors are very much at
the mercy of a strong counterattack.
\. The most intense moment
OF an attack comes, not, as many think,
at the moment when one leaps over
the parapet, not during the mad sec
onds or minutes when the bayonet at
tack brings foemen within arms
length, but during the terrible period
OF suspense that ensue when an OBJ
%jective is first attained. Then it is,
when cartridge belts are nearly empty,
when the machine gunners have prac-
tically exhausted their supplies, when
the bombers have nothing but rows of
empty catches on their belts, that the
heart skips regular beats, and the fear
of death really grows to overwhelm-
ing proportions. When one is fighting
desperately there is no time for fear,
and as long as a man has weapons in
his hand he devotes his whole strength
of mind and body to their use; when
the last cartridge is in sight, however,
panic strikes into the heart.
1t is at this moment that one of the
most heroic figures of modern warfare
the ammunition runner-has his
day.
His business is simple. He has
merely to take chances of death ten
times greater than the fighter in the
ranks. He is not in the a when the
attack starts; he waits in the shelter
of the old fire trench with a comrade
and a %200-pound case of cartridges.
When it is time for him to make his
run. in the judgment of the officer
commanding the reserves, he crawls
over the parapet, seizes one of the
box handles, and then with his COM
rade he makes a STOPPING run for the
new trench at as fast a sprint as he
is capable of.
The barrage? He goes through it!
Stumbling along over bits of barbed
wire, she'll craters, and human bodies.
he runs straight into the deadly hail
that the enemy is keeping around the
advanced position for the express pur-
pose of stopping him.
Once in a while a runner wins
through unscathed, of course, but he
is the exception. Four out of every
five are wounded, and n of the four
is either killed outright or dies later of
his wounds.
At an attack at Craonne. the box
barrage was particularly deadly. The
Germans had established a zone of
death which did for six runners who
were the first to essay the trip. Then
came another terrible period of wait
ing, and another set of runners tried
to get across. These fell, and before
their relief had time to get even half
way, the Germans tumbled them down
like nine-pins. The defenders came to
the horrible realization that the
Boches, shielded by their parapet, were
picking off the with rifle fire
IN addition to the barrage.
1t was a desperate condition and de-
manded a desperate remedy. Though
he paradOs was lower than the para
pet. French snipers by the score. and
even ordinary privates. mounted to a
point where they could see the Ger
man snipers. Then ensued an unequal
combat. The Germans had far the
best of it. killing many more French
than the latter did Germans. 1t was
successful in the n respect. however.
that the German snipers we're kept
busy and while this was going on a
few more loads of ammunition came