Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-04-24
CHAPTER XVI.
All ouIet (?) on the Western Front

Al Quiet 10 on the Western Front
AZ brigade headquarters ] happened
10 oyerhear conversation between our
q. o. 9. general officer commandlng)
and the divisional commander. From
this conversation learned that we
were TO lombard the German lines for
eight days, and on the first Of July the
"blg push" was TO commence.
In n few days orders were issued to
thnt effect, and II was common prop
erty all along the line.
On the afternoon Of the eighth day Of
our "strafeIng." Atwell and were sit
ting In the froni-line trench smoking
fngs and making out our reports Of the
previous nights tour Of the trenches.
which we had to turn In TO headquar-
ters the following day, when an order
was passed down the trench that Old
Pepper requested twenty volunteers 10
20 over on trench raid that night to
try and get few German prisoners for
information purposes. Immediately
volunteered for this JOB. and shook
hands with Atwell. and went to the
rear to give my name TO the officers IN
charge OF the raldIng party.
was accepted. worse luck.
At 0;45 that night we reported to the
brigade headquarters dugout to receive
instructions from Old Pepper.
After reaching this dugout we lined
up In semlcircle around him, and he
addressed us as follows:
"All want you boys to do Is to 60
over to the German lines tonight. sur.
prise them, secure couple Of prison
ers, and return Immediately. Our ar
tillery has bombarded that section OF
the line for two days and personally
believe that that part Of the German
trench is unoccupied, so just get cou-
pie Of prisoners and return as quickly
as possible"
The sergeant on my right, in an un.
dertone, whispered to me:
"Say. Yank. how are we going to get
n couple Of prisoners II the old fool
thinks personally that that part of the
trench is unoccupied, sounds kind Of
flshy, doesn't II mater"
] had n funny sinking sensation In
my stomach, and my tin hat felt as II
II weighed about ton and my enthusi-
asm was melting away. Old Pepper
must have heard the sergeant speak
because he turned In his direction and
In laundering voice asked:
"What did you sayf"
The sergeant with scarlet look on
his face and his knees trembling,
smartly saluted and answered:
"Nothing. SIR"
Old Pepper said:
swell, don't say It so loudly the next
time"
Then Old Pepper continued:
I'm this section of the German
trenches there are two or three ma.
chine guns which our artillery. in the
last two or three days. has been un-
able to tape. These guns command the
sector where two Of our communica-
tion trenches join the front line, and
as the brigade is to 60 over the top to-
morrow morning want to capture two
or three men from these guns crews,
and from them may be able to obtain
valuable information as to the exact
location Of the guns. and our artillery
will therefore be able to demollsh them
before the attack, and thus prevent
our losing a lot Of men while using
these communication trenches to bring
up re-enforcements."
These were the instructions he gave
us:
Take of your Identification disks,
strip your uniforms Of all numerals,
insignia, etc, leave your Papers with
your captains, because don't want the
Boches to know what regiments are
against them as this would be valuable
information to them in our attack to-
morrow and I don't want any Of you
to be taken alive. What want is two
prisoners and II I get them / have n
way which will make them divulge
oil necessary Information as to. their
guns. You have your choice of two
weapons--you may carry your per
suaders' or your knuckle knives, and
each man viii arm himself with four
Mills bombs, these to be used only In
case of emergency"
A persuader is Tommy's nickname
for club carried by the bolnbers. It
Is about two feet long, thin at one end
and very thick at the other. The thick
end Is studded with sharp steel spikes.
while through the center Of the club
there Is a nlne.inch lead bar, to give
1t weight and balance. When you get
a prisoner all you have to do is just
stick this club up In front of him, and
believe me, the prisoners patriotism
for Deutschland ueber Allies" fades
away and he very willingly obeys the
orders Of his captor. II, however. the