Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-04-11

+ goot! and plenty.
Our machine gun company took over
/ their part Of the line at seven o'clock,
4 the night after I returned from my
near leave.
i waves Went over and captured the first
and second German trenches. The
4 machine gunnerS went over with the
1 fourth wave to consolidate the cap
/ tured line or dig in,' as Tommy calls
4 1t.
J Crossing No Mans Land without
, clicking any casualties, we came to
the German trench and mounted our
guns on the parados of same.
/ / never saw such Il mess in my life
| punches of twisted barbed wire lying
about, shell holes everywhere, trench
1 all Dashed in parapets gore. and dead
( bodies, why, that ditch was full of
them, theirs and ours. 1t was regu-
| lar morgue. Some We're mangled hor-
ribly from our shell fire, while others
were wholly or partly buried in the
mud, the result Of shell explosions cav
ing in the walls of the trench. One
dead German was lying on his back,
with rifle sticking straight up in the
mir, the bayonet of which was buried
to the hilt in his chest. Across his feet
lay dead English soldier With bull
let hole in his forehead. This Tommy
must have been killed just as he ran
his bayonet through the German.
Rifles and equipment were scattered
about, and occasionally q steel helmet
could be seen sticking out of the mud.
At one point. just in the entrance to
q communication trench, was stretch
er. On this stretcher German was
lying with white banduge around his
knee. near to him lay one of the
stretcher-bearers, the red cross on his
arm covered with mud and his helmet
filed With blood and brains. Close by,
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 l 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
knecEel about, big square-cut timbers
Splinsered into bits, walls caved in and
entrances choked.
Tommy, after taking trench, learns
10 his sorrow that the hardest part of
the work is to hold it.
In our case this proved to be so.
a
/ guns had us tapped (ranged) for fair;
it was worth your life to expose YOUR
self an instant.
Don't think for minute that the
Germans We're the only sufferers; we
We're clicking casualties so fast that
4 you needed an adding machine to keep
track of them.
Did You ever see one of the steam
! shovels at work on the Panama canal?
Well it would look like hen scratch
ing alongside of Tommy digging i'm
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 crow we managed TO set up our
machine gun One OF the legs of the
tripod was resting cn the chest of Il
half-buried body When the gun was
firing, ii gave the Impression tlat the
body was breathing. This was caused
by The excessive vibrations
Three or four feet down the trench,
shout three feet from the ground, u
foot was protruding from the earth.
We knew it was 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.
I attacks, which we repulsed, but not
without heavy loss on our side. They
also suffered severely from our Shell
and macline-gun fire. The ground was
+ spotted with their dead and dying.
The next day things We're 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
4 the last the stencil was fierce
v hat got on my nerves the most was
that foot sticking out of the dirt. It
4 seemed to me, at night, in the moon.
light, to be trying to twist around.
j Several times this impression was SO
strong that | went to it and grnsped it
in both hands, to see If l could feel O
I movement.
told this to the man who had used
1T for hatrack just before / lay down
4 for little nap, as things were quiet,
and needed rest pretty badly.
When woke up the foot was gone.
BE had cut it off with our chain saw
out of the spare parts box, and had
plastered the stump over with mud.
h During the next two or three dnys,
before we We're relieved, 1 missed that
foot dreadfully; seemed as if / had
suddenly lost chum.
] 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 gun, right across the para
! pet, could be seen the body of Ger
4 man lieutenant. the head and arms of
which We're hanging into our trench
The man who had cut off the foot used
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