The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-21
Lieutenant Keilmann Tells OF
the Scotch Devils.
Details of Exhaustive Drill
Before Going Into Battle.
THEY USED MEAT CLEANERS
Preliminary BOmbardment Not
Necessary for Them.
Thru to Third Line, Leaving
Slaughtered Huns Behind.


(I,ieutenant American c. A. c. in France
now back in Kansas.)
did you ever hear of the Ladies of
Help" We were up in the crow nest
again, and it was my friend the cap
tain of the medical corps talking
again. had heard OF them, l
thought, but American soldiers, | SAID
had been told not to mingle with that
sort of society.
you have not heard of them then,
or you would not say that 1hese
ladies of the neither regions are the
sort with whom it would dc American
soldiers good to associate. They are
men-real men-and the very pest
that the British isles can produce: II
WA the boc:-e who gave them their
ribald cognomen.
aWhen | first saw them they were
filing into the advance trenches just
preparatory to going over the Top;
Finer specimens of the human animal
] never did see. a sergeant OF tne
British army who came to turn them
over to the officers who We're to lead
them forward, told me how they had
been picked and trained. He said they
were the pick of two brlSadeS OIL
Highlanders. and that for the prevl-
the hardest schooling ever given a
soldier One drill sergeant aiter
another had taken them in hand AS
fast as one sergeant had become eA-
hausted. another had taken holu- Al
tn end of the six weeks they We're
tn, hardest physically of any men In
the world. They had stood the grind
with real American Indian stoicisn,
for they were to avenge the Insults
that had been heaped upon theHl-
A ''Jokc" to Huns.
1T seems that the Germans had
been trying to make a Joke OF tne men
who had worn skirts into bate a
Highlander loves his kilt, and iJbe
at the kilt is a cut to his pride. Ihey
were now about to show the boche
some stuff that would make them re
spect a kilt for the rest of their lives
''Silently they filed past that dug
mt of mine silently and grlmly.
There was not a smile in all that bat
TALON. not even as each took and heft-
ed quietly the meat cleavers that were
issued from the adjoining dugout-
Farther on each was handed an au-
tomato pistol and a supply of loaded
extra magazines. 1t was only When
the officer in charge passed the word.
-Four minutes more that any sort OF
expression came on those canny faces
Looked Like Giants.
"'AlI right. me lads, it's over the
top and out they scrambled. Out
there in the open they looked like
giants None. of them were under six
feet, but out there in the murky light
of dawn. they appeared twice that
size They walked forward. 1t was
my first chance to see the men go for
ward and to see them walk was dis
appointment. 1 had always imagined
that going forward was done at a run.
These men even kept step and a line
as they advanced, their heavily laden
hands swung in unison and at every
other step one could see the CLEAN
of the cleavers.
1.-The movement had been planned
as a surprise and a surprise it was.
There was no barrage fire to clear
the way of wire, but those cleavers
made short work of the German wire
when they came to it. 1t was not till
the clang of cleaver on tough wire,
that the Huns realized what was up.
They realized too late. for in another
moment, the wire was cleared and at
a lope, yelling wild Highland cries,
the line sprang forward, the cleavers
describing cleaning arcs in the gray
of the morning light. Not until the
crest of the Hun bitches were reached
was a pistol fired
THE skirt - kilt - clad figures
paused a moment only on the edge
of the ditch and each emptied his
pistol before making his plunge
downward, striking with his cleaver
as he jumped. There was no more
shooting after they disappeared. The
artillery got active just then and at
the same time a rush of reserves
came up to follow the first wave.
To Third Line.
I'VE went thru to the third line in
that little push and what is more we