The Dermott news., 1918-10-24
CHAPTER #VID-continued.

CHAPTER Nll-Continaed,
 -6--
 surgIV V.s6l5 W3~ tIe -rH9r officer. l would bave#ea5oz z=s=tt Haae if caHa ha1e -at haes at EfHH somehow. EutI ~as=aat tae gunner officer and told btH >o. had 3a shout at hum quite uhile before he would believe He. Theu L. wanted me to find the gunner officer, but l djd not know where ta find him. r l could have got to our guns guess l would have had auHher medal for working overtime hut missed fhe chance there.
 About this time another bomb came over and elouted out thc best friend l had in my company Before thr war he had been one of the finest siaz CTS in the Paris opera houses. When he was with us he used ta say that the onlF difference between hlm and Carnso was 5000 night.
 \ poilu and l dragged him into q dnsout. but it was too late One star of his face was blown off : the vhor right side of him WIS stripped og and four fingers of the right hand were gone
 I stuck my head out of the dusout and there was the captain discussing the matter with himself cur>ins the Germans from here to Hclgoland and putting in word for che bombs every once in q while All TIP and down the trenches you could hear our men curstue thc Germans in all kinds of languages. Believe me, | did mN bit and l could hear somebody else u~lH- good old United States cuss words. too. It certainly did not make me feel any better, but fl gave me somefhln- to do l think that was why at of Us cursed so much then. though We were pretty handy with language at any time. But when you are under heavy fire like that and cannot give 1t back as good as you get. you go crazy unless you have something to do. CuSsing Is the best thing We could think of
 Gp the trench the third bay was simply smashed in and the Germans were placing bomb after bomb right in lt and In ours. The captain yelled out that he was going up to the next bay 10 examine it, hut no more had he got there than he had his head taken clean off his shoulders.
 At dayhrcak our trenches were all pounded in and most of our dugoutS were filled up. Then Fritz opened up with his artillery fire right on Us. We thought they were going to charge and We figured their harrage would tiff and We could see them come over.
 We received orders to stand to with fixed bayonets Then the man at thc perjSeope shouted "Fbcy gemrt'
 \ battery directly behind us went Into acton first aud then they all joined in and insjde ot five minutes about el5br hundred guns vere raising Cain WlH FTtz. Tin E0Ttes wrrr eaHght s9u8re 5g Nh Nan Land and oHr r1es and machine EHas s.WHs moved tHem down Many of them came ha#f way acra=s then dropped their guns and ran For our trenches n give tbamsel4es up. Thet eou'a uot have got back to their own trenches.
 + was shame to waste n shel ou these poor fish If they had been civ Htcs the aw would prevent you from hitting thcm- you know the Kind, They could hardly drag themselves along.
 That k the way they look when you have got them. But when they have got you-kicks cuffs. hayoner jahs- there is nothing they Will not do to add to your misery. They seem to think that 1t boosts their own courage.
 An artillery fire like ours was great fun for the sunners but if was not much fun for Fritz or for us in the trenches. We got under cover almost as much as Fritz and held thumbs for the gunners to get through in a hurry.
 Then the fire died down and it was so quiet it made you jump
 We thought our parapet was busted up n good deal. but when We looked through the periscope we saw what had happened to Fritz trenches and, believe me, they were practically | ruined.
 Out in No Mans Land 1t 0oked like | XNaoIrorfhic Rvo-o nd ton nhvarvxuha