New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-01-20
Yankee Driver Writes
OF Days Under Fire
A Twenty-four Hour Day Carrying Wounded
Soldiers from the Front Line Trenches Casual
Incident in Misunderstanding Battles Over
Roads Break Monotony in Rest Periods

we waiked up on the hill last nit.
and there before US lay the b.sta,1ss
ground of the worlds war. 'sssle.
There were ten sausage balyo...,
the arr over the first lines. whiIs q n
guns were going fiercely. The Sue sus
could be plainly seen, as they ISS Ss.,
up.the entire horizon. 'saed
ut seemed hard to realize H..
stood on the ground of which w ~ va
so often read. and were ljsten;nass nave
the shells whistle, Of which We vs.. 70
rather read than hear, '0uio
Zone sees men brought in, all .h..
to pieces. is the other night r Gnu
was sent IN with an arm tucked und dea
a leg, wh1le another man was MIN.
a leg, which was put in somewhs.o
else. ] didn't take great pains ~
search for it. I"
Scarcely a man groans, which h.
l!eve must be due TO opiates at the frs,
aid stations, for they let out some Ie sr".
ones later on the road if bounced much
1--WE arrived here yesterday sf.ox
noon, distance Of about seven NIL.
on 'repos' for week or more Al
though not entirely out of hearinc af
the cannon, it is exceedingly quiet in
comparison, and, best of all, IN lit,ls
danger Of being bombed.
Tue sday of last week secured nor.
mission to go to the trenches. s y.
miles away, With four other fellow,
The trip was interesting, but We
passed through many entanglements
and old line trenches
when We arrived at the poste.de.
secours. which is located near vas.
cemetery in the ruins of town which
formerly boasteI 1900 inhabitants, but
which is Absolutely deserted now.
sentry told US We must take littls
path which wound up back Of the
houses, for if we took the main road
the sausage balloons and Boche planes
might spot us.
eve then came to hill which va,
covered with dugouts, and the Office
in charge summoned his lieutenant b
conduct US through the trenches. A,
we stood talking to him the battery
on the hill bacs of US began to volley
forth, and we couldn't resist lodging
as the shells wbistled over our heads
which amused the Frenchman consid.
erably.
"You CANT imagine a more desolats
sight than NO Mans Land with il,
earbed Wire entangl everywhere
and tree stu,aps al about. Not
blade of grass II anything alive hut a
few .crows cirti'ug around.
Eve were taken to the listening post.
where by looking through q periscope
and hole In q piece Of metal we could
distinctly sec the German trenches
thirty yards away,
his was very quiet day. they told
US. but ne all agreed it was quite ex-
citing enough-as you always have
feerng that very she'll that whistles
over your head was meant for you.
Il had nc sooner settled down in mr.
car'for the return trip than / heard the
purr Of Boche plane. Determined not
to get up, | stayed quiet until the ma
chime gun sputtered overhead. By this
time was well on my way out, but was
arrested by binding flash and an ex
plos'on which shook the car like a leaf.
My car mate and both fell On our
faces, for we shifted the smoke of the
fuse as it buried itself in the ground
lsss than two hundred yards away, and
thought 1T was a gas bomb. Not hay-
lrg our masks with US, we put our
roses down in the dirt, though that is
little safeguard in case OF gas. After
seeing SO many people gassed in the
last attack, believe NE, we will do any.
thing to keep away from it, Most Of
the. boys stayed in the 'abri' until 2,
when the Roche condescended to leave
US alone. but three different times
after that | crawled back to bed and
e.; many times had 10 creep forth, for
one never knows whether The next one
VIII get you OF not. Pleasant thought,
isn't it?
"At o'clock l went on duty, report.
ing at our first poste to get orders for
proceeding. A couple of shells just
burst on the crossroads about 300
yards away, which naturally caused me
to arise and stretch myself before con-
tlnuingO The Boches shell this road
every day.
ITO return to my story, when ar
rived at this little town, which has
scarcely one store remaining in it, |
found orders to go on to the next poste,
which. is less than a mile from the
first line trenches, and on account Of
beng on high road is absolutely ex-
posed to the Germans and can be
worked only from dark to daybreak.
Hall way | met an orderly-one Of
our fellows who are supposed to guide
US along the road and indicate where
the she'll holes are. He, however
missed the road, and instead Of turn
ing to the right went right on up the
hill. We We're in the midst Of bar
rage fire, which was so heavy from the
French guns L at undoubtedly it &C.
counts for our escaping alive, as the
German batteries were being SO badly
peppered that they had no chance to
retaliatc
After we had passed the second line
trenches and gone on for some distance
we met a couple of brancardiers carry
ing blesse. They took Us down
through the shell hole excavations into
brancardier poste just off the ifss
line and where no ambulance had ever
been before.
I'm the mean time the star shells
red. green and blur --were lighting
everything up like day. The branca-
diers put the wounded mar in the car
and we started eff down the hill. As
we looked from side to side We couia
trenches.
1--WE had gone about 200 yards when
the stretchcr on which the blesse was
lying, which was hung up in the MID,
die of the car, broke. letting him TAU
to the bottom. | shall never forget tue
pitiful sight Of that poor fellow as long
as I live
Eve jumped out and tried to RAISE
his head and shoulders. lie manager
to sit up some and we succeeded "
slipping the stretcher under him anu
fastening it to the bottom. | know
never thought so fast in my life, foi
all three of us expected every secoha
to be our last
After a while. you get used to the
sound of these shells known a. 'parti,