Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-07-30

| cars and rode for night and dey
to Bruyers. While en- route, just at
dusk, Boche airplane suddenly at
| tackled the train with q machine gun
and wounded several of our men in
the cars behind. Darkness had set in
when we climbed off the train in
| Bruyers and started up the streets
which led to the outskirts Of the
city. This was hazardous work, for
German airplane made diligent ef-
forts to locate us as we moved along
in the darkness, silent and breath
less. On one occasion 1t flew so low
that we, lying fiat on the ground or
Strengthened up against walls and
houses, distinctly heard the occu-
pants Of the plane conyersing in
! German, and a little later the men
from the plane tossed down CHASTITY
greenish-whtte flares in tricky at
tempt to light up the road and de-
tect us, The Huns met with no sue
cess, however, and at last we reach
ed our billeting farms in the valley,
two kilos from the city, at place
called the "Old Vosges Mills" We
! were here from September 21st to
the 23d.
Leaving the "Old Mills" on Sep
| tember z3d, we marched to Dafosges
and were located at this place, cook
| ing and eating spuds, until late in
the evening Of September 29th, when
we started for long and exhaust
ing hike to the Vosges Mountains.
We arrived there early in the morn
| ing, it being about o'clock
Where?
In tho Trenches.
But despite the fact that the men
| were on the verge Of tottering from
thirst and exhaustion, lack of sleep
and food, we Immediately took up
posts in the dark mountains, some
Oh twisting, winding paths, beset
with treacherous barbed wire en-
tanglements; some close by our
own "huts" or "shacks," and others
near the "nests" of companionable
French machine gunners; while,
every once in while, a big German
shell came screaming over our
heads eand bursting somewhere in
the blackness beyond, with a deafen-
ing roar.
We were now in the picturesque,
sombre Vosges Mountains, in the re-
serve line trenches, directly above
the Alsa Lorraine boundary line,
with the Swiss border to our ex-
treme right and the French city Of
Moyemmentier behind us In the val
ley below. In front Of us, protected
by the Hun trenches, stood the Ger
man city Of Alsace, the military key
to Strassburg and Metz.
Into the Front Line Trenches.
| A few days later October 7th, at
Il. No., we moved into the front
| line trenches, and here we were ini-
tiated into every phase and variety
Of modern warfare. 1t was guard
duty and outpost duty of the most
vigilant kind every minute of the
day and night, watching, from places
OF cOncealment or the best cover OBJ
tainable, the skilful manoeuvres of
German scouting, bombing and OBJ
servation planes as they skilfully
! dipped out OF range Of the French
anti-aircraft guns, scouting for our
dug-outs, when the heavy artillery
duels took place between the Ger
man and the French batteries at our
tanks, and the giant shells whizzed
and roared over our trenches; pa
trolling across "No-Man 's-Land" in
both sunlight and darkness, fire.
quently penetrating through the
German wires, raiding the Hun
trenches at night, and hurting ever
lasting curses on pernicious rats and
pestilent "cooties."
(To be Continued.)