Carrizozo outlook. [volume] (Carrizozo, N.M.) 1910-1945, 1919-02-14

as comfortable as possible In II when
along came a shell OF what must have
been the Jack Johnson size. and we
were swnmped. We had TO dig three
OF the men out. and though one of
them was badly wounded we could not
send him back TO the hospital. In
fact, the Smelling was 80 heavy that
none OF us eyer expected TO come cpt
Of II alive.
So. II was like keeping your W
death watch, with the shells tuning
up for the dlrgc. II was impossible to
listen to the shells. If you kept your
mind on the noise for any length OF
time IL would split your enrdrums. /
nm sure. So NIL we coulti do was to
lay low ~ inc shell hole and whit for
something to happen.
Then they began using shrnpnei on
us, and one of our machine gunners.
who got up from his knees to change
position. had his head taken clean OF
his shoulders, and the rest OF him
landed near my feet and squlrmed a
little, Ike Il chicken that had just been
killed. II was awful 10 see the body
without my head move around that
way, ana we could hardly make our
selves touch II for some time. Then
we rolled II to the other side OF the
hole.
Then, TO one side Of us, there was
n more violent explosion than amy yet.
The earth spouted up and fell on us.
and big clouds Of black smoke. sliding
along the ground, covered our shell
hole and hung there for some time.
One OF sergcants. from the regular
French infantry. said II was n shell
from n Turkish 155-mm. hOwitzer.
That was only the first one. The
worst thing nbout them was the smoke
people who think Pittsburgh Is
smoky ought TO see about fifty of those
big howltzer shells bursting. one after
another.
We could not tell what the rest of
our line was doing or how we were
standing the awful fire. but we felt
sure they were not having any worse
time than we were. In n few minutes
we heard the good old "T5s" start
pounding, and II was like hearing nm
old friends voice over the telephone,
and everybody In our shell hole
checrcd, though no one could hear us
and we could barely hear each other,
still we knew that II the "75s" got
going In their usual style they would
do for an enemy battery or two, and
that looked good TO US. The "75s'
made the noise worse, but II was al
ready about ms bad as II could be,
and a thousand guns more or less
would not have made It any harder
TO stand.
One OF our men shouted In the ser
geant's ear that the men in line ahead
Of us and TO the right were trying "a
give ny "A message OF some kind. Tho
sergeant stuck his head above the
parapet and had a look. But | stayed
where | was-the sergeant could sec
for himself and me, too. as far as
was concerned,
He shouted at us that the men In
the other trench we're trying TO sigma
something, but he could not make n
out because the clouds Of smoke would
roll between them and break up tn,
words. So he laid down again In tn,
bottom OF the hole. But after a while
he looked over the parnpet and saw
n man just leaving their trench. evi
IDENTIFY with a message for us, and HI
had not gone five steps before he wal
blown 10 pieces, and the lad who fol
lowed him got his, too. so they stopped
trying then.
And all the time the "75s" wer,
sending theirs to the Turks not fal
over our heads 10 900 yards behlnC
us, and the howitzers were dropplnI
their 240-pound bits OF iron In ever!
vacant space and some that were no
vacant. II was Just one big roar an,
screech and growl all at once, llkI
turning the whole dog pound loosI
on a piece Of meat.
The conclusions felt like one lonl
string OF boxes on the ear, and on
throats were so dry that Il hurt I,
swallow, which always makes you
ears feel better after a strong concus
sion. One after another OF our boy
was slipping TO the ground and digginI
his fists into his ears. and the rest o
them sat on the paPnpet fire step viii
their heads between their knees an.
their arms wrapped around thei
heads.