The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-02-26


growth and barbed wire for about
a kilometre and about an equal dis
tanct down the other side before ar
irving at the objective. When at the
top of the ridge the German barrage
became a veritable He'll The whole
heavens were lighted with bursting
shells and 1t seemed as though no
living thing could exist in such a
hail. So Fred ordered his men to dig
into Fox Holes" and wait until
things abated little. CA fox hole is
a small trench just large enough for
one or two men to lie in full length.
Sometimes as many as four men can
get into one hole.) They had been
in these holes few minutes when
an extra heavy explosion occurred
so very near that Fred rose up to
see what damage had been done to
his men. He found that two of his
men had been completely covered up
by the explosion, but seemed to be
all right as he could see their arms
working up through the dirt and de-
bris from the hole they had been ill.,
Three men that were in his hole also
rose up, as well as one in hole near
by, when there came whish-BANG.
and it seemed as if the whole world
had blown up and taken off his head
and shoulders. His head and ear
drums seemed to vibrate six inches
in and out each side and his eyes
felt as if they would burst out of his
head. But by supreme effort he
shook himself together and found
that a $50 nm High Explosive shell
had hit and burst WITHIN SIX
FEET OF WHERE HE WAS STAND.
ING. So far as | have been able 10
determine, it is the only case known
where such an occurrence happened
without the man getting wounded.
His Sergeant at his side had his
arm and leg shattered, the other
men in the hole received various
wounds, and the man who rose from
the other hole near by got a shoulder
wound. Immediately Fred gathered
himself together, gave first aid treat.
ment to his four men--three of whom
could walk, and sent these three con.
voyed by two we'll ones, back to the
first-aid station. The Sergeant he
made as comfortable as he could un-
til stretcher bearers could be sum
moned.
After another few minutes the bar
rage shifted little and they crawled
out and went forward again. This
time, in order to avoid concentra.
lions of shell fire at certain points, he
led his men in zig-zag lines more or
less parallel to the ridge, until they
had advanced several hundred me.
tres down the slope. Then suddenly
he began to hear a machine gun spit.
ting on his right and little later
another on his left. The one on his
left was spraying bullets right
amongst them, while the other one
did not seem to be molesting them
in any way. Accordingly he decided
that on his last zig-zag he had got
ten out beyond his own front line
and near the Germans. Also, as
best he could determine, this was the
point marked on his map at which
ne was to wire in. So he worked nm
as close to the hostile gun as he
thought safe, and indicated on the
ground to his Sergeant where to
start wiring in. Then he started
over to reconnoitre the other machine
gun and verify his suppositions. Nv
this time 1t was broad day light so
that everybody had to lay pretty low
to avoid shippers. He worked along
In the general direction of the other
gun for about 100 metres when he
came upon a pathetic sight Over In
shell hole was Sergeant and three
men, Americans, manning a machine.
gun, while a fourth man lay Just out.
side the hole severely wounded
through the body They were all
that remained of machine.gun SQUAD
OF fifteen. The wounded man was
chalky white and groaned pitifulIv
but OF course nothing could be done
out in that exposed position. Fred
asked the sergeant where the rest If
the Infantry was and he said he didn't
Know. He and his squad had adj
yanced that far in the darkness and
could get no farther. and he was lost
So Fred told him that they were in
couple of hundred metres of the
German lines and that if he would
come along, he would show him