Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-15
No Wonder Germany Quit
NUMBER FORTY-FOUR

Outside! Everybody! Stand to!
used to be the cry every morning
| just before dawn in the trenches"
said Major Frank c. Mahin, of the
Army Recruiting Station, 325 Market
street, Harrisburg. Fancy having
to roll out of a couple of nice warm
blankets, in a snug dugout that had
| gotten beautifully heated up dur
| ing the night, out into utter black
ness, in IL cold drizzle, at four in
the morning. Sleepy men went
stumbling through the muddy
trenches to their stations, showed
their rifles through a loophole or
over the parapet, took a look out
over No Mans Land, as they started
to get chilled, gathered in groups
of three to four, swapped makings,
and proceeded to. cuss the Boche,
| the war and everything in general.
1mperceptibly it grew lighter, off to
the right tinge of pink would ap-
pear, changing slowly to a dull drab
as the clouds thickened again. Our
own barbwire would come into view.
then the shell-torn ground in front
and finally the Boche wire and
| parapet, and it was daylight and the
! hour of stand to- had passed. Teeth
chattering, shivering, dripping rain
and mud, the men would hurry back
into their dugouts wrap in their
| blankets and wait for the coffee and
bread that would be along some time
] in the next hour, if nothing hap
I Dpnal Affar the Nnffna had hnan
disposed of everyone turned in for
q couple of hours more sleep except
perhaps two sentries who were COM
| fortably seated in a little boothlike
place built of sand bags, with a
steel shield in the front containing
a slit through which the sentries
watched. They also had periscope
to use il. they could not see enough
through the slit. The snipers, too,
would go crawling out to the place
they had picked for their days work
and from the supporting groups the
patrols would come in to see if
everything was o. X. in the front
! lines. Along about 8 o'clock there
would be sudden stirring in the
dugouts, almost as though an alarm
| clock had gone off. In a couple of
mirutes everyone would be in the
trenches, furtively watching the
communicating trench. And it
wouldn't be long before their eX-
! pectancy would be rewarded by the
| appearance of huge cans of coffee
and hash or slum (stew). In some
! part of that trench sector would be
n crude table and on the table the
chow cans would be deposited. The
section sergeant would then pro-
ceed to dish out breakfast and as
the mems messkits were filled, each
man would find seat on the firing
step az close to the source of supply
as possible and hastily consume his
breakfast in the hope of getting
seconds, If he hurried enough. And
what difference in spirits a little
food made. Perhaps you have
/ noticed no mention of a morning
wash and there had purposely been
| no mention of such a thing because
there Is no water up front for wash
ing. To clean the messkit everyone
saves perhaps a tablespoon full of
coffee which when poured into the
messkit and stirred around vigorous
ly with a muddy finger, loosens up
! the grease enough so that the mess
kit can be cleaned passably with a
| piece OF paper. Then everyone sets
| to cleaning up rifles, bayonets, pis-
tolls, automatic rifles, and the rifle
Rrenadiers clean the rifle grenades
so as to insure a clear flight of the
grenades if they are fired. After the
first few days in the trenches the
! men are only too anxious to keep
their weapons clean and so would
you he IL your very life depended on
the proper functioning of your rifle.
Dinner is served at in the after
| noon and soon after, as it gets dark,
stand to- again takes place and lasts
| until complete darkness has set in.
1t seems a strange thing that for two
hours of each twenty-four hours
only few sentries are on duty. The
| reason is that If a big general at
tack is made it always takes place
at dawn so that the attacking troops
are through the worst of their
trouble before 1t is daylight. A
local attack is usually made at dusk
and then the cover of darkness is
used in digging new trenches, string
ing wire and consolidating the cap
tured position before daylight comes
to disclose the work that is going on.
And since you never know-even in
the most quiet sectors-when an at
tack Is coming every man must be
at his post every day during those
two periods of greatest danger"