Carrizozo outlook. [volume] (Carrizozo, N.M.) 1910-1945, 1919-01-03
CHAPTER Vll--contlnued.

1 surely wished / was the gunner
officer. l would have enjoyed II more
II l could have got back at Fritz
somehow. But l was not the gunner
officer and | told him 50 | had to
shout at him quite n while before he
would believe me. Then he wanted
me TO find the gunner officer, but !
did not know where 10 lind him. II /
could have got to our guns | guess ]
would have had another medal for
working overtime. but / missed the
chance there.
About this time another bomb came
over and clouted out the best friend
I had In my company. Before the
war he had been one Of the finest sing
ers In the Paris opera houses. When
he was with us he used to say that
the only difference between him and
Caruso was $500 n night.
A pollu and | dragged him into n
dugout, but Il was too late. One side
OF his fnce was blown of; the whole
right side OF him was stripped Off
and four fingers Of the right hand
were gone.
I stuck my head out OF the dugout
and there was the captain discussing
the matter with himself, curslng the
Germans from here to Helgoland and
putting In a word for the bombs every
once In n while. All up and down the
trenches you could hear u men
curslng the Germans In all kinds OF
languages. Believe me-, | did my bit
and | could hear somebody else using
good old United States cuss words,
too. II certainly did not make me feel
any better. but II gave me something
TO do. / think that was why all of
us cursed 80 much then, though we
were pretty handy with language at
any time. But when you are under
heavy fire like that and cannot give
It back as good as you get, you go
crazy unless you have something to do.
Cusslng Is the best thing we could
think OF.
Up the trench the third bay was
simply smashed In and the Germans
were placing bomb after bomb right
In II and In ours. The captain yelled
out that he vas going Up to the next
bay to examine II, hut no more had
he got there than he had his bend
taken clean on his shoulders.
At dnybrenk our trenches were all
pounded In and most OF our dugouts
were filled up. Then Fritz opened up
with his artillery fire right on as. We
thought they were going To charge and
we figured their bnrrHge would lift
and we could see them come over.
We received orders 10 stand 10 with
fixed b%nyoneta- Then the man at the
perlscope shouted. "rhey comet"
A battery directly behind us went
into action first and then they all
Joined IN and inside Of Ave minutes
about eight hundred guns were raising
Cain with Fritz. The Boches were
caught square IN No Mans Land and
y rifles and machine guns simply
moved them down. Many OF them
came half why across, then dropped
their guns ard ran for our trenches
to give themselves up. They could not
have got back 90 their own trenches.
II wrs a shame to waste n shell ON
these poor fish. II they had been civ
yies the law would prevent you from
hitting them-you know the kind.
rhcy could hardly drag themselves
along,
That IL the way they look when you
have got them, But when they have
cot you-kicks, cufs, bayonet jnbs-
here Is nothing they win not do to
id to your misery. They seem 10
link that II boosts their W courage.
An artillery fire like ours was great
m for the gunners, but II was not