The state herald., 1919-02-28


food. and they did not have to follow
the usual routine. but came and went
a they pleased-
Our mipers, as q rule. went over
the parapet aboat dusk, just before
Fritz got his star shells going. They
would crawl out to shell craters Of
tree stumps or holes that they had
spotted during the day-ln other
words, places where they could see
the enemy pafape9 but could not b
seen themselves Once IN position,
they would make themselves comfort.
able. smear their tin hats with dirt,
get q good rest for their rines and
snipe every German they saw. They
wore extra bandoleefs Of cartrideea,
since there was no telling bow many
rounds they might IRE during the
night Sometimes they had direct and
visible taryen and other times they
potted huns By guessvosk. Usually
they crawied back Just before day
light but sometimes they were out "a
hours At q stretch. They took great
pride In the number Of Germans they
Knocked over. and II our men did not
get eight or ten they thought they had
not done q good nights work. OF
course II was not Wholesale killing,
like machine cunning. but II was vefy
useful because our snipers were al
vays laying fee he German snipess,
and when they got sniper FrtfI thsy
saved Just 70 many Of our lives.
The Nmeys have Z gfeai little ex-
pression that means q lot: Cary on"
They say II Is Q eockney expression.
When 4 captain falls In action. his
words are not q message to the g1ri
he left behind him or any dope about
his gray-haired mother. but -Carry on.
Lieutenant Whosta." II the Lieutenant
ee<s his II u -Carry on. Sergeant
Jacks." and % o. a. far a. It goea.
30 the words used to mean. sTake
over the command and do ths Job
right" But now they mean not only
that but Keep up your courage. and
90 to It" One man WI say Il to
another sometimes when he thinks the
arst man Il getting downhearted. but
more often. II he IL q Limey. ~ w1Il
start Kidding hin
our men. Of course, did not say
-Cany on" and In fact they did not
have any expression In French that
meant exactly the same thing. But
they used to cheer each other along,
all right and they passed along the
command when II was necessary. too.
I wonder what expression the Ameri-
can troops VIII use. (You notice I
Do not call them ssmmies
I took my turn at listening post With
the rest Of them, Of course 4 listen
Ing post is any good position out In
No Mars Land. and IL always held BY
two men. Their Job Il to keep Q live
ear on Frit1 and In case they hear any
thing that sounds very much Ike an
attack one man runs back to his lines
and the other stays to bold back the
Boches a. long a. he can. You can
figure for yourself which Il The most
healthfui Job.
As many times a. I went on listen.
ing-post duty never did get to feel
Ing homelike there exactly. You have
TO lie very still. of course. as Fritz is
listening. too. and a move may mean
q bullet In the ribs. So. lying on the
ground with hardly q change Of posi-
ton. the whole lower part Of my body
would 90 to sleep before had been
at the post very long. I used TO brag
q lot about bow fast / could run. so
! had my turn as the runner. which
suited me all right. But every time
! got to listening post and started
TO think about what ! would do II
Fritz should come over and wondered
how good q runner be was. I took q
long breath and said. Feet. do your
duty" And was strong on duty.
After l had done my stunt In the
ffont-line and reserve trenches I went
back with my company to billsts. but
had caly been there for a day or two
before was detached and detailed to
the artillery position to the right Of us.
where both the British and French
- seSS9asIA oaso kohr. 4oSLo WStN
guns Of all caiibers there, both naval
and neld pieces. and I got Z good look
at the famous 'T5's." which are the
best guns In the world, in my estima.
don. and the one thing that saved
vsrdun.
The '75s" fred 90 shots a minu,s,
where the best the German guns could
DO was six. The American thrce-inch
neld piece lets 30 six times minute.
too. The French government owns the
secret Of the mechanism thnt made
this rapid nre possible. When the first
los" began to roar. the Germans
knew the French had found q new
weapon. 20 they were very anxious to
get one Of the guns and learn the
secret.
Shortly afterwsrd they captured
eight guns BY a mass attnck In which.
the allies claim. there were 1000 Ger.
man troops killed. The Boches studied
1 the e.. A.