The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1920-04-08

eiied via 81 Omer and HAlcDfo--NA -
Popperinghe. which is about Z miles
west Of Ypres. At Popperinghe We
were detailed of in threes-Coionel
Barnes, r. NJ A., Capt Pope and ]
going 10 the Scots Guards. After
nosing about in Popperinghe for few
hours We joined up with the provis-
ion wagons and trundled out TO Ypres
along an awful paved road pitted with
shell holes. Just short Of lpres the
Huns started pouring a regular tor
nado Of high explosive and shrapnel
shell on the road, until it finally be-
came so bad that the transport col
umn had TO "about turn" and wal;
under cover Of an asylum until the
ahate" had worn of bit. No cas-
ualties occurred which seemed mirae-
ulous. as shell were bouncing on the
road a matter of few yards from our
Wagons.
After a ten minute wait We proceed-
ed into the ruined town Of Ypres, get
ting there about s p. m. Here the
Wagons stopped and parties of men
with hand carts took over the pro-
visions, and took them on to their re-
spectiye platoons in the reserve
trenches.
We walked on from Ypres to the
Battalion H. Qrs. Of the Scots Guards
at Potjieje (spelt wrong) about an
other mile east Of Ypres, being mildly
shelled the whole time.
There was a bright moon by this
time, and the ruins Of Ypres and the
shell-smashed trees gave most weird
impression, with the whole Of the
Ypres salient marked out by the flare
lights which the Huns continually
throw into the air from their trenches
in order to light up the ground be-
tween their trenches and ours.
We were all pretty fatigued by the
time we reached the II. Qrs. dug-out
as we had had no sleep the night be
fore, and were glad to snaffle little
supper.
Immediately after supper the c. o
| Colonel Gordon Lennox) told us of
for different parts of the trenches
Barnes remained at H. Qrs. Popt
went to the reserve line, and / to th'
front line; after going down half
mile Of communication trench, flop
ping into a shell hole full of waite
about five times a minute, we arriv
ed there and crept into a dug-out
where we found one Shift, subal
tern, covered with mud and with
four days old beard, cursing the Huns
and the war, and everything else.
In another corner Of the dug-ou
was a snoring sub-altern called Or
Ewing, who went on snoring until II
a. m. next morning.
April 9th.
At 2 a. m. | went along the trenches
with Shift. They arc really breast
works in this part, as one comes Z
water a foot down, so parapets ar
built up with sandbags in front Of an'
behind the men in the trenches
Boards run along the bottom Of tn
trench, and you frequently slip int
water up to your waist--luclNily / ha'
managed to borrow some trench wad
ers.
Sniping goes on all night, and tn
Huns fire Very's lights almost con
tinuously, which light up the inter
) vening ground for them,--and for u
too. The Huns trenches were abou
/, $50 yards away, closing in TO 8
, yards in places.
We got back into the dug-out abou
8 a. m. and at 4 a. m. the men "stoo
to- in the trenches in care Of a daw
, attack. So ended the second sleep
/ less night. We had sausages and bac
: on, breed, butter, jam end hot coife
! for breakfast, which seemed TO m
, most luxurious considering the close
ness Of the enemy.
, During the forenoon the British Al
? t;uery carried out a grand Straf
1 la~ainst the Hun trenches. the she
shrielsing and buzzing just over ou
hecds as we smoked and summed our
selves behind our parapet-the Hun
{ replied fecbly with "whizz-banga
j (shrapncl) and "pip-squeala" (sma
, high velocity shcn). At noon th
, British Artillery dried up, and all Wa
e. ipcaco and quiet until about ? o'cioc
/. when the Huns started in with 5.9
, shells from P1len, which eufladc
q our trenches aud everything became
- 'oud q mud and steel for two q
1 'tt-ca hours There as ro.hing 70 &
I hgt laF ones cars back and hope
became IS Bad at one trt th1t h
mon h o D. uovel back out cf &
--r one @ tie c1~
tMr n