Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-20

|
TIME Master Demon staged his
| little show that night. And he
used the props of He'll itself
Il 1t was no mean affalr.
After months of EFFORT
months of elaborate concentration
the Boche had broken through at
point ten kilOmeterS south. twenty
divisions strong. he ploWed forward
sweeping back the French lines as
flood sweeps away a levee. Ali night
the Frenchmen came back, fighting
srimly, but steadily yielding ground,
and it was well toward dawn before
achievements, largely American, got
in to their support.
Abie's regiment, rushed south In
camions, went into action before Ocy'
| light, assembling in a wood at the
crest of rise and forming combat
packs to the rumble of big shells
passing overhead.
The counter assault began as usual
with a barrage-a wicked lombard
ment, put down by close-laid batteries
firing at top speed-and 1t proceeded
with the usual frenzied dash into the
open, under flares. down bullet
swept slope lit by constant flashes,
across a meadow failed by machine
gun fire and upon another more grad
ual slope into a village black with
shadows and alive with lodging fig
ures in round pot helmets.
The village was taken in a rush
then the detachment was out in the
open again, on the dim floor of the
valley--a great fiat stretch of poison
ed earth fought over for weeks and
pitted with shell-holes, craters, hasty
trenches, abandoned emplacements.
1t was costlier going here, with the
air full of singing particles, the
platoons thinning fast, the lines lean
ing forward like men in q heavy rain
storm. They came to wire entangle
ments, crossed empty rifiepits, plunged
into a sudden storm of cross-fire from
a pill.box. There they waivered ar
instant, halted, moved down by bull.
let's, men dropping everywhere. And
then they went on again, stumbling
falling, staggering to their feet. stub
bornly plunging through smoke and
darkness.
Up long level slope to more wire
| into another rifle pit-acrOss a tangle
of steel beams and cracked cement,
and suddenly-uneXpecte without
any warning, as so often happens-it
was over.
The gun-fire ceased; they stood In
trench at the crest of pockmarked
rise above a waste of craters. shell
holes and hasty dug.outs: and below
in the first gray light of dawn, hurry
ing shadows vanished in the gloom.
Day broke as, painting, sweating.
caked with mud and blood, dangling
the butts of rifles, the survivors of
Abie's company flung themselves down
on the ground and rested.
| fI1n <r,,itt n
ball showed in the east, and tho in
evitable order came: dig in"'
They got up and dug, while the
air above them sang with an occa
sional bullet and the sun climbed
slowly above distant trees. Stiff
lame backs aching, fingers slippery
with mud, they filled torn sandbags
built up the rampant. rolled away dead
bodies and-eternally--dug. Daylight
| showed them huddled in shallow cover
far out on a waste of mud and debris
and torn wire.
Where are WEI"
whats the idea?"
"Who said this was homer"
what neXt?"
No one knew. No one hoped to
know The enlisted man is not sup
posed to know.
"Why don't they breeze up with
those replacements?"
| Going to leave us here?"
what sort of war is this?"
ooh, give EN- time! They'll come
all right. Get busy and dig!'
So they dug and rested, rested and
| dug; sat about in the pale early sun.
| shine, lighting cigarettes with shaky
fingers; joked, laughed and grumbled
tried to sleep, some of them, and
wondered. all Of them. what was to
| follow.
The morning drew on and noon
came, with a blistering sun. Under
the torture of thirst and stiffening
wounds pitiful voices rose in the dis.
lance: First aid.... Hilfe!... This
way" But no first aid replied. None
| could. No stretcher-bearer could cross
| the open. And with dreadful slow
ness the voices grew thinner, died
away, began again, as the hours
| dragged painfully by.
The group in the trench consumed
| it's rations; canteens, as usual, were
| empty; and at last dusk came, with
a sudden damp chill in the air as the
| sun went down. Darkness brought
no relief. No achievements, no word
from the rear.
The senior lieutenant in charge sent
back a messenger as soon as he dared,
but whether the runner reached the
lines or was caught by some sniper's
bullet, there was no way of telling.
Nothing happened to indicate that he
had established contact. The evening
dragged by, more slowly than the
day, for it was turning colder and
WEAKNESS made the men feel 1t. The
detachment huddled together, SILVER
ing. trying vainly to keep warm. A
second messenger was dispatched,
without result.
Able, kept awake by his wounded
leg, sat back to back with Patsy
| Dunn, who had a flesh wound in his