Evening star., 1942-09-30

Standlng around looking tense and
looking at each other and wondering
out loud when they would eat.
Breakfast Only Hour Late.
The galley was functioning all
right. 1t turned out scrambled eggs
powdered, fruit salad and coffee
only an hour later than usual.
Everybody ate with a great deal
more talk and good cheer than on
most mornings because this dawn
was especially welcome Daylight
naturally brought on the thought
that it was all over and that the
japanese would settle this time for
the naval outburst and the feeling
out Skirmish on land.
AS 1t turned out, that night was
only sample Of the night ahead.
Breakfast was just over when the
afraid alarm sounded again and
a lot of sleepy people dragged off to
their holes. More shells whistled
over the camp This time they were
ours. Our artillery was pouring It
into a concentration of Japanese
troops behind us
Daylight had proved there were
more Japs there than had been fig
ured, and our batteries were heaving
some big stuff at them.
! AT the same time the air was filled
with the sound of diving planes. It
sounded as though those planes Of
ours that had taken to the air at
| daybreak had found some enemy
| fighters.
In that case the enemy fighters
probably were carrier based. and If
japanese carriers were In the neigh
borhood with the usual complement
of cruisers and destroyers we could
expect a continuation Of the &C
tivity.
Spent Morning in Foxhole.
With one air raid alarm after
another and the occasional bark of
| a sniper's rifle, we spent most of
| the morning in foxhole. The good
word reached the camp that our
fighters had forced the usual noon
day flock of bombers to dump their
load several miles from their OBJ
| jective
In the afternoon we curled UP
under tree with typewriter in
our lap and started writing. 1t was
a fairly quiet afternoon.
| The afternoon meal was inter-
rupted by two more warnings, and
we finished the meal-meat and
vegetable stew and canned fruit-in
a foxhole. We had a heavy feeling
| that we were in for another rough
night.
We had talk with Col. w. c.
James. of Summerton, S. c.. and he
said that anything might happen
now"
Darkness fell fast. We prepared
blankets, ponchoS, tin hats and can
| teens for quick move, then relaxed
The small arms fire in the under
brush behind us was increasing and
we knew 1t was only a question of
time until move would be ordered.
In less than an hour after dark
the sound of gunflre was drowning
| out the crickets when a corporal
poked his head into the tent and
said: They are having casualties on
the line back of us and the jana
nese are filtering through in dam
gerous numbers. Everybody Is to 60
up the ridge and await further or
ders."
In Danger Of Being Pocketed.
With Carleton Kent OF the Chi
cago Times, and Tfllman Durkin Of
the New York Times, spread a
blanket beside a fallen tree over
the hill and lay still and listened
1t was getting louder and closer
and that tin hat felt mighty flimsy.
An of1cer who had an eye on the
operations came by and whispered
That the Japanese appeared to be
making directly for the airdrome In
an effort to shoot up the planes on
the ground. If they got through
In that direction, we would be in a
pocket.
The woods were full OF sniping.
What a time to be without a gun!
Who said correspondents should not
carry guns?
Another outfit started moving up
past us, reinforcing the line. We
heard an officer speak just above
Whisper, giving group of men their
final instructions: %" II some of
them get past you, just stick tight"
Cigarettes would have been a great
help, but nobody could smoke. not
With snlpers on top of us like they
were
The sound of mortars began to
mix with the mounting din of rifles
ana machineguns and the whole
thing was billowing up closer and
closer. We inched down the hillside
dragging our blankets after us. The
night was still young when our ar
tillery started to work. Once 1t
started 1t didn't stop. Those big
shells made beautiful symphony
We could hear them tearing holes In
the japanese lines.
Jolted by Own Shell.
One of our own shells went of
too soon and gave us Jolt. 1t came
over a trifie slow and detonated
with a tremendous flash. Somebody
grabbed the telephone and called
the artlllerymen a few so-and-sos,
but the artillerymen weren't i'm
pressed. The gunner on the other
END OF the line just laughed and
said, "Oh, you don't like that, huh?"
Feeling our way in the dark, STEP
ping on silent men who were trying
to get few winks of sleep on the
ground, We went to the telephone
center and heard calm operator
repeat some disturbing information.
The operator said a certain cap
tain on the line described the jap
anese attack as terrific" They
were coming in greater numbers
than expected and some were get
ting through. Our lines We're having
. casualties and fresh outfit had
been ordered into position "as soon
as possible" The fighting reached
its peak in the next two hours, about
, am.
In the inclosed telephone center
We had three cigarettes and then
went outside again to wait for the
, dawn.
) On blankets spread over sharp
sticks and stones We managed to
doze two or three minutes at time
but were SnaDDed awake earh time