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diff --git a/old/68962-0.txt b/old/68962-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fb4162b..0000000 --- a/old/68962-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2984 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Best o' luck, by Alexander McClintock - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Best o' luck - How a fighting Kentuckian won the thanks of Britain's King - -Author: Alexander McClintock - -Release Date: September 10, 2022 [eBook #68962] - -Language: English - -Produced by: D A Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by University of California - libraries) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEST O' LUCK *** - - - - - - BEST O’ LUCK - BY ALEXANDER McCLINTOCK, D. C. M. - - -“The Distinguished Conduct Medal has been awarded to Sergeant Alexander -McClintock of the Canadian Overseas Forces for conspicuous gallantry -in action. He displayed great courage and determination during a raid -against the enemy’s trenches. Later he rescued several wounded men at -great personal risk.” - - _Extract from official communication - from the Canadian War Office to the - British Consul General in New York._ - - - - - BEST O’ LUCK - - HOW A FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN - WON THE THANKS OF BRITAIN’S KING - - BY - ALEXANDER McCLINTOCK, D. C. M. - - Late Sergeant, 87th Battalion, Canadian Grenadier Guards - Now member of U. S. A. Reserve Corps - - - NEW YORK - GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1917, - BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - - TO MY MOTHER - MAUDE JOHNSON McCLINTOCK - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I TRAINING FOR THE WAR 11 - II THE BOMBING RAID 43 - III “OVER THE TOP AND GIVE ’EM HELL” 75 - IV SHIFTED TO THE SOMME 101 - V WOUNDED IN ACTION 121 - VI A VISIT FROM THE KING 151 - - - - -BEST O’ LUCK - - -CHAPTER I - -TRAINING FOR THE WAR - - -I don’t lay claim to being much of a writer, and up ’till now I never -felt the call to write anything about my experiences with the Canadian -troops in Belgium and France, because I realized that a great many -other men had seen quite as much as I, and could beat me telling about -it. Of course, I believed that my experience was worth relating, and -I thought that the matter published in the newspapers by professional -writers sort of missed the essentials and lacked the spirit of the -“ditches” in a good many ways despite its excellent literary style, but -I didn’t see any reason why it was up to me to make an effort as a war -historian, until now. - -Now, there is a reason, as I look at it. - -I believe I can show the two or three millions of my fellow countrymen -who will be “out there” before this war is over what they are going -to be up against, and what they ought to prepare for, personally and -individually. - -That is as far as I am going to go in the way of excuse, explanation, -or comment. The rest of my story is a simple relation of facts and -occurrences in the order in which they came to my notice and happened -to me. It may start off a little slowly and jerkily, just as we -did--not knowing what was coming to us. I’d like to add that it got -quite hot enough to suit me later--several times. Therefore, as my -effort is going to be to carry you right along with me in this account -of my experiences, don’t be impatient if nothing very important seems -to happen at first. I felt a little ennui myself at the beginning. But -that was certainly one thing that didn’t annoy me later. - -In the latter part of October, 1915, I decided that the United States -ought to be fighting along with England and France on account of -the way Belgium had been treated, if for no other reason. As there -seemed to be a considerable division of opinion on this point among -the people at home, I came to the conclusion that any man who was -free, white, and twenty-one and felt as I did, ought to go over and -get into it single-handed on the side where his convictions led him, -if there wasn’t some particular reason why he couldn’t. Therefore, I -said good-by to my parents and friends in Lexington, and started for -New York with the idea of sailing for France, and joining the Foreign -Legion of the French Army. - -A couple of nights after I got to New York I fell into conversation in -the Knickerbocker bar with a chap who was in the reinforcement company -of Princess Pat’s regiment of the Canadian forces. After my talk with -him, I decided to go up to Canada and look things over. I arrived -at the Windsor Hotel, in Montreal, at eight o’clock in the morning, -a couple of days later, and at ten o’clock the same morning I was -sworn in as a private in the Canadian Grenadier Guards, Eighty-seventh -Overseas Battalion, Lieut.-Col. F. S. Meighen, Commanding. - -They were just getting under way making soldiers out of the troops I -enlisted with, and discipline was quite lax. They at once gave me a -week’s leave to come down to New York, and settle up some personal -affairs, and I overstayed it five days. All that my company commander -said to me when I got back was that I seemed to have picked up Canadian -habits very quickly. At a review one day in our training camp, I heard -a Major say: - -“Boys, for God’s sake don’t call me Harry or spit in the ranks. Here -comes the General!” - -We found out eventually that there was a reason for the slackness of -discipline. The trouble was that men would enlist to get $1.10 a day -without working for it, and would desert as soon as any one made it -unpleasant for them. Our officers knew what they were about. Conditions -changed instantly we went on ship-board. Discipline tightened up on us -like a tie-rope on a colt. - -We trained in a sort of casual, easy way in Canada from November 4th -to the following April. We had a good deal of trouble keeping our -battalion up to strength, and I was sent out several times with other -“non-coms” on a recruiting detail. - -Aside from desertions, there were reasons why we couldn’t keep our -quota. The weeding out of the physically unfit brought surprising and -extensive results. Men who appeared at first amply able to stand “the -game” were unable to keep up when the screw was turned. Then, also, -our regiment stuck to a high physical standard. Every man must be five -feet ten, or over. Many of our candidates failed on the perpendicular -requirement only. However, we were not confined to the ordinary rule -in Canada, that recruits must come from the home military district of -the battalion. We were permitted to recruit throughout the Dominion, -and thus we gathered quite a cosmopolitan crowd. The only other unit -given this privilege of Dominion-wide recruiting was the P. P. C. L. -I. (Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry), the first regiment -to go overseas from Canada, composed largely of veterans of the South -African and other colonial wars. We felt a certain emulation about this -veteran business and voiced it in our recruiting appeals. We assured -our prospective “rookies” that we were just as first-class as any of -them. On most of our recruiting trips we took a certain corporal with -us who had seen service in France with a Montreal regiment and had -been invalided home. He was our star speaker. He would mount a box or -other improvised stand and describe in his simple, soldierly way the -splendid achievements of the comrades who had gone over ahead of us, -and the opportunities for glory and distinction awaiting any brave -man who joined with us. When he described his experiences there was a -note of compelling eloquence and patriotic fervor in his remarks which -sometimes aroused the greatest enthusiasm. Often he was cheered as -a hero and carried on men’s shoulders from the stand, while recruits -came forward in flocks and women weepingly bade them go on and do their -duty. I learned, afterwards that this corporal had been a cook, had -never been within twenty miles of the frontline, and had been invalided -home for varicocele veins. He served us well; but there was a man -who was misplaced, in vocation and geography. He should have been in -politics in Kentucky. - -While we were in the training camp at St. Johns, I made the -acquaintance of a young Canadian who became my “pal.” He was Campbell -Macfarlane, nephew of George Macfarlane, the actor who is so well known -on the American musical stage. He was a sergeant. When I first knew -him, he was one of the most delightful and amusing young fellows you -could imagine. - -The war changed him entirely, He became extremely quiet and seemed to -be borne down with the sense of the terrible things which he saw. He -never lost the good-fellowship which was inherent in him, and was -always ready to do anything to oblige one, but he formed the habit of -sitting alone and silent, for hours at a time, just thinking. It seemed -as if he had a premonition about himself, though he never showed fear -and never spoke of the dangers we were going into, as the other fellows -did. He was killed in the Somme action in which I was wounded. - -I’m not much on metaphysics and it is difficult for me to express the -thought I would convey here. I can just say, as I would if I were -talking to a pal, that I have often wondered what the intangible mental -or moral quality is that makes men think and act so differently to -one another when confronted by the imminent prospect of sudden death. -Is it a question of will power--of imagination, or the lack of it--of -something that you can call merely physical courage--or what? Take the -case of Macfarlane: In action he was as brave as they make them, but, -as I have said before, the prospect of sudden death and the presence of -death and suffering around him changed him utterly. From a cheerful, -happy lad he was transformed into an old man, silent, gloomy and -absent-minded except for momentary flashes of his old spirit which -became less and less frequent as the time for his own end drew nearer. - -There was another chap with us from a little town in Northern Ontario. -While in Canada and England he was utterly worthless; always in trouble -for being absent without leave, drunk, late on parade, or something -else. I think he must, at one time or another, have been charged with -every offense possible under the K. R. & O. (King’s Regulations and -Orders). On route marches he was constantly “falling out.” I told him, -one day when I was in command of a platoon, that he ought to join the -Royal Flying Corps. Then he would only have to fall out once. He said -that he considered this a very good joke and asked me if I could think -of anything funny in connection with being absent without leave--which -he was, that night. In France, this chap was worth ten ordinary men. -He was always cheerful, always willing and prompt in obeying orders, -ready to tackle unhesitatingly the most unpleasant or the most risky -duty, and the hotter it was the better he liked it. He came out -laughing and unscathed from a dozen tight places where it didn’t seem -possible for him to escape. To use a much-worn phrase, he seemed to -bear a charmed life. I’ll wager my last cent that he never gets an -“R. I. P.”--which they put on the cross above a soldier’s grave, and -which the Tommies call “Rise If Possible.” Then there was a certain -sergeant who was the best instructor in physical training and bayonet -fighting in our brigade and who was as fine and dashing a soldier in -physique and carriage as you ever could see. When he got under fire -he simply went to pieces. On our first bombing raid he turned and ran -back into our own barbed wire, and when he was caught there acted like -a madman. He was given another chance but flunked worse than ever. I -don’t think he was a plain coward. There was merely something wrong -with his nervous system. He just didn’t have the “viscera.” Now he is -back of the lines, instructing, and will never be sent to the trenches -again. We had an officer, also, who was a man of the greatest courage, -so far as sticking where he belonged and keeping his men going ahead -might be concerned, but every time he heard a big shell coming over -he was seized with a violent fit of vomiting. I don’t know what makes -men brave or cowardly in action, and I wouldn’t undertake to say which -quality a man might show until I saw him in action, but I do know this: -If a man isn’t frightened when he goes under fire, it’s because he -lacks intelligence. He simply must be frightened if he has the ordinary -human attributes. But if he has what we call physical courage he goes -on with the rest of them. Then if he has extraordinary courage he may -go on where the rest of them won’t go. I should say that the greatest -fear the ordinary man has in going into action is the fear that he will -show that he is afraid--not to his officers, or to the Germans, or to -the folks back home, but to his mates; to the men with whom he has -laughed and scoffed at danger. - -It’s the elbow-to-elbow influence that carries men up to face machine -guns and gas. A heroic battalion may be made up of units of potential -cowards. - -At the time when Macfarlane was given his stripes, I also was made -a sergeant on account of the fact that I had been at school in the -Virginia Military Institute. That is, I was an acting sergeant. It -was explained to me that my appointment would have to be confirmed in -England, and then reconfirmed after three months’ service in France. -Under the regulations of the Canadian forces, a non-commissioned -officer, after final confirmation in his grade, can be reduced to -the ranks only by a general court-martial, though he can escape a -court-martial, when confronted with charges, by reverting to the ranks -at his own request. - -Forty-two hundred of us sailed for England on the _Empress of -Britain_, sister ship to the _Empress of Ireland_, which was sunk in -the St. Lawrence River. The steamer was, of course, very crowded and -uncomfortable, and the eight-day trip across was most unpleasant. We -had tripe to eat until we were sick of the sight of it. A sergeant -reported one morning, “eight men and twenty-two breakfasts, absent.” -There were two other troop ships in our convoy, the _Baltic_ and the -_Metagama_. A British cruiser escorted us until we were four hundred -miles off the coast of Ireland; then each ship picked up a destroyer -which had come out to meet her. At that time, a notice was posted in -the purser’s office informing us that we were in the war zone, and that -the ship would not stop for anything, even for a man overboard. That -day a soldier fell off the _Metagama_ with seven hundred dollars in his -pocket, and the ship never even hesitated. They left him where he had -no chance in the world to spend his money. - -Through my training in the V. M. I., I was able to read semaphore -signals, and I caught the message from the destroyer which escorted us. -It read: - -“Each ship for herself now. Make a break!” - -We beat the other steamers of our convoy eight hours in getting to the -dock in Liverpool, and, according to what seemed to be the regular -system of our operations at that time, we were the last to disembark. - -The majority of our fellows had never been in England before, and they -looked on our travels at that time as a fine lark. Everybody cheered -and laughed when they dusted off one of those little toy trains and -brought it up to take us away in it. After we were aboard of it, we -proceeded at the dizzy rate of about four miles an hour, and our -regular company humorist--no company is complete without one--suggested -that they were afraid, if they went any faster, they might run off of -the island before they could stop. We were taken to Bramshott camp, in -Hampshire, twelve miles from the Aldershott School of Command. The next -day we were given “King’s leave”--eight days with free transportation -anywhere in the British Isles. It is the invariable custom to give this -sort of leave to all colonial troops immediately upon their arrival in -England. However, in our case, Ireland was barred. Just at that time, -Ireland was no place for a newly arrived Canadian looking for sport. - -Our men followed the ordinary rule of soldiers on leave. About -seventy-five per cent. of them wired in for extensions and more money. -About seventy-four per cent. received peremptorily unfavorable replies. -The excuses and explanations which came in kept our officers interested -and amused for some days. One man--who got leave--sent in a telegram -which is now framed and hung on the wall of a certain battalion -orderley’s room. He telegraphed: - -“No one dead. No one ill. Got plenty of money. Just having a good time. -Please grant extension.” - -After our leave, they really began to make soldiers of us. We thought -our training in Canada had amounted to something. We found out that we -might as well have been playing croquet. We learned more the first week -of our actual training in England than we did from November to April in -Canada. I make this statement without fear that any officer or man of -the Canadian forces alive to-day will disagree with me, and I submit it -for the thoughtful consideration of the gentlemen who believe that our -own armies can be prepared for service here at home. - -The sort of thing that the President is up against at Washington is -fairly exemplified in what the press despatches mention as “objections -on technical grounds” of the “younger officers of the war college,” -to the recommendations which General Pershing has made as to the -reorganization of the units of our army for service in Europe. - -The extent of the reorganization which must be made in pursuance of -General Pershing’s recommendations is not apparent to most people. -Even our best informed militia officers do not know how fundamentally -different the organization of European armies is to that which has -existed in our own army since the days when it was established to suit -conditions of the Civil War. But the officers of our regular army -realize what the reorganization would mean and some of them rise to -oppose it for fear it may jeopardize their seniority or promotion or -importance. But they’ll have to come to it. The Unites States army can -not operate successfully in France unless its units are convenient and -similar multiples to those in the French and British armies. It would -lead to endless confusion and difficulty if we kept the regiment as our -field unit while our allies have the battalion as their field unit. - -There are but unimportant differences in the unit organization of the -French, British and Canadian forces. The British plan of organization -is an examplar of all, and it is what we must have in our army. There -is no such thing in the British army as an established regimental -strength. A battalion numbers 1,500 men, but there is no limit to -the number of battalions which a regiment may have. The battalion -is the field unit. There are regiments in the British army which -have seven battalions in the field. Each battalion is commanded by -a lieutenant-colonel. All full colonels either do staff duty or act -as brigaders. There are five companies of 250 men each in every -battalion. That is, there are four regular companies of 250 men each, -and a headquarters company of approximately that strength. Each company -is commanded by a major, with a captain as second in command, and four -lieutenants as platoon commanders. There are no second lieutenants in -the Canadian forces, though there are in the British and French. The -senior major of the battalion commands the headquarters company, which -includes the transport, quartermaster’s staff, paymaster’s department -(a paymaster and four clerks), and the headquarters staff (a captain -adjutant and his non-commissioned staff). Each battalion has, in -addition to its full company strength, the following “sections” of -from 30 to 75 men each, and each commanded by a lieutenant: bombers, -scouts and snipers, machine gunners and signallers. There is also a -section of stretcher-bearers, under the direct command of the battalion -surgeon, who ranks as a major. In the United States army a battalion is -commanded by a major. It consists merely of four companies of 112 men -each, with a captain and two lieutenants to each company. - -As I have said, a British or French battalion has four ordinary -companies of 250 men each and the headquarters company of special -forces approximating that number of men. Instead of one major it -has six, including the surgeon. It has seven captains, including -the paymaster, the adjutant and the quartermaster. It has twenty -lieutenants, including the commanders of special “sections.” You -can imagine what confusion would be likely to occur in substituting -a United States force for a French or English force, with these -differences of organization existing. - -In this war, every man has got to be a specialist. He’s got to -know one thing better than anybody else except those who have had -intensive instruction in the same branch. And besides that, he’s got -to have effective general knowledge of all the specialties in which -his fellow soldiers have been particularly trained. I can illustrate -this. Immediately upon our return from first leave in England, we -were divided into sections for training in eight specialties. They -were: Bombing, sniping, scouting, machine-gun fighting, signalling, -trench mortar operation, bayonet fighting, and stretcher-bearing. -I was selected for special training in bombing, probably because I -was supposed, as an American and a baseball player, to be expert in -throwing. With the other men picked for training in the same specialty, -I was sent to Aldershott, and there, for three weeks, twelve hours a -day, I threw bombs, studied bombs, read about bombs, took bombs to -pieces and put them together again, and did practically everything else -that you would do with a bomb, except eat it. - -Then I was ordered back along with the other men who had gained this -intimate acquaintance with the bomb family, and we were put to work -teaching the entire battalion all that we had learned. When we were not -teaching, we were under instruction ourselves by the men who had taken -special training in other branches. Also, at certain periods of the -day, we had physical training and rifle practice. Up to the time of our -arrival in England, intensive training had been merely a fine phrase -with us. During our stay there, it was a definite and overpowering -fact. Day and night we trained and day and night it rained. At nine -o’clock, we would fall into our bunks in huts which held from a half -to a whole platoon--from thirty to sixty men--and drop into exhausted -sleep, only to turn out at 5 A.M. to give a sudden imitation of what we -would do to the Germans if they sneaked up on us before breakfast in -six inches of mud. Toward the last, when we thought we had been driven -to the limit, they told us that we were to have a period of real, -intensive training to harden us for actual fighting. They sent us four -imperial drill sergeants from the British Grenadier Guards, the senior -foot regiment of the British army, and the one with which we were -affiliated. - -It would be quite unavailing for me to attempt to describe these drill -sergeants. The British drill sergeant is an institution which can -be understood only through personal and close contact. If he thinks -a major-general is wrong, he’ll tell him so on the spot in the most -emphatic way, but without ever violating a single sacred tradition -of the service. The sergeants, who took us in charge to put the real -polish on our training, had all seen from twenty to twenty-five years -of service. They had all been through the battles of Mons and the -Marne, and they had all been wounded. They were perfect examples of a -type. One of them ordered all of our commissioned officers, from the -colonel down, to turn out for rifle drill one day, and put them through -the manual of arms while the soldiers of the battalion stood around, -looking on. - -“Gentlemen,” said he, in the midst of the drill, “when I see you handle -your rifles I feel like falling on my knees and thanking God that we’ve -got a navy.” - -On June 2d, after the third battle of Ypres, while Macfarlane and I -were sitting wearily on our bunks during an odd hour in the afternoon -when nobody had thought of anything for us to do, a soldier came -in with a message from headquarters which put a sudden stop to the -discussion we were having about the possibility of getting leave to -go up to London. The message was that the First, Second and Third -divisions of the Canadians had lost forty per cent. of their men in the -third fight at Ypres and that three hundred volunteers were wanted from -each of our battalions to fill up the gaps. - -“Forty per cent.,” said Macfarlane, getting up quickly. “My God, think -of it! Well, I’m off to tell ’em I’ll go.” - -I told him I was with him, and we started for headquarters, expecting -to be received with applause and pointed out as heroic examples. We -couldn’t even get up to give in our names. The whole battalion had gone -ahead of us. They heard about it first. That was the spirit of the -Canadians. It was about this time that a story went ’round concerning -an English colonel who had been called upon to furnish volunteers from -his outfit to replace casualties. He backed his regiment up against a -barrack wall and said: - -“Now, all who don’t want to volunteer, step three paces to the rear.” - -In our battalion, sergeants and even officers offered to go as -privates. Our volunteers went at once, and we were re-enforced up to -strength by drafts from the Fifth Canadian division, which was then -forming in England. - -In July, when we were being kept on the rifle ranges most of the -time, all leave was stopped, and we were ordered to hold ourselves in -readiness to go overseas. In the latter part of the month, we started. -We sailed from Southampton to Havre on a big transport, escorted all -the way by destroyers. As we landed, we got our first sight of the -harvest of war. A big hospital on the quay was filled with wounded men. -We had twenty-four hours in what they called a “rest camp.” We slept -on cobble stones in shacks which were so utterly comfortless that it -would be an insult to a Kentucky thoroughbred to call them stables. -Then we were on the way to the Belgian town of Poperinghe, which is one -hundred and fifty miles from Havre and was, at that time, the rail head -of the Ypres salient. We made the trip in box cars which were marked -in French: “Eight horses or forty men,” and we had to draw straws to -decide who should lie down. - -We got into Poperinghe at 7 A.M., and the scouts had led us into the -front trenches at two the next morning. Our position was to the left -of St. Eloi and was known as “The Island,” because it had no support -on either side. On the left, were the Yser Canal and the bluff which -forms its bank. On the right were three hundred yards of battered-down -trenches which had been rebuilt twice and blown in again each time by -the German guns. For some reason, which I never quite understood, the -Germans were able to drop what seemed a tolerably large proportion of -the output of the Krupp works on this particular spot whenever they -wanted to. Our high command had concluded that it was untenable, -and so we, on one side of it, and the British on the other, had to -just keep it scouted and protect our separate flanks. Another name -they had for that position was the “Bird Cage.” That was because the -first fellows who moved into it made themselves nice and comfy and put -up wire nettings to prevent any one from tossing bombs in on them. -Thus, when the Germans stirred up the spot with an accurate shower -of “whiz-bangs” and “coal-boxes,” the same being thirteen-pounders -and six-inch shells, that wire netting presented a spectacle of utter -inadequacy which hasn’t been equalled in this war. - -They called the position which we were assigned to defend “The -Graveyard of Canada.” That was because of the fearful losses of the -Canadians here in the second battle of Ypres, from April 21, to June 1, -1915, when the first gas attack in the world’s history was launched by -the Germans, and, although the French, on the left, and the British, on -the right, fell back, the Canadians stayed where they were put. - -Right here I can mention something which will give you an idea why -descriptions of this war don’t describe it. During the first gas -attack, the Canadians, choking to death and falling over each other -in a fight against a new and unheard-of terror in warfare, found a -way--the Lord only knows who first discovered it and how he happened to -do it--to stay through a gas cloud and come out alive. It isn’t pretty -to think of, and it’s like many other things in this war which you -can’t even tell of in print, because simple description would violate -the nice ethics about reading matter for the public eye, which have -grown up in long years of peace and traditional decency. But this thing -which you can’t describe meant just the difference between life and -death to many of the Canadians, that first day of the gas. Official -orders: now, tell every soldier what he is to do with his handkerchief -or a piece of his shirt if he is caught in a gas attack without his -mask. - -The nearest I can come, in print, to telling you what a soldier -is ordered to do in this emergency is to remind you that ammonia -fumes oppose chlorine gas as a neutralizing agent, and that certain -emanations of the body throw off ammonia fumes. - -Now that I’ve told you how we got from the Knickerbocker bar and other -places to a situation which was just one hundred and fifty yards from -the entrenched front of the German army in Belgium, I might as well add -a couple of details about things which straightway put the fear of God -in our hearts. At daybreak, one of our Fourteenth platoon men, standing -on the firing step, pushed back his trench helmet and remarked that -he thought it was about time for coffee. He didn’t get any. A German -sharpshooter, firing the first time that day, got him under the rim -of his helmet, and his career with the Canadian forces was over right -there. And then, as the dawn broke, we made out a big painted sign -raised above the German front trench. It read: - - WELCOME, - EIGHTY-SEVENTH CANADIANS - -We were a new battalion, we had been less than seventy-two hours on the -continent of Europe and the Germans were not supposed to know anything -that was going on behind our lines! - -We learned, afterward, that concealed telephones in the houses of the -Belgian burgomasters of the villages of Dinkiebusch and Renninghelst, -near our position, gave communication with the German headquarters -opposite us. One of the duties of a detail of our men, soon after that, -was to stand these two burgomasters up against a wall and shoot them. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE BOMBING RAID - - -When we took our position in the front line trenches in Belgium, we -relieved the Twenty-sixth Canadian Battalion. The Twenty-sixth belonged -to the Second division, and had seen real service during the battle -of Hooge and in what is now termed the third battle of Ypres, which -occurred in June, 1916. The organization was made up almost exclusively -of French Canadians from Quebec, and it was as fine a fighting force as -we had shown the Fritzes, despite the fact that men of their race, as -developments have proved, are not strongly loyal to Canada and Britain. -Individually, the men of this French Canadian battalion were splendid -soldiers and the organization could be criticized on one score only. In -the heat of action it could not be kept in control. On one occasion -when it went in, in broad daylight, to relieve another battalion, the -men didn’t stop at the fire trench. They went right on “over the top,” -without orders, and, as a result, were badly cut up. Time and again -the men of this battalion crossed “No Man’s Land” at night, without -orders and without even asking consent, just to have a scrimmage with -“the beloved enemy.” Once, when ordered to take two lines of trenches, -they did so in the most soldierly fashion, but, seeing red, kept on -going as if their orders were to continue to Berlin. On this occasion -they charged right into their barrage fire and lost scores of their -men, struck down by British shells. It has been said often of all the -Canadians that they go the limit, without hesitation. There was a -time when the “Bing Boys”--the Canadians were so called because this -title of a London musical comedy was suggested by the fact that their -commander was General Byng--were ordered to take no prisoners, this -order being issued after two of their men were found crucified. A -Canadian private, having penetrated a German trench with an attacking -party, encountered a German who threw up his hands and said: “Mercy, -Kamerade. I have a wife and five children at home.” - -“You’re mistaken,” replied the Canadian. “You have a widow and five -orphans at home.” - -And, very shortly, he had. - -Scouts from the Twenty-sixth battalion had come back to the villages of -Dinkiebusch and Renninghelst to tell us how glad they were to see us -and to show us the way in. As we proceeded overland, before reaching -the communication trenches at the front, these scouts paid us the -hospitable attentions due strangers. That is, one of them leading a -platoon would say: - -“Next two hundred yards in machine gun range. Keep quiet, don’t run, -and be ready to drop quick if you are warned.” - -There was one scout to each platoon, and we followed him, single file, -most of the time along roads or well-worn paths, but sometimes through -thickets and ragged fields. Every now and then the scout would yell -at us to drop, and down we’d go on our stomachs while, away off in the -distance we could hear the “put-put” of machine guns--the first sound -of hostile firing that had ever reached our ears. - -“It’s all right,” said the scout. “They haven’t seen us or got track of -us. They’re just firing on suspicion.” - -Nevertheless, when our various platoons had all got into the front -reserve trenches, at about two hours after midnight, we learned that -the first blood of our battalion had been spilled. Two men had been -wounded, though neither fatally. Our own stretcher-bearers took our -wounded back to the field hospital at Dinkiebusch. The men of the -Twenty-sixth battalion spent the rest of the night instructing us and -then left us to hold the position. We were as nervous as a lot of -cats, and it seemed to me that the Germans must certainly know that -they could come over and walk right through us, but, outside of a few -casualties from sniping, such as the one that befell the Fourteenth -platoon man, which I have told about, nothing very alarming happened -the first day and night, and by that time we had got steady on our -job. We held the position for twenty-six days, which was the longest -period that any Canadian or British organization had ever remained in a -front-line trench. - -In none of the stories I’ve read, have I ever seen trench fighting, as -it was then carried on in Belgium, adequately described. You see, you -can’t get much of an idea about a thing like that, making a quick tour -of the trenches under official direction and escort, as the newspaper -and magazine writers do. I couldn’t undertake to tell anything worth -while about the big issues of the war, but I can describe how soldiers -have to learn to fight in the trenches--and I think a good many of our -young fellows have that to learn, now. “Over there,” they don’t talk of -peace or even of to-morrow. They just sit back and take it. - -We always held the fire trench as lightly as possible, because it is a -demonstrated fact that the front ditch cannot be successfully defended -in a determined attack. The thing to do is to be ready to jump onto the -enemy as soon as he has got into your front trench and is fighting on -ground that you know and he doesn’t and knock so many kinds of tar out -of him that he’ll have to pull his freight for a spot that isn’t so -warm. That system worked first rate for us. - -During the day, we had only a very few men in the fire trench. If an -attack is coming in daylight, there’s always plenty of time to get -ready for it. At night, we kept prepared for trouble all the time. We -had a night sentry on each firing step and a man sitting at his feet to -watch him and know if he was secretly sniped. Then we had a sentry in -each “bay” of the trench to take messages. - -Orders didn’t permit the man on the firing step or the man watching him -to leave post on any excuse whatever, during their two-hour “spell” of -duty. Hanging on a string, at the elbow of each sentry on the fire-step -was a siren whistle or an empty shell case and bit of iron with which -to hammer on it. This--siren or improvised gong--was for the purpose -of spreading the alarm in case of a gas attack. Also we had sentries -in “listening posts,” at various points from twenty to fifty yards out -in “No Man’s Land.” These men blackened their faces before they went -“over the top,” and then lay in shell holes or natural hollows. There -were always two of them, a bayonet man and a bomber. From the listening -post a wire ran back to the fire trench to be used in signaling. In -the trench, a man sat with this wire wrapped around his hand. One pull -meant “All O. K.,” two pulls, “I’m coming in,” three pulls, “Enemy in -sight,” and four pulls, “Sound gas alarm.” The fire step in a trench -is a shelf on which soldiers stand so that they may aim their rifles -between the sand bags which form the parapet. - -In addition to these men, we had patrols and scouts out in “No -Man’s Land” the greater part of the night, with orders to gain any -information possible which might be of value to battalion, brigade, -division or general headquarters. They reported on the conditions of -the Germans’ barbed wire, the location of machine guns and other little -things like that which might be of interest to some commanding officer, -twenty miles back. Also, they were ordered to make every effort to -capture any of the enemy’s scouts or patrols, so that we could get -information from them. One of the interesting moments in this work came -when a star shell caught you out in an open spot. If you moved you were -gone. I’ve seen men stand on one foot for the thirty seconds during -which a star shell will burn. Then, when scouts or patrols met in “No -Man’s Land” they always had to fight it out with bayonets. One single -shot would be the signal for artillery fire and would mean the almost -instant annihilation of the men on both sides of the fight. Under the -necessities of this war, many of our men have been killed by our own -shell fire. - -At a little before daybreak came “stand-to,” when everybody got -buttoned up and ready for business, because, at that hour, most attacks -begin and also that was one of the two regular times for a dose of -“morning and evening hate,” otherwise a good lively fifteen minutes of -shell fire. We had some casualties every morning and evening, and the -stretcher-bearers used to get ready for them as a matter of course. -For fifteen minutes at dawn and dusk, the Germans used to send over -“whiz-bangs,” “coal-boxes” and “minniewurfers” (shells from trench -mortars) in such a generous way that it looked as if they liked to -shoot ’em off, whether they hit anything or not. You could always -hear the “heavy stuff” coming, and we paid little attention to it as -it was used in efforts to reach the batteries, back of our lines. The -poor old town of Dinkiebusch got the full benefit of it. When a shell -would shriek its way over, some one would say: “There goes the express -for Dinkiebusch,” and a couple of seconds later, when some prominent -landmark of Dinkiebusch would disintegrate to the accompaniment of a -loud detonation, some one else would remark: - -“Train’s arrived!” - -The scouts who inhabited “No Man’s Land” by night became snipers -by day. Different units had different systems of utilizing these -specialists. The British and the French usually left their scouts and -snipers in one locality so that they might come to know every hummock -and hollow and tree-stump of the limited landscape which absorbed -their unending attention. The Canadians, up to the time when I left -France, invariably took their scouts and snipers along when they moved -from one section of the line to another. This system was criticized as -having the disadvantage of compelling the men to learn new territory -while opposing enemy scouts familiar with every inch of the ground. -As to the contention on this point, I could not undertake to decide, -but it seemed to me that our system had, at least, the advantage of -keeping the men more alert and less likely to grow careless. Some of -our snipers acquired reputations for a high degree of skill and there -was always a fascination for me in watching them work. We always had -two snipers to each trench section. They would stand almost motionless -on the fire steps for hours at a time, searching every inch of the -German front trench and the surrounding territory with telescopes. They -always swathed their heads with sand bags, looking like huge, grotesque -turbans, as this made the finest kind of an “assimilation covering.” It -would take a most alert German to pick out a man’s head, so covered, -among all the tens of thousands of sand bags which lined our parapet. -The snipers always used special rifles with telescopic sights, and -they made most extraordinary shots. Some of them who had been huntsmen -in the Canadian big woods were marvellous marksmen. Frequently one of -them would continue for several days giving special attention to a -spot where a German had shown the top of his head for a moment. If the -German ever showed again, at that particular spot, he was usually done -for. A yell or some little commotion in the German trenches, following -the sniper’s quick shot would tell the story to us. Then the sniper -would receive general congratulations. There is a first warning to -every man going into the trenches. It is: “Fear God and keep your head -down.” - -Our rations in the trenches were, on the whole, excellent. There were -no delicacies and the food was not over plentiful, but it was good. The -system appeared to have the purpose of keeping us like bulldogs before -a fight--with enough to live on but hungry all the time. Our food -consisted principally of bacon, beans, beef, bully-beef, hard tack, jam -and tea. Occasionally we had a few potatoes, and, when we were taken -back for a few days’ rest, we got a good many things which difficulty -of transport excluded from the front trenches. It was possible, -sometimes, to beg, borrow or even steal eggs and fresh bread and coffee. - -All of our provisions came up to the front line in sand bags, a fact -easily recognizable when you tasted them. There is supposed to be -an intention to segregate the various foods, in transport, but it -must be admitted that they taste more or less of each other, and -that the characteristic sand-bag flavor distinguishes all of them -from mere, ordinary foods which have not made a venturesome journey. -As many of the sand bags have been originally used for containing -brown sugar, the flavor is more easily recognized than actually -unpleasant. When we got down to the Somme, the food supply was much -less satisfactory--principally because of transport difficulties. At -times, even in the rear, we could get fresh meat only twice a week, and -were compelled to live the rest of the time on bully-beef stew, which -resembles terrapin to the extent that it is a liquid with mysterious -lumps in it. In the front trenches, on the Somme, all we had were the -“iron rations” which we were able to carry in with us. These consisted -of bully-beef, hard tack, jam and tea. The supply of these foods which -each man carries is termed “emergency rations,” and the ordinary rule -is that the emergency ration must not be touched until the man has -been forty-eight hours without food, and then only by permission of an -officer. - -One of the great discoveries of this war is that hard tack makes an -excellent fuel, burning like coke and giving off no smoke. We usually -saved enough hard tack to form a modest escort, stomachward, for our -jam, and used the rest to boil our tea. Until one has been in the -trenches he cannot realize what a useful article of diet jam is. It -is undoubtedly nutritious and one doesn’t tire of it, even though -there seem to be but two varieties now existing in any considerable -quantities--plum and apple. Once upon a time a hero of the “ditches” -discovered that his tin contained strawberry jam, but there was such a -rush when he announced it that he didn’t get any of it. - -There was, of course, a very good reason for the shortness and -uncertainty of the food supply on the Somme. All communication with -the front line was practically overland, the communication trenches -having been blown in. Ration parties, bringing in food, frequently -suffered heavy casualties. Yet they kept tenaciously and courageously -doing their best for us. Occasionally they even brought up hot soup in -huge, improvised thermos bottles made from petrol tins wrapped in straw -and sand bags, but this was very rarely attempted, and not with much -success. You could sum up the food situation briefly. It was good--when -you got it. - -It may be fitting, at this time, to pay a tribute to the soldier’s -most invaluable friend, the sand bag. The sand bag, like the rest of -us, did not start life in a military capacity, but since joining the -army it has fulfilled its duty nobly. Primarily, sand bags are used in -making a parapet for a trench or a roof for a dug-out, but there are a -hundred other uses to which they have been adapted, without hesitation -and possibly without sufficient gratitude for their ready adaptability. -Some of these uses may surprise you. Soldiers strain their tea through -them, wrap them around their legs for protection against cold and mud, -swab their rifles with them to keep them clean, use them for bed sacks, -kit bags and ration bags. The first thing a man does when he enters a -trench or reaches a new position which is to be held is to feel in his -belt, if he is a private, or to yell for some one else to feel in his -belt, if he is an officer, for a sand bag. Each soldier is supposed to -have five tucked beneath his belt whenever he starts to do anything -out of the ordinary. When you’ve got hold of the first one, in a new -position, under fire, you commence filling it as fast as the Germans -and your own ineptitude will permit, and the sooner that bag is filled -and placed, the more likely you are to continue in a state of health -and good spirits. Sand bags are never filled with sand, because there -is never any sand to put into them. Anything that you can put in with a -shovel will do. - -About the only amusement we had during our long stay in the front -trenches in Belgium, was to sit with our backs against the rear wall -and shoot at the rats running along the parapet. Poor Macfarlane, with -a flash of the old humor which he had before the war, told a “rookie” -that the trench rats were so big that he saw one of them trying on his -great-coat. They used to run over our faces when we were sleeping in -our dug-outs, and I’ve seen them in ravenous swarms, burrowing into -the shallow graves of the dead. Many soldiers’ legs are scarred to the -knees with bites. - -The one thing of which we constantly lived in fear was a gas attack. I -used to awaken in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, dreaming -that I heard the clatter and whistle-blowing all along the line which -meant that the gas was coming. And, finally, I really did hear the -terrifying sound, just at a moment when it couldn’t have sounded worse. -I was in charge of the nightly ration detail, sent back about ten -miles to the point of nearest approach of the transport lorries, to -carry in rations, ammunition and sand bags to the front trenches. We -had a lot of trouble, returning with our loads. Passing a point which -was called “Shrapnel Corner” because the Germans had precise range on -it, we were caught in machine-gun fire and had to lie on our stomachs -for twenty minutes, during which we lost one man, wounded. I sent him -back and went on with my party only to run into another machine-gun -shower a half-mile further on. While we were lying down to escape this, -a concealed British battery of five-inch guns, about which we knew -nothing, opened up right over our heads. It shook us up and scared us -so that some of our party were now worse off than the man who had been -hit and carried to the rear. We finally got together and went on. When -we were about a mile behind the reserve trench, stumbling in the dark -through the last and most dangerous path overland, we heard a lone -siren whistle followed by a wave of metallic hammering and wild tooting -which seemed to spread over all of Belgium a mile ahead of us. All any -of us could say was: - -“Gas!” - -All you could see in the dark was a collection of white and frightened -faces. Every trembling finger seemed awkward as a thumb as we got -out our gas masks and helmets and put them on, following directions -as nearly as we could. I ordered the men to sit still and sent two -forward to notify me from headquarters when the gas alarm was over. -They lost their way and were not found for two days. We sat there for -an hour, and then I ventured to take my mask off. As nothing happened, -I ordered the men to do the same. When we got into the trenches with -our packs, we found that the gas alarm had been one of Fritz’s jokes. -The first sirens had been sounded in the German lines, and there hadn’t -been any gas. - -Our men evened things up with the Germans, however, the next night. -Some of our scouts crawled clear up to the German barbed wire, ten -yards in front of the enemy fire trench, tied empty jam-tins to the -barricade and then, after attaching light telephone wires to the barbed -strands, crawled back to our trenches. When they started pulling the -telephone wires the empty tins made a clatter right under Fritz’s nose. -Immediately the Germans opened up with all their machine-gun and rifle -fire, began bombing the spot from which the noise came and sent up “S. -O. S.” signals for artillery fire along a mile of their line. They -fired a ten-thousand-dollar salute and lost a night’s sleep over the -noise made by the discarded containers of five shillings’ worth of jam. -It was a good tonic for the Tommies. - -A few days after this, a very young officer passed me in a trench while -I was sitting on a fire-step, writing a letter. I noticed that he had -the red tabs of a staff officer on his uniform, but I paid no more -attention to him than that. No compliments such as salutes to officers -are paid in the trenches. After he had passed, one of the men asked me -if I didn’t know who he was. I said I didn’t. - -“Why you d----d fool,” he said, “that’s the Prince of Wales.” - -When the little prince came back, I stood to salute him. He returned -the salute with a grave smile and passed on. He was quite alone, and I -was told afterward, that he made these trips through the trenches just -to show the men that he did not consider himself better than any other -soldier. The heir of England was certainly taking nearly the same -chance of losing his inheritance that we were. - -After we had been on the front line fifteen days, we received orders -to make a bombing raid. Sixty volunteers were asked for, and the whole -battalion offered. I was lucky--or unlucky--enough to be among the -sixty who were chosen. I want to tell you in detail about this bombing -raid, so that you can understand what a thing may really amount to -that gets only three lines, or perhaps nothing at all, in the official -dispatches. And, besides that, it may help some of the young men who -read this, to know something, a little later, about bombing. - -The sixty of us chosen to execute the raid were taken twenty miles to -the rear for a week’s instruction practice. Having only a slight idea -of what we were going to try to do, we felt very jolly about the whole -enterprise, starting off. We were camped in an old barn, with several -special instruction officers in charge. We had oral instruction, the -first day, while sappers dug and built an exact duplicate of the -section of the German trenches which we were to raid. That is, it -was exact except for a few details. Certain “skeleton trenches,” in -the practice section, were dug simply to fool the German aviators. If -a photograph, taken back to German headquarters, had shown an exact -duplicate of a German trench section, suspicion might have been aroused -and our plans revealed. We were constantly warned about the skeleton -trenches and told to remember that they did not exist in the German -section where we were to operate. Meanwhile, our practice section was -changed a little, several times, because aerial photographs showed -that the Germans had been renovating and making some additions to the -trenches in which we were to have our frolic with them. - -We had oral instruction, mostly, during the day, because we didn’t dare -let the German aviators see us practicing a bomb raid. All night long, -sometimes until two or three o’clock in the morning, we rehearsed that -raid, just as carefully as a company of star actors would rehearse a -play. At first there was a disposition to have sport out of it. - -“Well,” some chap would say, rolling into the hay all tired out, “I got -killed six times to-night. S’pose it’ll be several times more to-morrow -night.” - -One man insisted that he had discovered, in one of our aerial -photographs, a German burying money, and he carefully examined each new -picture so that he could be sure to find the dough and dig it up. The -grave and serious manner of our officers, however; the exhaustive care -with which we were drilled and, more than all, the approach of the time -when we were “to go over the top,” soon drove sport out of our minds, -and I can say for myself that the very thought of the undertaking, as -the fatal night drew near, sent shivers up and down my spine. - -A bombing raid--something originated in warfare by the Canadians--is -not intended for the purpose of holding ground, but to gain -information, to do as much damage as possible, and to keep the enemy in -a state of nervousness. In this particular raid, the chief object was -to gain information. Our high command wanted to know what troops were -opposite us and what troops had been there. We were expected to get -this information from prisoners and from buttons and papers off of the -Germans we might kill. It was believed that troops were being relieved -from the big tent show, up at the Somme, and sent to our side show -in Belgium for rest. Also, it was suspected that artillery was being -withdrawn for the Somme. Especially, we were anxious to bring back -prisoners. - -In civilized war, a prisoner can be compelled to tell only his name, -rank and religion. But this is not a civilized war, and there are -ways of making prisoners talk. One of the most effective ways--quite -humane--is to tie a prisoner fast, head and foot, and then tickle his -bare feet with a feather. More severe measures have frequently been -used--the water cure, for instance--but I’m bound to say that nearly -all the German prisoners I saw were quite loquacious and willing to -talk, and the accuracy of their information, when later confirmed -by raids, was surprising. The iron discipline, which turns them into -mere children in the presence of their officers seemed to make them -subservient and obedient to the officers who commanded us. In this way, -the system worked against the Fatherland. I mean, of course, in the -cases of privates. Captured German officers, especially Prussians, were -a nasty lot. We never tried to get information from them for we knew -they would lie, happily and intelligently. - -At last came the night when we were to go “over the top,” across “No -Man’s Land,” and have a frolic with Fritz in his own bailiwick. I am -endeavoring to be as accurate and truthful as possible in these stories -of my soldiering, and I am therefore compelled to say that there -wasn’t a man in the sixty who didn’t show the strain in his pallor -and nervousness. Under orders, we discarded our trench helmets and -substituted knitted skull caps or mess tin covers. Then we blackened -our hands and faces with ashes from a camp fire. After this they -loaded us into motor trucks and took us up to “Shrapnel Corner,” from -which point we went in on foot. Just before we left, a staff officer -came along and gave us a little talk. - -“This is the first time you men have been tested,” he said. “You’re -Canadians. I needn’t say anything more to you. They’re going to be -popping them off at a great rate while you’re on your way across. -Remember that you’d better not stand up straight because our shells -will be going over just six and a half feet from the ground--where it’s -level. If you stand up straight you’re likely to be hit in the head, -but don’t let that worry you because if you do get hit in the head you -won’t know it. So why in hell worry about it?” That was his farewell. -He jumped on his horse and rode off. - -The point we were to attack had been selected long before by our -scouts. It was not, as you might suppose, the weakest point in -the German line. It was on the contrary, the strongest. It was -considered that the moral effect of cleaning up a weak point would be -comparatively small, whereas to break in at the strongest point would -be something really worth while. And, if we were to take chances, it -really wouldn’t pay to hesitate about degrees. The section we were -to raid had a frontage of one hundred and fifty yards and a depth of -two hundred yards. It had been explained to us that we were to be -supported by a “box barrage,” or curtain fire from our artillery, to -last exactly twenty-six minutes. That is, for twenty-six minutes from -the time when we started “over the top,” our artillery, several miles -back, would drop a “curtain” of shells all around the edges of that one -hundred and fifty yard by two hundred yard section. We were to have -fifteen minutes in which to do our work. Any man not out at the end of -the fifteen minutes would necessarily be caught in our own fire as our -artillery would then change from a “box” to pour a straight curtain -fire, covering all of the spot of our operations. - -Our officers set their watches very carefully with those of the -artillery officers, before we went forward to the front trenches. -We reached the front at 11 P.M., and not until our arrival there -were we informed of the “zero hour”--the time when the attack was to -be made. The hour of twelve-ten had been selected. The waiting from -eleven o’clock until that time was simply an agony. Some of our men -sat stupid and inert. Others kept talking constantly about the most -inconsequential matters. One man undertook to tell a funny story. No -one listened to it, and the laugh at the end was emaciated and ghastly. -The inaction was driving us all into a state of funk. I could actually -feel my nerve oozing out at my finger tips, and, if we had had to wait -fifteen minutes longer, I shouldn’t have been able to climb out of the -trench. - -About half an hour before we were to go over, every man had his eye up -the trench for we knew “the rummies” were coming that way. The rum gang -serves out a stiff shot of Jamaica just before an attack, and it would -be a real exhibition of temperance to see a man refuse. There were no -prohibitionists in our set. Whether or not we got our full ration -depended on whether the sergeant in charge was drunk or sober. After -the shot began to work, one man next to me pounded my leg and hollered -in my ear: - -“I say. Why all this red tape? Let’s go over now.” - -That noggin’ of rum is a life saver. - -When the hour approached for us to start, the artillery fire was so -heavy that orders had to be shouted into ears, from man to man. The -bombardment was, of course, along a couple of miles of front, so that -the Germans would not know where to expect us. At twelve o’clock -exactly they began pulling down a section of the parapet so that we -wouldn’t have to climb over it, and we were off. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -“OVER THE TOP AND GIVE ’EM HELL” - - -As we climbed out of the shelter of our trenches for my first--and, -perhaps, my last, I thought--adventure in “No Man’s Land,” the word was -passed: - -“Over the top and give ’em hell!” - -That is the British Tommies’ battle cry as they charge the enemy and it -has often sounded up and down those long lines in western France as the -British, Canadian, and Australian soldiers go out to the fight and the -death. - -We were divided into six parties of ten men, each party having separate -duties to perform. We crouched forward, moving slowly in single file, -stumbling into shell holes and over dead men--some very long dead--and -managing to keep in touch with each other though the machine-gun -bullets began to drop men almost immediately. Once we were started, we -were neither fearful, nor rattled. We had been drilled so long and so -carefully that each man knew just what he was to do and he kept right -on doing it unless he got hit. To me, it seemed the ground was moving -back under me. The first ten yards were the toughest. The thing was -perfectly organized. Our last party of ten was composed of signallers. -They were paying out wires and carrying telephones to be used during -the fifteen minutes of our stay in the German trenches in communicating -with our battalion headquarters. A telephone code had been arranged, -using the names of our commanding officers as symbols. “Rexford 1” -meant, “First prisoners being sent back”; “Rexford 2” meant, “Our first -wounded being sent over”; “Rexford 3” meant, “We have entered German -trench.” The code was very complete and the signallers had been drilled -in it for a week. In case the telephone wires were cut, the signallers -were to send messages back by the use of rifle grenades. These are -rifle projectiles which carry little metal cylinders to contain written -messages, and which burst into flame when they strike the earth, so -that they can be easily found at night. The officer in charge of the -signallers was to remain at the point of entrance, with his eyes on his -watch. It was his duty to sound a warning signal five minutes before -the end of our time in the German trenches. - -The leader of every party of ten also had a whistle with which to -repeat the warning blast and then the final blast, when each man was -to drop everything and get back of our artillery fire. We were not -to leave any dead or wounded in the German trench, on account of the -information which the Germans might thus obtain. Before starting on -the raid, we had removed all marks from our persons, including even -our identification discs. Except for the signallers, each party of -ten was similarly organized. First, there were two bayonet men, each -with an electric flash light attached to his rifle so as to give light -for the direction of a bayonet thrust and controlled by a button at -the left-hand grasp of the rifle. Besides his rifle, each of these -men carried six or eight Mills No. 5 hand grenades, weighing from a -pound and five ounces to a pound and seven ounces each. These grenades -are shaped like turkey eggs, but slightly larger. Upon withdrawing -the firing pin, a lever sets a four-second fuse going. One of these -grenades will clean out anything living in a ten-foot trench section. -It will also kill the man throwing it, if he holds it more than four -seconds, after he has pulled the pin. The third man of each ten was -an expert bomb thrower, equipped as lightly as possible to give him -freedom of action. He carried a few bombs, himself, but the main -supply was carried by a fourth man who was not to throw any unless the -third man became a casualty, in which case number four was to take -his place. The third man also carried a knob-kerrie--a heavy bludgeon -to be used in whacking an enemy over the head. The kind we used was -made by fastening a heavy steel nut on a stout stick of wood--a very -business-like contrivance. The fourth man, or bomb carrier, besides -having a large supply of Mills grenades, had smoke bombs, to be used -in smoking the Germans out of dug-outs and, later, if necessary, in -covering our retreat, and also fumite bombs. The latter are very -dangerous to handle. They contain a mixture of petrol and phosphorous, -and weigh three pounds each. On exploding they release a liquid fire -which will burn through steel. - -The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth in line, were called utility men. -They were to take the places of any of the first four who might become -casualties. In addition, they carried two Stokes-gun bombs, each. -These weigh nine pounds apiece, have six-second fuses, and can be used -in wrecking dug-outs. The ninth and tenth men were sappers, carrying -slabs of gun-cotton and several hundred yards of instantaneous fuse. -This explosive is used in demolishing machine-gun emplacements and mine -saps. The sappers were to lay their charges while we were at work in -the trenches, and explode them as soon as our party was far enough out -on the return journey to be safe from this danger. In addition to these -parties of ten, there were three of us who carried bombs and had orders -to keep near the three officers, to take the place of any one of them -that might go down, and meanwhile to use our own judgment about helping -the jolly old party along. I was one of the three. - -In addition to the raiding party, proper, there was a relay all across -“No Man’s Land,” at ten paces interval, making a human chain to show -us our way back, to assist the wounded and, in case of opportunity -or necessity, to re-enforce us. They were ordered not to leave their -positions when we began to come back, until the last man of our party -had been accounted for. The final section of our entourage was composed -of twelve stretcher-bearers, who had been specially trained with us, so -that they would be familiar with the trench section which we were to -raid. - -There were two things which made it possible for our raiding party to -get started across “No Man’s Land.” One was the momentary quickening -of the blood which follows a big and unaccustomed dose of rum, and -the other was a sort of subconscious, mechanical confidence in our -undertaking, which was a result of the scores of times we had gone -through every pre-arranged movement in the duplicate German trenches -behind our lines. Without either of those influences, we simply could -not have left shelter and faced what was before us. - -An intensified bombardment from our guns began just as soon as we had -climbed “over the top” and were lining up for the journey across. -“Lining up” is not just a suitable term. We were crawling about on all -fours, just far enough out in “No Man’s Land” to be under the edge of -the German shell-fire, and taking what shelter we could in shell-holes -while our leaders picked the way to start across. The extra heavy -bombardment had warned the Germans that something was about to happen. -They sent up star shells and “S. O. S.” signals, until there was a -glare over the torn earth like that which you see at the grand finish -of a Pain’s fire-works display, and meanwhile they sprayed “No Man’s -Land” with streams of machine-gun fire. In the face of that, we started. - -It would be absurd to say that we were not frightened. Thinking men -could not help but be afraid. If we were pallid--which undoubtedly we -were--the black upon our faces hid it, but our fear-struck voices were -not disguised. They trembled and our teeth chattered. - -We sneaked out, single file, making our way from shell-hole to -shell-hole, nearly all the time on all fours, crawling quickly over -the flat places between holes. The Germans had not sighted us, but -they were squirting machine-gun bullets all over the place like a man -watering a lawn with a garden hose, and they were bound to get some -of us. Behind me, I heard cries of pain, and groans, but this made -little impression on my benumbed intelligence. From the mere fact that -whatever had happened had happened to one of the other sections of -ten and not to my own, it seemed, some way or another, no affair to -concern me. Then a man in front of me doubled up suddenly and rolled -into a shell-hole. That simply made me remember very clearly that I was -not to stop on account of it. It was some one else’s business to pick -that man up. Next, according to the queer psychology of battle, I began -to lose my sensation of fear and nervousness. After I saw a second -man go down, I gave my attention principally to a consideration of -the irregularities of the German parapet ahead of us, picking out the -spot where we were to enter the trench. It seems silly to say it, but -I seemed to get some sort of satisfaction out of the realization that -we had lost the percentage which we might be expected to lose, going -over. Now, it seemed, the rest of us were safe until we should reach -the next phase of our undertaking. I heard directions given and I gave -some myself. My voice was firm, and I felt almost calm. Our artillery -had so torn up the German barbed wire that it gave us no trouble at -all. We walked through it with only a few scratches. When we reached -the low, sand-bag parapet of the enemy trench, we tossed in a few bombs -and followed them right over as soon as they had exploded. There wasn’t -a German in sight. They were all in their dug-outs. But we knew pretty -well where every dug-out was located, and we rushed for the entrances -with our bombs. Everything seemed to be going just as we had expected -it to go. Two Germans ran plump into me as I round a ditch angle, with -a bomb in my hand. They had their hands up and each of them yelled: - -“Mercy, Kamarad!” - -I passed them back to be sent to the rear, and the man who received -them from me chuckled and told them to step lively. The German trenches -were practically just as we had expected to find them, according to our -sample. They were so nearly similar to the duplicate section in which -we had practiced that we had no trouble finding our way in them. I was -just thinking that really the only tough part of the job remaining -would be getting back across “No Man’s Land,” when it seemed that the -whole earth behind me, rose in the air. For a moment I was stunned, -and half blinded by dirt blown into my face. When I was able to see, I -discovered that all that lay back of me was a mass of upturned earth -and rock, with here and there a man shaking himself or scrambling out -of it or lying still. - -Just two minutes after we went into their trench, the Germans had -exploded a mine under their parapet. I have always believed that in -some way or another they had learned which spot we were to raid, and -had prepared for us. Whether that’s true or not, one thing is certain. -That mine blew our organization, as we would say in Kentucky, “plumb to -Hell.” And it killed or disabled more than half of our party. - -There was much confusion among those of us who remained on our feet. -Some one gave an order to retire and some one countermanded it. More -Germans came out of their dug-outs, but, instead of surrendering as per -our original schedule, they threw bombs amongst us. It became apparent -that we should be killed or captured if we stuck there and that we -shouldn’t get any more prisoners. I looked at my wrist watch and saw -that there remained but five minutes more of the time which had been -allotted for our stay in the trench, so I blew my whistle and started -back. I had seen Private Green (No. 177,250) knocked down by a bomb in -the next trench section, and I picked him up and carried him out over -the wrecked parapet. I took shelter with him in the first shell-hole -but found that he was dead and left him there. A few yards further back -toward our line I found Lance Corporal Glass in a shell-hole, with -part of his hip shot away. He said he thought he could get back if I -helped him, and I started with him. Private Hunter, who had been in a -neighboring shell-hole came to our assistance, and between us, Hunter -and I got Glass to our front trench. - -We found them lining up the survivors of our party for a roll call. -That showed so many missing that Major John Lewis, our company -commander, formerly managing-editor of the _Montreal Star_, called for -volunteers to go out in “No Man’s Land” and try to find some of our -men. Corporal Charleson, Private Saunders and I went out. We brought -in two wounded, and we saw a number of dead, but, on account of their -blackened faces, were unable to identify them. The scouts, later, -brought in several bodies. - -Of the sixty odd men who had started in our party, forty-three were -found to be casualties--killed, wounded, or missing. The missing -list was the longest. The names of these men were marked, “M. B. K.” -(missing, believed killed) on our rolls. I have learned since that some -few of them have been reported through Switzerland as prisoners of war -in Germany, but most of them are now officially listed as dead. - -All of the survivors of the raiding party were sent twenty miles to -the rear at seven o’clock, and the non-commissioned officers were -ordered to make reports in writing concerning the entire operation. -We recorded, each in his own way, the ghastly failure of our first -aggressive effort against the Germans, before we rolled into the hay -in the same old barn where we had been quartered during the days of -preparation for the raid. I was so dead tired that I soon fell asleep, -but not for long. I never slept more than an hour at a time for several -days and nights. I would doze off from sheer exhaustion, and then -suddenly find myself sitting straight up, scared half to death, all -over again. - -There may be soldiers who don’t get scared when they know they are in -danger or even when people are being killed right around them, but I’m -not one of them. And I’ve never met any of them yet. I know a boy who -won the Military Medal, in the battle of the Somme, and I saw him on -his knees before his platoon commander, shamelessly crying that he was -a coward and begging to be left behind, just when the order to advance -was given. - -Soldiers of our army who read this story will probably observe one -thing in particular, and that is the importance of bombing operations -in the present style of warfare. You might say that a feature of -this war has been the renaissance of the grenadier. Only British -reverence for tradition kept the name of the Grenadiers alive, through -a considerable number of wars. Now, in every offensive, big or small, -the man who has been trained to throw a bomb thirty yards is busier -and more important than the fellow with the modern rifle which will -shoot a mile and a half and make a hole through a house. In a good many -surprising ways this war has carried us back to first principles. I -remember a Crusader’s mace which I once saw in the British museum that -would make a bang-up knob-kerrie, much better than the kind with which -they arm our Number 4 men in a raiding party section. It had a round, -iron head with spikes all over it. I wonder that they haven’t started a -factory to turn them out. - -As I learned during my special training in England, the use of hand -grenades was first introduced in warfare by the French, in 1667. The -British did not use them until ten years later. After the battle of -Waterloo the hand grenade was counted an obsolete weapon until the -Japanese revived its use in the war with Russia. The rude grenades -first used by the British in the present war weighed about eight -pounds. To-day, in the British army, the men who have been trained to -throw grenades--now of lighter construction and much more efficient -and certain action--are officially known as “bombers” for this reason: -When grenade fighting came back to its own in this war, each battalion -trained a certain number of men in the use of grenades, and, naturally, -called them “grenadiers.” The British Grenadier Guards, the senior foot -regiment in the British Army, made formal complaint against the use of -their time-honored name in this connection, and British reverence for -tradition did the rest. The Grenadiers were no longer grenadiers, but -they were undoubtedly the Grenadiers. The war office issued a formal -order that battalion grenade throwers should be known as “bombers” and -not as “grenadiers.” - -Up to the time when I left France we had some twenty-seven varieties of -grenades, but most of them were obsolete or ineffective, and we only -made use of seven or eight sorts. The grenades were divided into two -principal classes, rifle grenades and hand grenades. The rifle grenades -are discharged from a rifle barrel by means of a blank cartridge. Each -grenade is attached to a slender rod which is inserted into the bore of -the rifle, and the longer the rod the greater the range of the grenade. -The three principal rifle grenades are the Mills, the Hales, and the -Newton, the former having a maximum range of 120 yards, and the latter -of 400 yards. A rifle discharging a Mills grenade may be fired from -the shoulder, as there is no very extraordinary recoil, but in using -the others it is necessary to fasten the rifle in a stand or plant the -butt on the ground. Practice teaches the soldier how much elevation -to give the rifle for different ranges. The hand grenades are divided -also into two classes, those which are discharged by percussion, and -those which have time fuses, with detonators of fulminate of mercury. -The high explosives used are ammonal, abliste and sabulite, but ammonal -is the much more commonly employed. There are also smoke bombs, the -Mexican or tonite bomb, the Hales hand grenade, the No. 19 grenade and -the fumite bomb, which contains white phosphorous, wax and petrol, -and discharges a stream of liquid fire which will quickly burn out a -dug-out and everything it contains. Hand grenades are always thrown -with a stiff arm, as a bowler delivers a cricket ball toward the -wicket. They cannot be thrown in the same manner as a baseball for -two reasons. One is that the snap of the wrist with which a baseball -is sent on its way would be likely to cause the premature discharge -of a percussion grenade, and the second is that the grenades weigh so -much--from a pound and a half to ten pounds--that the best arm in the -world couldn’t stand the strain of whipping them off as a baseball is -thrown. I’m talking by the book about this, because I’ve been a bomber -and a baseball player. - -A bomber, besides knowing all about the grenades in use in his own -army, must have practical working knowledge concerning the grenades in -use by the enemy. After we took the Regina trench, on the Somme, we -ran out of grenades at a moment when a supply was vitally necessary. -We found a lot of the German “egg” bombs, and through our knowledge of -their workings and our consequent ability to use them against their -original owners we were able to hold the position. - -An officer or non-commissioned officer in charge of a bombing detail -must know intimately every man in his command, and have such discipline -that every order will be carried out with scrupulous exactitude when -the time comes. The leader will have no time, in action, to prompt his -men or even to see if they are doing what they have been told to do. -When a platoon of infantry is in action one rifleman more or less makes -little difference, but in bombing operations each man has certain -particular work to do and he must do it, just as it has been planned, -in order to protect himself and his comrades from disaster. If you can -out-throw the enemy, or if you can make most of the bombs land with -accuracy, you have a wonderful advantage in an attack. But throwing -wild or throwing short you simply give confidence to the enemy in his -own offensive. One very good thrower may win an objective for his -squad, while one man who is faint-hearted or unskilled or “rattled” may -cause the entire squad to be annihilated. - -In the revival of bombing, some tricks have developed which would -be humorous if the denouements were not festooned with crepe and -accompanied by obituary notations on muster rolls. There may be -something which might be termed funny on one end of a bombing-ruse--but -not on both ends of it. Whenever you fool a man with a bomb, you’re -playing a practical joke on him that he’ll never forget. Even, -probably, he’ll never get a chance to remember it. - -When the Canadians first introduced bombing, the bombs were improvised -out of jam tins, the fuses were cut according to the taste and judgment -of the individual bomber, and, just when the bomb would explode, was -more or less problematical. Frequently, the Germans have tossed our -bombs back into our trenches before they went off. That was injurious -and irritating. They can’t do that with a Mills grenade nor with any -of the improved factory-made bombs, because the men know just how they -are timed and are trained to know just how to throw them. The Germans -used to work another little bomb trick of their own. They learned -that our scouts and raiders were all anxious to get a German helmet -as a souvenir. They’d put helmets on the ground in “No Man’s Land,” -or in an advanced trench with bombs under them. In several cases, men -looking for souvenirs suddenly became mere memories, themselves. In -several raids, when bombing was new, the Canadians worked a trick on -the Germans with extensively fatal effect. They tossed bombs into -the German trenches with six-inch fuses attached. To the Germans they -looked just like the other bombs we had been using, and, in fact -they were--all but the fuses. Instead of having failed to continue -burning, as the Germans thought, those fuses had never been lighted. -They were instantaneous fuses. The ignition spark will travel through -instantaneous fuse at the rate of about thirty yards a second. A German -would pick up one of these bombs, select the spot where he intended -to blow up a few of us with our own ammonal, and then light the fuse. -After that there had to be a new man in his place. The bomb would -explode instantly the long fuse was ignited. - -The next day when I got up after this disastrous raid, I said to my -bunkie: - -“Got a fag?” (Fag is the Tommy’s name for a cigarette.) - -It’s never, “will you have a fag?” but always, “have you got a fag?” - -They are the inseparable companions of the men at the front, and you’ll -see the soldiers go over the top with an unlit fag in their lips. -Frequently, it is still there when their work is done. - -As we sat there smoking, my friend said: - -“Something sure raised hell with our calculations.” - -“Like those automatic self-cocking revolvers did with a Kentucky -wedding when some one made a remark reflecting on the bride,” I replied. - - * * * * * - -It may be interesting to note that Corpl. Glass, Corpl. Charleson and -Private (later Corpl.) Saunders have all since been “Killed in Action.” -Charleson and Saunders the same morning I was wounded on the Somme, -and Glass, Easter morning at Vimy Ridge, when the Canadians made their -wonderful attack. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SHIFTED TO THE SOMME - - -A few days after the bombing raid, which ended so disastrously for us, -our battalion was relieved from duty on the front line, and the tip -we got was that we were to go down to the big show then taking place -on the Somme. Our relief was a division of Australians. You see, the -sector which we had held in Belgium was a sort of preparatory school -for the regular fighting over in France. - -It wasn’t long before we got into what you might call the Big League -contest but, in the meanwhile, we had a little rest from battling -Fritz and the opportunity to observe some things which seem to me to -be worth telling about. Those of you who are exclusively fond of the -stirring detail of war, such as shooting and being shot at and bombing -and bayoneting, need only skip a little of this. We had an entirely -satisfactory amount of smoke and excitement later. - -As soon as our relief battalion had got in, we moved back to -Renninghelst for a couple of days rest. We were a pretty contented and -jovial lot--our platoon, especially. We were all glad to get away from -the strain of holding a front trench, and there were other advantages. -For instance, the alterations of our muster roll due to casualties, had -not come through battalion headquarters and, therefore, we had, in our -platoon, sixty-three rum rations, night and morning, and only sixteen -men. There was a Canadian Scot in our crowd who said that the word -which described the situation was “g-r-r-r-a-nd!” - -There was a good deal of jealousy at that time between the Canadians -and the Australians. Each had the same force in the field--four -divisions. Either force was bigger than any other army composed -exclusively of volunteers ever before assembled. While I belong to the -Canadian army and believe the Canadian overseas forces the finest -troops ever led to war, I must say that I have never seen a body of men -so magnificent in average physique as the Australians. And some of them -were even above the high average. The man that punched me in the eye -in an “estaminet” in Poperinghe made up entirely in his own person for -the absence of Les Darcy from the Australian ranks. I don’t know just -how the fight started between the Australians and us, in Poperinghe, -but I know that it took three regiments of Imperial troops to stop it. -The most convincing story I heard of the origin of the battle was told -me by one of our men who said he was there when it began. He said one -of the Australians had carelessly remarked that the British generals -had decided it was time to get through with the side-show in Belgium -and this was the reason why they had sent in regular troops like the -Australians to relieve the Canadians. - -Then some sensitive Canadian wished the Australians luck and hoped -they’d finish it up as well as they had the affair in the Dardanelles. -After that, our two days’ rest was made up principally of beating it -out of “estaminets” when strategic requirements suggested a new base, -or beating it into “estaminets” where it looked as if we could act as -efficient re-inforcements. The fight never stopped for forty-eight -hours, and the only places it didn’t extend to were the church and -the hospitals. I’ll bet, to this day, that the Belgians who run the -“estaminets” in Poperinghe will duck behind the bars if you just -mention Canada and Australia in the same breath. - -But I’m bound to say that it was good, clean fighting. Nobody fired -a shot, nobody pulled a bayonet, and nobody got the wrong idea about -anything. The Australian heavy-weight champion who landed on me went -right out in the street and saluted one of our lieutenants. We had just -one satisfying reflection after the fight was over. The Australian -battalion that relieved us fell heir to the counter attack which the -Germans sent across to even up on our bombing raid. - -We began our march to the Somme by a hike to St. Ohmer, one of the -early British headquarters in Europe. Then we stopped for a week about -twenty miles from Calais, where we underwent a course of intensified -training for open fighting. The infantry tactics, in which we were -drilled, were very similar to those of the United States army--those -which, in fact, were originated by the United States troops in the -days of Indian fighting. We covered most of the ground around Calais -on our stomachs in open order. While it may seem impertinent for me, a -mere non-com., to express an opinion about the larger affairs of the -campaign, I think I may be excused for saying that the war didn’t at -all take the course which was expected and hoped for after the fight on -the Somme. Undoubtedly, the Allies expected to break through the German -line. That is well known now. While we were being trained near Calais -for open warfare, a very large force of cavalry was being assembled and -prepared for the same purpose. It was never used. - -That was last August, and the Allies haven’t broken through yet. -Eventually I believe they will break through, but, in my opinion, men -who are waiting now to learn if they are to be drawn for service in -our new American army will be veterans in Europe before the big break -comes, which will wreck the Prussian hope of success in this war. And -if we of the U. S. A. don’t throw in the weight to beat the Prussians -now, they will not be beaten, and, in that case, the day will not be -very far distant when we will have to beat them to save our homes and -our nation. War is a dreadful and inglorious and ill-smelling and cruel -thing. But if we hold back now, we will be in the logical position of a -man hesitating to go to grips with a savage, shrieking, spewing maniac -who has all but whipped his proper keepers, and is going after the -on-looker next. - -We got drafts of recruits before we went on to the Somme, and some -of our wounded men were sent back to England, where we had left our -“Safety-first Battalion.” That was really the Fifty-first battalion, of -the Fourth Division of the Canadian forces, composed of the physically -rejected, men recovering from wounds, and men injured in training. The -Tommies, however, called it the “Safety-first,” or “Major Gilday’s -Light Infantry.” Major Gilday was our battalion surgeon. He was -immensely popular, and he achieved a great name for himself. He made -one realize what a great personal force a doctor can be and what an -unnecessary and overwrought elaboration there is in the civil practice -of medicine. - -Under Major Gilday’s administration, no man in our battalion was sick -if he could walk, and, if he couldn’t walk, there was a reasonable -suspicion that he was drunk. The Major simplified the practice of -medicine to an exact science involving just two forms of treatment -and two remedies--“Number Nines” and whale oil. Number Nines were -pale, oval pills, which, if they had been eggs, would have run about -eight to an omelette. They had an internal effect which could only be -defined as dynamic. After our men had become acquainted with them -through personal experience they stopped calling them “Number Nines” -and called them “whiz-bangs.” There were only two possibilities of -error under Major Gilday’s system of simplified medicine. One was -to take a whiz-bang for trench feet, and the other to use whale oil -externally for some form of digestional hesitancy. And, in either -case, no permanent harm could result, while the error was as simple of -correction as the command “about face.” - -There was a story among our fellows that an ambulance had to be called -for Major Gilday, in London, one day, on account of shock following a -remark made to him by a bobby. The Major asked the policeman how he -could get to the Cavoy Hotel. The bobby, with the proper bus line in -mind, replied: “Take a number nine, sir.” - -Two weeks and a half after we left Belgium we arrived at Albert, having -marched all the way. The sight which met our eyes as we rounded the -rock-quarry hill, outside of Albert, was wonderful beyond description. -I remember how tremendously it impressed my pal, Macfarlane. He sat -by the roadside and looked ’round over the landscape as if he were -fascinated. - -“Boy,” said he, “we’re at the big show at last.” - -Poor fellow, it was not only the big show, but the last performance for -him. Within sight of the spot where he sat, wondering, he later fell -in action and died. The scene, which so impressed him, gave us all a -feeling of awe. Great shells from a thousand guns were streaking and -criss-crossing the sky. Without glasses I counted thirty-nine of our -observation balloons. Away off in the distance I saw one German captive -balloon. The other air-craft were uncountable. They were everywhere, -apparently in hundreds. There could have been no more wonderful -panoramic picture of war in its new aspect. - -Our battalion was in and out of the town of Albert several days waiting -for orders. The battle of Courcelette was then in progress, and the -First, Second and Third Canadian divisions were holding front positions -at terrible cost. In the first part of October, 1916, we “went in” -opposite the famous Regina trench. The battle-ground was just miles -and miles of debris and shell-holes. Before we went to our position, -the officers and non-coms. were taken in by scouts to get the lay of -the land. These trips were called “Cook’s Tours.” On one of them I -went through the town of Poziers twice and didn’t know it. It had a -population of 12,000 before the war. On the spot where it had stood not -even a whole brick was left, it seemed. Its demolition was complete. -That was an example of the condition of the whole country over which -our forces had blasted their way for ten miles, since the previous -July. There were not even landmarks left. - -The town of Albert will always remain in my memory, and, especially, -I shall always have the mental picture of the cathedral, with the -statue of the Virgin Mary with the Babe in her arms, apparently about -to topple from the roof. German shells had carried away so much of the -base of the statue that it inclined at an angle of 45 degrees. The -Germans--for some reason which only they can explain--expended much -ammunition in trying to complete the destruction of the cathedral, but -they did not succeed and they’ll never do it now. The superstitious -French say that when the statue falls the war will end. I have a due -regard for sacred things, but if the omen were to be depended upon I -should not regret to see the fall occur. - -An unfortunate and tragic mishap occurred just outside of Albert when -the Somme offensive started on July 1. The signal for the first advance -was to be the touching off of a big mine. Some fifteen minutes before -the mine exploded the Germans set off one of their own. Two regiments -mistook this for the signal and started over. They ran simultaneously -into their own barrage and a German fire, and were simply cut to pieces -in as little time, almost, as it takes to say it. - -The Germans are methodical to such an extent that at times this usually -excellent quality acts to defeat their own ends. An illustration of -this was presented during the bombardment of Albert. Every evening at -about six o’clock they would drop thirty high-explosive shells into -the town. When we heard the first one coming we would dive for the -cellars. Everyone would remain counting the explosions until the number -had reached thirty. Then everyone would come up from the cellars and -go about his business. There were never thirty-one shells and never -twenty-nine shells. The number was always exactly thirty, and then the -high-explosive bombardment was over. Knowing this, none of us ever got -hurt. Their methodical “evening hate” was wasted, except for the damage -it did to buildings in the town. - -On the night when we went in to occupy the positions we were to hold, -our scouts, leading us through the flat desert of destruction, got -completely turned ’round, and took us back through a trench composed -of shell-holes, connected up, until we ran into a battalion of another -brigade. The place was dreadful beyond words. The stench of the dead -was sickening. In many places arms and legs of dead men stuck out of -the trench walls. - -We made a fresh start, after our blunder, moving in single file and -keeping in touch each with the man ahead of him. We stumbled along in -the darkness through this awful labyrinth until we ran into some of -our own scouts at 2 A.M., and found that we were half-way across “No -Man’s Land,” several hundred yards beyond our front line and likely to -be utterly wiped out in twenty seconds should the Germans sight us. At -last we reached the proper position, and fifteen minutes after we got -there a whiz-bang buried me completely. They had to dig me out. A few -minutes later another high-explosive shell fell in a trench section -where three of our men were stationed. All we could find after it -exploded were one arm and one leg which we buried. The trenches were -without trench mats, and the mud was from six inches to three feet deep -all through them. There were no dug-outs; only miserable “funk holes,” -dug where it was possible to dig them without uncovering dead men. -We remained in this position four days, from the 17th to the 21st of -October, 1916. - -There were reasons, of course, for the difference between conditions in -Belgium and on the Somme. On the Somme, we were constantly preparing -for a new advance, and we were only temporarily established on ground -which we had but recently taken, after long drumming with big guns. -The trenches were merely shell-holes connected by ditches. Our old -and ubiquitous and useful friend, the sand bag, was not present in -any capacity, and, therefore, we had no parapets or dug-outs. The -communication trenches were all blown in and everything had to come -to us overland, with the result that we never were quite sure when we -should get ammunition, rations, or relief forces. The most awful thing -was that the soil all about us was filled with freshly-buried men. If -we undertook to cut a trench or enlarge a funk hole, our spades struck -into human flesh, and the explosion of a big shell along our line sent -decomposed and dismembered and sickening mementoes of an earlier fight -showering amongst us. We lived in the muck and stench of “glorious” -war; those of us who lived. - -Here and there, along this line, were the abandoned dug-outs of the -Germans, and we made what use of them we could, but that was little. -I had orders one day to locate a dug-out and prepare it for use as -battalion headquarters. When I led a squad in to clean it up the odor -was so overpowering that we had to wear our gas masks. On entering, -with our flashlights, we first saw two dead nurses, one standing with -her arm ’round a post, just as she had stood when gas or concussion -killed her. Seated at a table in the middle of the place was the body -of an old general of the German medical corps, his head fallen between -his hands. The task of cleaning up was too dreadful for us. We just -tossed in four or five fumite bombs and beat it out of there. A few -hours later we went into the seared and empty cavern, made the roof -safe with new timbers, and notified battalion headquarters that the -place could be occupied. - -During this time I witnessed a scene which--with some others--I shall -never forget. An old chaplain of the Canadian forces came to our -trench section seeking the grave of his son, which had been marked for -him on a rude map by an officer who had seen the young man’s burial. -We managed to find the spot, and, at the old chaplain’s request, we -exhumed the body. Some of us suggested to him that he give us the -identification marks and retire out of range of the shells which were -bursting all around us. We argued that it was unwise for him to remain -unnecessarily in danger, but what we really intended was that he should -be saved the horror of seeing the pitiful thing which our spades were -about to uncover. - -“I shall remain,” was all he said. “He was my boy.” - -It proved that we had found the right body. One of our men tried to -clear the features with his handkerchief, but ended by spreading the -handkerchief over the face. The old chaplain stood beside the body and -removed his trench helmet, baring his gray locks to the drizzle of rain -that was falling. Then, while we stood by with bowed heads, his voice -rose amid the noise of bursting shells, repeating the burial service of -the Church of England. I have never been so impressed by anything in my -life as by that scene. - -The dead man was a young captain. He had been married to a lady of -Baltimore, just before the outbreak of the war. - -The philosophy of the British Tommies, and the Canadians and the -Australians on the Somme was a remarkable reflection of their fine -courage through all that hell. They go about their work, paying no -attention to the flying death about them. - -“If Fritz has a shell with your name and number on it,” said a British -Tommy to me one day, “you’re going to get it whether you’re in the -front line or seven miles back. If he hasn’t, you’re all right.” - -Fine fighters, all. And the Scotch kilties, lovingly called by the -Germans, “the women from hell,” have the respect of all armies. We -saw little of the Poilus, except a few on leave. All the men were -self-sacrificing to one another in that big melting pot from which so -few ever emerge whole. The only things it is legitimate to steal in -the code of the trenches are rum and “fags” (cigarettes). Every other -possession is as safe as if it were under a Yale lock. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -WOUNDED IN ACTION - - -Our high command apparently meant to make a sure thing of the general -assault upon the Regina trench, in which we were to participate. Twice -the order to “go over the top” was countermanded. The assault was -first planned for October 19th. Then the date was changed to the 20th. -Finally, at 12:00 noon, of October 21st, we went. It was the first -general assault we had taken part in, and we were in a highly nervous -state. I’ll admit that. - -It seemed almost certain death to start over in broad daylight, yet, as -it turned out, the crossing of “No Man’s Land” was accomplished rather -more easily than in our night raids. Our battalion was on the extreme -right of the line, and that added materially to our difficulties, first -by compelling us to advance through mud so deep that some of our men -sank to their hips in it and, second, by giving us the hottest little -spot in France to hold later. - -I was in charge of the second “wave” or assault line. This is called -the “mopping up” wave, because the business of the men composing it -is thoroughly to bomb out a position crossed by the first wave, to -capture or kill all of the enemy remaining, and to put the trench in a -condition to be defended against a counter attack by reversing the fire -steps and throwing up parapets. - -While I was with the Canadians, all attacks, or rather advances, were -launched in four waves, the waves being thirty to fifty yards apart. -A wave, I might explain, is a line of men in extended order, or about -three paces apart. Our officers were instructed to maintain their -places in the line and to wear no distinguishing marks which might -enable sharpshooters to pick them off. Invariably, however, they led -the men out of our trenches. “Come on, boys, let’s go,” they would -say, climbing out in advance. It was bred in them to do that. - -Experience had taught us that it took the German barrage about a minute -and a half to get going after ours started, and that they always opened -up on our front line trench. We had a plan to take advantage of this -knowledge. We usually dug an “assembly trench” some distance in advance -of our front line, and started from it. Thus we were able to line up -between two fires, our shells bursting ahead of us, and the Germans’ -behind us. All four waves started from the assembly trench at once, -the men of the second, third and fourth waves falling back to their -proper distances as the advance proceeded. The first wave worked up to -within thirty to fifty yards of our own barrage and then the men lay -down. At this stage, our barrage was playing on the enemy front line -trench. After a certain interval, carefully timed, the gunners, away -back of our lines, elevated their guns enough to carry our barrage a -certain distance back of the enemy front trench and then our men went -in at the charge, to occupy the enemy trench before the Germans in -the dug-outs could come out and organize a defense. Unless serious -opposition was met the first wave went straight through the first -trench, leaving only a few men to guard the dug-out entrances pending -the arrival of the second wave. The second wave, only a few seconds -behind the first one, proceeded to do the “mopping up.” Then this wave, -in turn, went forward, leaving only a few men behind to garrison the -captured trench. - -The third and fourth waves went straight on unless assistance was -needed, and rushed up to the support of the new front line. The -men in these waves were ammunition carriers, stretcher-bearers and -general reenforcements. Some of them were set to work at once digging -a communication trench to connect our original front line with our -new support and front lines. When we established a new front line we -never used the German trench. We had found that the German artillery -always had the range of that trench down, literally speaking, to an -inch. We always dug a new trench either in advance of the German -trench or in the rear of it. Our manner of digging a trench under these -circumstances was very simple and pretty sure to succeed except in an -extremely heavy fire. Each man simply got as flat to the ground as -possible, seeking whatever cover he might avail himself of, and began -digging toward the man nearest him. Sand bags were filled with the -first dirt and placed to afford additional cover. The above system of -attack, which is now well known to the Germans, was, at the time when -I left France, the accepted plan when two lines of enemy trenches were -to be taken. It has been considerably changed, now, I am told. If the -intention was to take three, four, five or six lines, the system was -changed only in detail. When four or more lines were to be taken, two -or more battalions were assembled to operate on the same frontage. The -first battalion took two lines, the second passed through the first and -took two more lines, and so on. The Russians had been known to launch -an attack in thirty waves. - -It is interesting to note how every attack, nowadays, is worked out -in advance in the smallest detail, and how everything is done on a -time schedule. Aerial photographs of the position they are expected -to capture are furnished to each battalion, and the men are given the -fullest opportunity to study them. All bombing pits, dug-outs, trench -mortar and machine-gun emplacements are marked on these photographs. -Every man is given certain work to do and is instructed and -re-instructed until there can be no doubt that he has a clear knowledge -of his orders. But, besides that, he is made to understand the scope -and purpose and plan of the whole operation, so that he will know what -to do if he finds himself with no officer to command. This is one of -the great changes brought about by this war, and it signalizes the -disappearance, probably forever, of a long-established tradition. It is -something which I think should be well impressed upon the officers of -our new army, about to enter this great struggle. The day has passed -when the man in the ranks is supposed merely to obey. He must know -what to do and how to do it. He must think for himself and “carry -on” with the general plan, if his officers and N. C. O.’s all become -casualties. Sir Douglas Haig said: “For soldiers in this war, give me -business men with business sense, who are used to taking initiative.” - -While I was at the front I had opportunity to observe three distinct -types of barrage fire, the “box,” the “jumping,” and the “creeping.” -The “box,” I have already described to you, as it is used in a raid. -The “jumping” plays on a certain line for a certain interval and then -jumps to another line. The officers in command of the advance know -the intervals of time and space and keep their lines close up to the -barrage, moving with it on the very second. The “creeping” barrage -opens on a certain line and then creeps ahead at a certain fixed rate -of speed, covering every inch of the ground to be taken. The men of -the advance simply walk with it, keeping within about thirty yards -of the line on which the shells are falling. Eight-inch shrapnel, -and high-explosive shells were used exclusively by the British when -I was with them in maintaining barrage fire. The French used their -“seventy-fives,” which are approximately of eight-inch calibre. Of -late, I believe, the British and French have both added gas shells -for this use, when conditions make it possible. The Germans, in -establishing a barrage, used their “whiz-bangs,” slightly larger shells -than ours, but they never seemed to have quite the same skill and -certitude in barrage bombardment that our artillery-men had. - -To attempt to picture the scene of two barrage fires, crossing, is -quite beyond me. You see two walls of flame in front of you, one where -your own barrage is playing, and one where the enemy guns are firing, -and you see two more walls of flame behind you, one where the enemy -barrage is playing, and one where your own guns are firing. And amid -it all you are deafened by titanic explosions which have merged into -one roar of thunderous sound, while acrid fumes choke and blind you. -To use a fitting, if not original phrase, it’s just “Hell with the lid -off.” - -That day on the Somme, our artillery had given the Germans such a -battering and the curtain fire which our guns dropped just thirty to -forty yards ahead of us was so powerful that we lost comparatively few -men going over--only those who were knocked down by shells which the -Germans landed among us through our barrage. They never caught us with -their machine guns sweeping until we neared their trenches. Then a -good many of our men began to drop, but we were in their front trench -before they could cut us up anywhere near completely. Going over, I -was struck by shell fragments on the hand and leg, but the wounds were -not severe enough to stop me. In fact, I did not know that I had been -wounded until I felt blood running into my shoe. Then I discovered the -cut in my leg, but saw that it was quite shallow, and that no artery of -importance had been damaged. So I went on. - -I had the familiar feeling of nervousness and physical shrinking and -nausea at the beginning of this fight, but, by the time we were half -way across “No Man’s Land,” I had my nerve back. After I had been hit, -I remember feeling relieved that I hadn’t been hurt enough to keep me -from going on with the men. I’m not trying to make myself out a hero. -I’m just trying to tell you how an ordinary man’s mind works under the -stress of fighting and the danger of sudden death. There are some queer -things in the psychology of battle. For instance, when we had got into -the German trench and were holding it against the most vigorous counter -attacks, the thought which was persistently uppermost in my mind was -that I had lost the address of a girl in London along with some papers -which I had thrown away, just before we started over, and which I -should certainly never be able to find again. - -The Regina trench had been taken and lost three times by the British. -We took it that day and held it. We went into action with fifteen -hundred men of all ranks and came out with six hundred. The position, -which was the objective of our battalion, was opposite to and only -twelve hundred yards distant from the town of Pys, which, if you take -the English meaning of the French sound, was a highly inappropriate -name for that particular village. During a good many months, for a good -many miles ’round about that place, there wasn’t any such thing as -“Peace.” From our position, we could see a church steeple in the town -of Baupaume until the Germans found that our gunners were using it as a -“zero” mark, and blew it down with explosives. - -I have said that, because we were on the extreme right of the line, we -had the hottest little spot in France to hold for a while. You see, -we had to institute a double defensive, as we had the Germans on our -front and on our flank, the whole length of the trench to the right of -us being still held by the Germans. There we had to form a “block,” -massing our bombers behind a barricade which was only fifteen yards -from the barricade behind which the Germans were fighting. Our flank -and the German flank were in contact as fiery as that of two live wire -ends. And, meanwhile, the Fritzes tried to rush us on our front with -nine separate counter attacks. Only one of them got up close to us, -and we went out and stopped that with the bayonet. Behind our block -barricade, there was the nearest approach to an actual fighting Hell -that I had seen. - -And yet a man who was in the midst of it from beginning to end, came -out without a scratch. He was a tall chap named Hunter. For twenty-four -hours, without interruption, he threw German “egg-shell” bombs from a -position at the center of our barricade. He never stopped except to -light a cigarette or yell for some one to bring him more bombs from -Fritz’s captured storehouse. He projected a regular curtain of fire -of his own. I’ve no doubt the Germans reported he was a couple of -platoons, working in alternate reliefs. He was awarded the D. C. M. for -his services in that fight, and though, as I said, he was unwounded, -half the men around him were killed, and his nerves were in such -condition at the end that he had to be sent back to England. - -One of the great tragedies of the war resulted from a bit of -carelessness when, a couple of days later, the effort was made to -extend our grip beyond the spot which we took in that first fight. -Plans had been made for the Forty-fourth Battalion of the Tenth -Canadian Brigade to take by assault the trench section extending to the -right from the point where we had established the “block” on our flank. -The hour for the attack had been fixed. Then headquarters sent out -countermanding orders. Something wasn’t quite ready. - -The orders were sent by runners, as all confidential orders must be. -Telephones are of little use, now, as both our people and the Germans -have an apparatus which needs only to be attached to a metal spike in -the ground to “pick up” every telephone message within a radius of -three miles. When telephones are used now, messages are ordinarily sent -in code. But, for any vitally important communication which might -cost serious losses, if misunderstood, old style runners are used, -just as they were in the days when the field telephone was unheard of. -It is the rule to dispatch two or three runners by different routes -so that one, at least, will be certain to arrive. In the case of the -countermanding of the order for the Forty-fourth Battalion to assault -the German position on our flank, some officer at headquarters thought -that one messenger to the Lieut.-Colonel commanding the Forty-fourth -would be sufficient. The messenger was killed by a chance shot and his -message was undelivered. The Forty-fourth, in ignorance of change of -plan, “went over.” There was no barrage fire to protect the force and -their valiant effort was simply a wholesale suicide. Six hundred out of -eight hundred men were on the ground in two and one-half minutes. The -battalion was simply wiped out. Several officers were court-martialed -as a result of this terrible blunder. - -We had gone into the German trenches at a little after noon, on -Saturday. On Sunday night at about 10 P.M. we were relieved. The -relief force had to come in overland, and they had a good many -casualties en route. They found us as comfortable as bugs in a rug, -except for the infernal and continuous bombing at our flank barricade. -The Germans on our front had concluded that it was useless to try to -drive us out. About one-fourth of the six hundred of us, who were still -on our feet, were holding the sentry posts, and the remainder of the -six hundred were having banquets in the German dug-outs, which were -stocked up like delicatessen shops with sausages, fine canned foods, -champagne and beer. If we had only had a few ladies with us, we could -have had a real party. - -I got so happily interested in the spread in our particular dug-out -that I forgot about my wound until some one reminded me that orders -required me to hunt up a dressing station, and get an anti-tetanus -injection. I went and got it, all right, but an injection was about the -only additional thing I could have taken at that moment. If I had had -to swallow anything more, it would have been a matter of difficulty. -Tommies like to take a German trench, because if the Fritzes have to -move quickly, as they usually do, we always find sausage, beer, and -champagne--a welcome change from bully beef. I could never learn to -like their bread, however. - -After this fight I was sent, with other slightly wounded men, for a -week’s rest at the casualty station, at Contay. I rejoined my battalion -at the end of the week. From October 21st to November 18th we were -in and out of the front trenches several times for duty tours of -forty-eight hours each, but were in no important action. At 6:10 A.M., -on the morning of November 18th, a bitter cold day, we “went over” to -take the Desire and also the Desire support trenches. We started from -the left of our old position, and our advance was between Thieval and -Poizers, opposite to Grandecourt. - -There was the usual artillery preparation and careful organization for -the attack. I was again in charge of the “mopping up” wave, numbering -two hundred men and consisting mostly of bombers. It may seem strange -to you that a non-commissioned officer should have so important an -assignment, but, sometimes, in this war, privates have been in charge -of companies, numbering two hundred and fifty men, and I know of a -case where a lance-corporal was temporarily in command of an entire -battalion. It happened, on this day that, while I was in charge of the -second wave, I did not go over with them. At the last moment, I was -given a special duty by Major Lewis, one of the bravest soldiers I ever -knew, as well as the best beloved man in our battalion. A messenger -came to me from him just as I was overseeing a fair distribution of the -rum ration, and incidentally getting my own share. I went to him at -once. - -“McClintock,” said he, “I don’t wish to send you to any special hazard, -and, so far as that goes, we’re all going to get more or less of a -dusting. But I want to put that machine gun which has been giving us -so much trouble out of action.” - -I knew very well the machine gun he meant. It was in a concrete -emplacement, walled and roofed, and the devils in charge of it seemed -to be descendants of William Tell and the prophet Isaiah. They always -knew what was coming and had their gun accurately trained on it before -it came. - -“If you are willing,” said Major Lewis, “I wish you to select -twenty-five men from the company and go after that gun the minute the -order comes to advance. Use your own judgment about the men and the -plan for taking the gun position. Will you go?” - -“Yes, sir,” I answered. “I’ll go and pick out the men right away. I -think we can make those fellows shut up shop over there.” - -“Good boy!” he said. “You’ll try, all right.” - -I started away. He called me back. - -“This is going to be a bit hot, McClintock,” he said, taking my hand. -“I wish you the best of luck, old fellow--you and the rest of them.” In -the trenches they always wish you the best of luck when they hand you -a particularly tough job. - -I thanked him and wished him the same. I never saw him again. He was -killed in action within two hours after our conversation. Both he and -my pal, Macfarlane, were shot down dead that morning. - -When they called for volunteers to go with me in discharge of Major -Lewis’ order, the entire company responded. I picked out twenty-five -men, twelve bayonet men and thirteen bombers. They agreed to my plan -which was to get within twenty-five yards of the gun emplacement -before attacking, to place no dependence on rifle fire, but to bomb -them out and take the position with the bayonet. We followed that -plan and took the emplacement quicker than we had expected to do, but -there were only two of us left when we got there--Private Godsall, No. -177,063, and myself. All the rest of the twenty-five were dead or down. -The emplacement had been held by eleven Germans. Two only were left -standing when we got in. - -When we saw the gun had been silenced and the crew disabled, Godsall -and I worked round to the right about ten yards from the shell-hole -where we had sheltered ourselves while throwing bombs into the -emplacement, and scaled the German parapet. Then we rushed the gun -position. The officer who had been in charge was standing with his -back to us, firing with his revolver down the trench at our men who -were coming over at another point. I reached him before Godsall and -bayoneted him. The other German who had survived our bombing threw -up his hands and mouthed the Teutonic slogan of surrender, “Mercy, -Kamerad.” My bayonet had broken off in the encounter with the German -officer, and I remembered that I had been told always to pull the -trigger after making a bayonet thrust, as that would usually jar the -weapon loose. In this case, I had forgotten instructions. I picked up a -German rifle with bayonet fixed, and Godsall and I worked on down the -trench. - -The German, who had surrendered, stood with his hands held high above -his head, waiting for us to tell him what to do. He never took his -eyes off of us even to look at his officer, lying at his feet. As we -moved down the trench, he followed us, still holding his hands up and -repeating, “Mercy, Kamerad!” At the next trench angle we took five -more prisoners, and as Godsall had been slightly wounded in the arm, -I turned the captives over to him and ordered him to take them to -the rear. Just then the men of our second wave came over the parapet -like a lot of hurdlers. In five minutes, we had taken the rest of the -Germans in the trench section prisoners, had reversed the fire steps, -and had turned their own machine guns against those of their retreating -companies that we could catch sight of. - -As we could do nothing more here, I gave orders to advance and -re-enforce the front line. Our way led across a field furrowed with -shell-holes and spotted with bursting shells. Not a man hesitated. -We were winning. That was all we knew or cared to know. We wanted to -make it a certainty for our fellows who had gone ahead. As we were -proceeding toward the German reserve trench, I saw four of our men, -apparently unwounded, lying in a shell-hole. I stopped to ask them what -they were doing there. As I spoke, I held my German rifle and bayonet -at the position of “guard,” the tip of the bayonet advanced, about -shoulder high. I didn’t get their answer, for, before they could reply, -I felt a sensation as if some one had thrown a lump of hard clay and -struck me on the hip, and forthwith I tumbled in on top of the four, -almost plunging my bayonet into one of them, a private named Williams. - -“Well, now you know what’s the matter with us,” said Williams. “We -didn’t fall in, but we crawled in.” - -They had all been slightly wounded. I had twenty-two pieces of shrapnel -and some shell fragments imbedded in my left leg between the hip and -the knee. I followed the usual custom of the soldier who has “got -it.” The first thing I did was to light a “fag” (cigarette) and the -next thing was to investigate and determine if I was in danger of -bleeding to death. There wasn’t much doubt about that. Arterial blood -was spurting from two of the wounds, which were revealed when the other -men in the hole helped me to cut off my breeches. With their aid, I -managed to stop the hemorrhage by improvising tourniquets with rags -and bayonets. One I placed as high up as possible on the thigh and the -other just below the knee. Then we all smoked another “fag” and lay -there, listening to the big shells going over and the shrapnel bursting -near us. It was quite a concert, too. We discussed what we ought to do, -and finally I said: - -“Here; you fellows can walk, and I can’t. Furthermore, you’re not able -to carry me, because you’ve got about all any of you can do to navigate -alone. It doesn’t look as if its going to be any better here very soon. -You all proceed to the rear, and, if you can get some one to come after -me, I’ll be obliged to you.” - -They accepted the proposition, because it was good advice and, besides, -it was orders. I was their superior officer. And what happened right -after that confirmed me forever in my early, Kentucky-bred conviction -that there is a great deal in luck. They couldn’t have travelled -more than fifty yards from the shell-hole when the shriek of a -high-explosive seemed to come right down out of the sky into my ears, -and the detonation, which instantly followed, shook the slanting sides -of the shell-hole until dirt in dusty little rivulets came trickling -down upon me. Wounded as I was, I dragged myself up to the edge of the -hole. There was no trace, anywhere, of the four men who had just left -me. They have never been heard of since. Their bodies were never found. -The big shell must have fallen right amongst them and simply blown them -to bits. - -It was about a quarter to seven in the morning when I was hit. I lay -in the shell-hole until two in the afternoon, suffering more from -thirst and cold and hunger than from pain. At two o’clock, a batch -of sixty prisoners came along under escort. They were being taken to -the rear under fire. The artillery bombardment was still practically -undiminished. I asked for four of the prisoners and made one of them -get out his rubber ground sheet, carried around his waist. They -responded willingly, and seemed most ready to help me. I had a revolver -(empty) and some bombs in my pockets, but I had no need to threaten -them. Each of the four took a corner of the ground sheet and, upon it, -they half carried and half dragged me toward the rear. - -It was a trip which was not without incident. Every now and then -we would hear the shriek of an approaching “coal box,” and then my -prisoner stretcher-bearers and I would tumble in one indiscriminate -heap into the nearest shell-hole. If we did that once, we did it a half -dozen times. After each dive, the four would patiently reorganize and -arrange the improvised stretcher again, and we would proceed. Following -every tumble, however, I would have to tighten my tourniquets, and, -despite all I could do, the hemorrhage from my wound continued so -profuse that I was beginning to feel very dizzy and weak. On the way -in, I sighted our regimental dressing station and signed to my four -bearers to carry me toward it. The station was in an old German dug-out. -Major Gilday was at the door. He laughed when he saw me with my own -special ambulance detail. - -“Well, what do you want?” he asked. - -“Most of all,” I said, “I think I want a drink of rum.” - -He produced it for me instantly. - -“Now,” said he, “my advice to you is to keep on travelling. You’ve got -a fine special detail there to look after you. Make ’em carry you to -Poizers. It’s only five miles, and you’ll make it all right. I’ve got -this place loaded up full, no stretcher-bearers, no assistants, no -adequate supply of bandages and medicines, and a lot of very bad cases. -If you want to get out of here in a week, just keep right on going, -now.” - -As we continued toward the rear, we were the targets for a number of -humorous remarks from men coming up to go into the fight. - -“Give my regards to Blighty, you lucky beggar,” was the most frequent -saying. - -“Bli’ me,” said one Cockney Tommy. “There goes one o’ th’ Canadians -with an escort from the Kaiser.” - -Another man stopped and asked about my wound. - -“Good work,” he said. “I’d like to have a nice clean one like that, -myself.” - -I noticed one of the prisoners grinning at some remark and asked him if -he understood English. He hadn’t spoken to me, though he had shown the -greatest readiness to help me. - -“Certainly I understand English,” he replied. “I used to be a waiter at -the Knickerbocker Hotel, in New York.” That sounded like a voice from -home, and I wanted to hug him. I didn’t. However, I can say for him he -must have been a good waiter. He gave me good service. - -Of the last stages of my trip to Poizers I cannot tell anything for I -arrived unconscious from loss of blood. The last I remember was that -the former waiter, evidently seeing that I was going out, asked me -to direct him how to reach the field dressing station at Poizers and -whom to ask for when he got there. I came back to consciousness in an -ambulance on the way to Albert. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -A VISIT FROM THE KING - - -I was taken from Poizers to Albert in a Ford ambulance, or, as the -Tommies would say, a “tin Lizzie.” The man who drove this vehicle -would make a good chauffeur for an adding machine. Apparently, he was -counting the bumps in the road for he didn’t miss one of them. However, -the trip was only a matter of seven miles, and I was in fair condition -when they lifted me out and carried me to an operating table in the -field dressing station. - -A chaplain came along and murmured a little prayer in my ear. I imagine -that would make a man feel very solemn if he thought there was a chance -he was about to pass out, but I knew I merely had a leg pretty badly -smashed up, and, while the chaplain was praying, I was wondering if -they would have to cut it off. I figured, if so, this would handicap my -dancing. - -The first formality in a shrapnel case is the administration of an -anti-tetanus inoculation, and, when it is done, you realize that they -are sure trying to save your life. The doctor uses a horse-syringe, and -the injection leaves a lump on your chest as big as a base ball which -stays there for forty-eight hours. After the injection a nurse fills -out a diagnosis blank with a description of your wounds and a record of -your name, age, regiment, regimental number, religion, parentage, and -previous history as far as she can discover it without asking questions -which would be positively indelicate. After all of that, my wounds were -given their first real dressing. - -Immediately after this was done, I was bundled into another -ambulance--this time a Cadillac--and driven to Contay where the C. -C. S. (casualty clearing station) and railhead were located. In the -ambulance with me went three other soldiers, an artillery officer and -two privates of infantry. We were all ticketed off as shrapnel cases, -and probable recoveries, which latter detail is remarkable, since the -most slightly injured in the four had twelve wounds, and there were -sixty odd shell fragments or shrapnel balls collectively imbedded in -us. The head nurse told me that I had about twenty wounds. Afterward -her count proved conservative. More accurate and later returns showed -twenty-two bullets and shell fragments in my leg. - -We were fairly comfortable in the ambulance, and I, especially, had -great relief from the fact that the nurse had strapped my leg in a -sling attached to the top of the vehicle. We smoked cigarettes and -chatted cheerfully, exchanging congratulations on having got “clean -ones,” that is, wounds probably not fatal. The artillery officer told -me he had been supporting our battalion, that morning, with one of -the “sacrifice batteries.” A sacrifice battery, I might explain, is -one composed of field pieces which are emplaced between the front and -support lines, and which, in case of an attack or counter attack, -are fired at pointblank range. They call them sacrifice batteries -because some of them are wiped out every day. This officer said our -battalion, that morning, had been supported by an entire division of -artillery, and that on our front of four hundred yards the eighteen -pounders, alone, in a curtain fire which lasted thirty-two minutes, had -discharged fifteen thousand rounds of high-explosive shells. - -I was impressed by his statement, of course, but I told him that while -this was an astonishing lot of ammunition, it was even more surprising -to have noticed at close range, as I did, the number of Germans they -missed. Toward the end of our trip to Contay, we were much exhausted -and pretty badly shaken up. We were beginning also to realize that we -were by no means out of the woods, surgically. Our wounds had merely -been dressed. Each of us faced an extensive and serious operation. We -arrived at Contay, silent and pretty much depressed. For twenty-four -hours in the Contay casualty clearing station, they did little except -feed us and take our temperatures hourly. Then we were put into a -hospital train for Rouen. - -Right here, I would like to tell a little story about a hospital train -leaving Contay for Rouen--not the one we were on, but one which had -left a few days before. The train, when it was just ready to depart -with a full quota of wounded men, was attacked by German aeroplanes -from which bombs were dropped upon it. There is nothing, apparently, -that makes the Germans so fearless and ferocious as the Red Cross -emblem. On the top of each of the cars in this train there was a Red -Cross big enough to be seen from miles in the air. The German aviators -accepted them merely as excellent targets. Their bombs quickly knocked -three or four cars from the rails and killed several of the helpless -wounded men. The rest of the patients, weak and nervous from recent -shock and injury, some of them half delirious, and nearly all of them -in pain, were thrown into near-panic. Two of the nursing sisters in -charge of the train were the coolest individuals present. They walked -calmly up and down its length, urging the patients to remain quiet, -directing the male attendants how to remove the wounded men safely -from the wrecked cars, and paying no attention whatever to the bombs -which were still exploding near the train. I did not have the privilege -of witnessing this scene myself, but I know that I have accurately -described it for the details were told in an official report when the -King decorated the two sisters with the Royal Red Cross, for valor in -the face of the enemy. - -The trip from Contay to Rouen was a nightmare--twenty-six hours -travelling one hundred and fifty miles on a train, which was forever -stopping and starting, its jerky and uncertain progress meaning to us -just hours and hours of suffering. I do not know whether this part of -the system for the removal of the wounded has been improved now. Then, -its inconveniences and imperfections must have been inevitable, for, in -every way afterward, the most thoughtful and tender care was shown us. -In the long row of huts which compose the British General Hospital at -Rouen, we found ourselves in what seemed like Paradise. - -In the hut, which constituted the special ward for leg wounds, I was -lifted from the stretcher on which I had travelled all the way from -Poizers into a comfortable bed with fresh, clean sheets, and instantly -I found myself surrounded with quiet, trained, efficient care. I forgot -the pain of my wounds and the dread of the coming operation when a tray -of delicious food was placed beside my bed and a nurse prepared me for -the enjoyment of it by bathing my face and hands with scented water. - -On the following morning my leg was X-rayed and photographed. I told -the surgeon I thought the business of operating could very well be put -off until I had had about three more square meals, but he couldn’t -see it that way. In the afternoon, I got my first sickening dose of -ether, and they took the first lot of iron out of me. I suppose these -were just the surface deposits, for they only got five or six pieces. -However, they continued systematically. I had five more operations, -and every time I came out of the ether; the row of bullets and shell -scraps at the foot of my bed was a little longer. After the number had -reached twenty-two, they told me that perhaps there were a few more -in there, but they thought they’d better let them stay. My wounds had -become septic, and it was necessary to give all attention to drainage -and cure. It was about this time that everything, for a while, seemed -to become hazy, and my memories got all queerly mixed up and confused. -I recollect I conceived a violent dislike for a black dog that appeared -from nowhere, now and then, and began chewing at my leg, and I believe -I gave the nurse a severe talking to because she insisted on going to -look on at the ball game when she ought to be sitting by to chase that -dog away. And I was perfectly certain about her being at the ball game, -because I saw her there when I was playing third base. - -It was at this time (on November 28, 1916, ten days after I had been -wounded) that my father, in Lexington, received the following cablegram -from the officer in charge of the Canadian records, in England: - - “Sincerely regret to inform you that Sergeant Alexander McClintock - is officially reported dangerously ill in No. 5 General Hospital, - from gunshot wound in left thigh. Further particulars supplied when - received.” - -It appears that, during the time of my adventures with the black dog -and the inattentive nurse, my temperament had ascended to the stage -when the doctors begin to admit that another method of treatment -might have been successful. But I didn’t pass out. The one thing I -most regret about my close call is that my parents, in Lexington, -were in unrelieved suspense about my condition until I myself sent -them a cable from London, on December 15th. After the first official -message, seemingly prepared almost as a preface to the announcement -of my demise, my father received no news of me whatever. And, as I -didn’t know that the official message had gone, I cabled nothing to him -until I was feeling fairly chipper again. You can’t have wars, though, -without these little misunderstandings. - -If it were possible, I should say something here which would be fitting -and adequate about the English women who nursed the twenty-five hundred -wounded men in General Hospital No. 5, at Rouen. But that power isn’t -given me. All I can do is to fall back upon our most profound American -expression of respect and say that my hat is off to them. One nurse -in the ward in which I lay had been on her feet for fifty-six hours, -with hardly time even to eat. She finally fainted from exhaustion, was -carried out of the ward, and was back again in four hours, assisting -at an operation. And the doctors were doing their bit, too, in living -up to the obligations which they considered to be theirs. An operating -room was in every ward with five tables in each. After the fight on the -Somme, in which I was wounded, not a table was vacant any hour in the -twenty-four, for days at a time. Outside of each room was a long line -of stretchers containing patients next awaiting surgical attention. -And in all that stress, I did not hear one word of complaint from the -surgeons who stood, hour after hour, using their skill and training for -the petty pay of English army medical officers. - -On December 5th, I was told I was well enough to be sent to England -and, on the next day, I went on a hospital train from Rouen to Havre. -Here I was placed on a hospital ship which every medical officer in -our army ought to have a chance to inspect. Nothing ingenuity could -contrive for convenience and comfort was missing. Patients were sent -below decks in elevators, and then placed in swinging cradles which -hung level no matter what the ship’s motion might be. As soon as I -had been made comfortable in my particular cradle, I was given a box -which had engraved upon it: “Presented with the compliments of the -Union Castle Line. May you have a speedy and good recovery.” The box -contained cigarettes, tobacco, and a pipe. - -When the ship docked at Southampton, after a run of eight hours across -channel, each patient was asked what part of the British Isles he would -like to be taken to for the period of his convalescence. I requested -to be taken to London, where, I thought, there was the best chance of -my seeing Americans who might know me. Say, I sure made a good guess. -I didn’t know many Americans, but I didn’t need to know them. They -found me and made themselves acquainted. They brought things, and then -they went out to get more they had forgotten to bring the first trip. -The second day after I had been installed on a cot in the King George -Hospital, in London, I sent fifteen hundred cigarettes back to the boys -of our battalion in France out of my surplus stock. If I had undertaken -to eat and drink and smoke all the things that were brought to me by -Americans, just because I was an American, I’d be back in that hospital -now, only getting fairly started on the job. It’s some country when -you need it. - -The wounded soldier, getting back to England, doesn’t have a chance to -imagine that his services are not appreciated. The welcome he receives -begins at the railroad station. All traffic is stopped by the Bobbies -to give the ambulances a clear way leaving the station. The people -stand in crowds, the men with their hats off, while the ambulances -pass. Women rush out and throw flowers to the wounded men. Sometimes -there is a cheer, but usually only silence and words of sympathy. - -The King George Hospital was built to be a government printing office, -and was nearing completion when the war broke out. It has been made a -Paradise for convalescent men. The bareness and the sick suggestion and -characteristic smell of the average hospital are unknown here. There -are soft lights and comfortable beds and pretty women going about as -visitors. The stage beauties and comedians come and entertain us. The -food is delicious, and the chief thought of every one seems to be to -show the inmates what a comfortable and cheery thing it is to be ill -among a lot of real friends. I was there from December until February, -and my recollections of the stay are so pleasant that sometimes I wish -I was back. - -On the Friday before Christmas there was a concert in our ward. Among -the artists who entertained us were Fay Compton, Gertrude Elliott -(sister of Maxine Elliott), George Robie, and other stars of the London -stage. After our protracted stay in the trenches and our long absence -from all the civilized forms of amusement, the affair seemed to us -the most wonderful show ever given. And, in some ways, it was. For -instance, in the most entertaining of dramatic exhibitions, did you -ever see the lady artists go around and reward enthusiastic applause -with kisses? Well that’s what we got. And I am proud to say that it was -Miss Compton who conferred this honor upon me. - -At about three o’clock on that afternoon, when we were all having a -good time, one of the orderlies threw open the door of the ward and -announced in a loud voice that His Majesty, the King, was coming in. We -could not have been more surprised if some one had thrown in a Mills -bomb. Almost immediately the King walked in, accompanied by a number of -aides. They were all in service uniforms, the King having little in his -attire to distinguish him from the others. He walked around, presenting -each patient with a copy of “Queen Mary’s Gift Book,” an artistic -little volume with pictures and short stories by the most famous of -English artists and writers. When he neared my bed, he turned to one of -the nurses and inquired: - -“Is this the one?” - -The nurse nodded. He came and sat at the side of the bed and shook -hands with me. He asked as to what part of the United States I had come -from, how I got my wounds, and what the nature of them were, how I was -getting along, and what I particularly wished done for me. I answered -his questions and said that everything I could possibly wish for had -already been done for me. - -“I thank you,” he said, “for myself and my people for your services. -Our gratitude cannot be great enough toward men who have served us as -you have.” - -He spoke in a very low voice and with no assumption of royal dignity. -There was nothing in the least thrilling about the incident, but there -was much apparent sincerity in the few words. - -After he had gone, one of the nurses asked me what he had said. - -“Oh,” I said, “George asked me what I thought about the way the war was -being conducted, and I said I’d drop in and talk it over with him as -soon as I was well enough to be up.” - -There happened one of the great disappointments of my life. She didn’t -see the joke. She was English. She gasped and glared at me, and I think -she went out and reported that I was delirious again. - -Really, I wasn’t much impressed by the English King. He seemed a -pleasant, tired little man, with a great burden to bear, and not much -of an idea about how to bear it. He struck me as an individual who -would conscientiously do his best in any situation, but would never -do or say anything with the slightest suspicion of a punch about it. -A few days after his visit to the hospital, I saw in the _Official -London Gazette_ that I had been awarded the Distinguished Conduct -Medal. Official letters from the Canadian headquarters amplified this -information, and a notice from the British War Office informed me that -the medal awaited me there. I was told the King knew that the medal -had been awarded to me, when he spoke to me in the hospital. Despite -glowing reports in the Kentucky press, he didn’t pin it on me. Probably -he didn’t have it with him. Or, perhaps, he didn’t consider it good -form to hang a D. C. M. on a suit of striped, presentation pajamas with -a prevailing tone of baby blue.[A] - -[Footnote A: EDITOR’S NOTE.--The medal was formally presented to Sergt. -McClintock by the British Consul General, in New York City, on August -15, 1917.] - -While I was in the King George Hospital I witnessed one of the most -wonderful examples of courage and pluck I had ever seen. A young Scot, -only nineteen years old, McAuley by name, had had the greater part of -his face blown away. The surgeons had patched him up in some fashion, -but he was horribly disfigured. He was the brightest, merriest man -in the ward, always joking and never depressed. His own terrible -misfortune was merely the topic for humorous comment with him. He -seemed to get positive amusement out of the fact that the surgeons were -always sending for him to do something more with his face. One day he -was going into the operating room and a fellow patient asked him what -the new operation was to be. - -“Oh,” he said, “I’m going to have a cabbage put on in place of a head. -It’ll grow better than the one I have now.” - -Once in a fortnight he would manage to get leave to absent himself from -the hospital for an hour or two. He never came back alone. It took a -couple of men to bring him back. On the next morning, he would say: - -“Well, it was my birthday. A man must have a few drinks on his -birthday.” - -I was discharged from the hospital in the middle of February and -sent to a comfortable place at Hastings, Sussex, where I lived until -my furlough papers came through. I had a fine time in London at the -theatres and clubs pending my departure for home. When my furlough had -arrived, I went to Buxton, Derbyshire, where the Canadian Discharge -Depot was located and was provided with transportation to Montreal. -I came back to America on the Canadian Pacific Royal Mail steamer, -_Metagama_, and the trip was without incident of any sort. We lay for a -time in the Mersey, awaiting word that our convoy was ready to see us -out of the danger zone, and a destroyer escorted us four hundred miles -on our way. - -I was informed, before my departure, that a commission as lieutenant in -the Canadian forces awaited my return from furlough, and I had every -intention of going back to accept it. But, since I got to America, -things have happened. Now, it’s the army of Uncle Sam, for mine. I’ve -written these stories to show what we are up against. It’s going to be -a tough game, and a bloody one, and a sorrowful one for many. But it’s -up to us to save the issue where it’s mostly right on one side, and -all wrong on the other--and I’m glad we’re in. I’m not willing to quit -soldiering now, but I will be when we get through with this. When we -finish up with this, there won’t be any necessity for soldiering. The -world will be free of war for a long, long time--and a God’s mercy, -that. Let me take another man’s eloquent words for my last ones: - - Oh! spacious days of glory and of grieving! - Oh! sounding hours of lustre and of loss; - Let us be glad we lived, you still believing - The God who gave the Cannon gave the Cross. - - Let us doubt not, amid these seething passions, - The lusts of blood and hate our souls abhor: - The Power that Order out of Chaos fashions - Smites fiercest in the wrath-red forge of War. - - Have faith! Fight on! Amid the battle-hell, - Love triumphs, Freedom beacons, All is well. - -(Robert W. Service, “Rhymes of a Red Cross Man.”) - - THE END. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - -On page 43, Dinkeibusch has been changed to Dinkiebusch. - -On pages 46 and 135, casualities has been changed casualties. - -On page 75, through has been changed to though. - -On page 76, smybols has been changed to symbols. - -On page 93, denouments has been changed to denouements. - -On page 122, distinguising has been changed to distinguishing. - -On pages 84, 124, 126, 135 and 146 dugout has been changed to dug-out. - -On page 135, descendents has been changed to descendants. - -On page 135, continous has been changed to continuous. - -Minor silent changes have been made to regularize punctuation; all -other spelling, hyphenation and punctuation have been retained as -typeset. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEST O' LUCK *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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