| Show The Winning of a D. D C. C M. M t. t lI 4 By B Sergeant Arthur Guy r Empey t Author of Over the Top First Call Call Etc 0 Mr Empey's j teen Months in the First a r Line Trenches of the British Army Anny in France f Copyright 1917 by The ura newspaper r 7 s Our guns gun's crew as was Its wont wa was sitting on the straw inthe corner e eF of our billet far from the rest of the sec sec- F tion The previous pre lous night we had been bee relieved from the fire trench and were TM resting In iii rest billets Our days day rest had been occupied in digging a bombing trench this trench to be use used for the purpose of breaking In would would- be bombers Hungry Foxcroft Folcroft was slicing awa away at a huge loaf of bread while on his Ii a of l Issue Is r knee J. J lee he was balancing a piece sue cheese His knife jack wn was pretE tt dull and thee the bread brend was hard so ever rJ now and th n rn vIS hi bits bite i p to tl take fro i m th se I SW Vallace whispered to me Three bob to a n tanner Yank Tank that he eats the cheese before he finishes slicing sUe she ing lag that ro rooty ty I whispered back Nothing doing Curly you are era 9 i Sc Scotch and did you ever see a Scots Scot Scotsman Scotsman r man bet on anything unless it was i a asure o sure ure winner i He answered in an un undertone o- o Well Nell lets let's make it a pack of fags How about it Yank I acquiesced Curly won the fags fags' I 5 ti Sailor Bill was sitting next nest to Curly war and had our mascot Jim look Jim a sorry look ing lag mut between mut-between between his knees and wn was l picking hard pieces of mud from its lb ac s paws Jim was wagging his stump o oa of ofa T f i a tall tail and was iI intently watching Hungry's Hun Hun- 15 fe grys gry's operation on on the bread Every y yTM a T M time Hungry reached for the cheese v Jim would follow the movement with t i his eyes and his tail tall would wag faster iJ y Hungry noting this look bit off orr a ai a aI i small piece of the cheese and flipped u it in Jims Jim's direction Jim deftly caught caugh it In his mo mouth th and then the fun beL be be- I L t gan Our mascot hated cheese It walt was wal fun to see him spit it out and sneeze Ikey They Honney reached over took the In hi his candle and started searching c pack amidst a chorus of growls fronus from fron us at his rudeness Iq thus depriving us m t. t of light I was watching him closely closel and suspected what was coming Sure Ir enough out came that harmonica and anc and andI fr I 1 knew It was up to me to start the i ball of conversation r rolling before he i began playing because after he had haw Ji 4 t i once started nothing short of of a Gerk German Ger Ger- k j man nine five would stop stol r J him So I slyly kicked Sailor Bill who imm immediately got gob wise ise rind find then I r- r b broke oke the Ice with Sailor I heard you say this afternoon afternoon after after- noon while we were building that tha x traverse that It was your opinion that tha darn few medals were were really won that tha it was more or less lessan an accident Now j just st because your D D. C. C M M. came up ug with the rations and as you say ii It was wished on you there Is no reason In my mind to class every winner of of ofa ofa a medal as being accidentally lucky Y This medal business was a sore point z with Sailor Bill and he came right r back at me with y Well Welt if any of you lubbers can t tell me where a D. D C. C M. M truly came aboard In a shipshape that manner manner that is Is up ur the after then gangplank gangplank then I 1 will strike r my colors and lay up on a lee shore for foe drydock Ikey Honney had just taken a long Indrawn breath and his cheeks were were puffed out like a balloon preparatory to blowing it into int the harmonica which he had at his lips but paused and rem re removing re r m moving ving the musical Instrument of tor torture torture ture he exploded Blime me I I know of a bl bloke k who F won a D. D C C. M. M li and it wasn't acci acci- accidental accidental dental or lucky either I 1 was right out to in In front with him mIme Blime me I sure had the wind wield up up b but t. t with French h hIt it ht was business as usual He just carried on We all aU chirped In fn Come on They key h lets let's have the story I 1 will If you'll Just let me play this one tune tunc first first first- t answered Ikey He started in and was accompanied by a dismal moaning h howl wl from Jim Ikey had been playing about a minute when the orderly sergeant poked his head in the door of the billet sa saying ing The captain says to stop that Infernal Infer infer- infernal nal noise 1 a Highly insulted They key stopped with tV Some people ave n no Idea of ot musi mu mu F si sic c. c v We agreed greed with him Somewhat mollified h he started E Corporal French is the same bloke rho ho j just st returned from Blighty and joined the Third section yesterday c Authors Author's Note The Note The In ini Incident ident here re related related re- re Jated Is a a. true happening Corporal French won the D D. C. C M. M In the manner described t-ed t by Honney I 1 will not attempt t to give it In the cockney dialect ct i We were holding a n part of the line lineup lineup up Fromelles ay y 1 and were jut Rr Jut two hundred yards 1 t rom the Germans Thin 1111 sure was a hot section of the line We were against the Prussians and md it was a case at night of keeping you OUI ears ars and eyes open No Mans Man's land was full tun of ot their patrols and ours and rind many fights fights took to k place between between them One night we would send over a tr trench raiding trench raiding party and the next night over would come Fritz There was a certain part of our trench nicknamed Death alley and the company which held it was sure to cli click k it hard In casualties In five nights in I clicked for three reconnoitering reconnoitering reconnoitering recon recon- patrols John French French he he was a lance corporal corporal cor cork then was then was i iu in charge of our see see- tion This was before I went to machine machine machine ma ma- chine gunners' gunners school and transferred to this ou outfit t. t This French certainly was an artist when it came to scouting scouting scouting scout scout- ing In No Mans Man's ans an's land lanil He knew every Inch of the ground out ut in front and was like a cat cat he he could see in th the dark On the night that he won his D. D C. C M. M he had been out fn n front with a patrol patrol patrol pa pa- for two hours and had just returned returned returned re re- re- re turned to the fire trench A sentry down on the right of Death alley reported reported reported re re- re- re ported a suspicious noise out in front and our captain gave orders for another another another an an- other patrol to go out out- and gate Corporal Hawkins was next nest on the list for the job but bUme me he sure had the wind up un and was shaking and trembling lIk like a dish of jelly A new leftenant Newall by name had just come out from Blighty and a pretty fine officer too Now dont don't you chaps think because p this ch chap p was S Skilled killed that I 1 say h was 1 O di 1 wound OU U y YO on 1 because bl org way to 0 ge get t n the Newall But t this is Dg was all nIl eagerness to to get out in front You see it was his first time over the top He noticed that Hawkins was shaky and so so- did French French went up to the officer officer officer and said Sir Corporal Hawkins has been feeling queer for the last couple of days and nd I would deem it a favor if I could go In his place Now dont don't think that Hawkins was wasa a coward because he was not for the best of us are liable to f t o get the shakes at times You know Hawkins w was s killed at La Bassee a a. couple of months ago killed ago killed going over the top fop There were seven in this patrol patrol- Leftenant Newell Newall Corporal French myself myself myself my my- self and four more from B company About sixty yards from Fritzs Fritz's trench an old ditch must ditch must have been the bed of a creek but at that time was dry ran dry ran parallel with the German German Ger Ger- man barbed wire Lining the edge of this ditch was a scrubby sort of hedge hedge- which made a fine hiding place for for- fora a patrol Why Fritz had bad not sent out outa a working party and done away with this screen was a mystery to us French leading followed by Leftenant Leftenant Leftenant ant Newall myself third and the rest trailing behind we crawled through a asap asap asap sap under our barbed wire leading out outto outto outto to a listening post In No Mans Man's land We each had three bombs Newall carried a revolver One revolver one of those Yankee Colts Colts and and his cane Blime me I believe that officer slept with that cane He never went without it The rest of us were arm armed jd d with bombs and rifles bayonets fixed We had previously previously prevIously pre pre- I blackened our bayonets so they would not shine in the glare of a star shell sheIl Reaching Beaching the list listening ni post French told us to wait about five minutes until until until un un- til he returned from froLl a little scouting trip of his own When he left we with every nerve tense listened for his coming back We could almost hear each others other's hearts pumping but not a sound around th the fist listening post Sud- Sud ly a voice about six feet on my right whispered All right the way is clear follow me and carry on My blood froze in my veins It It was uncanny the way French approached approached approached ap ap- ap- ap us without being heard Then with backs bending low out of the listening post we went in the I direction of the ditch In hi front of the German barbed wire We reached the scrubby hedge and lay down about six feet apart to listen French and the the officer were on the right tight of our line About twenty minutes had elapsed when suddenly d directly in front of the German wire we could see dark shad shad- Q l Jim Was Wagging His Stump of a Tail Tall Talland and Watching Intently forms torms rise from the ground and move move along the wire Silhouetted against the skyline these forms looked like huge giants and took on horrible shapes My heart almost stopped beat- beat Ing lag I 1 counted two in all as the thelast thelast thelast last form faded Into the blackness on my leftA leftA leftA left A whisper came to my ears Dont move or make a n sound a strong German raiding party Is going across It was Frenchs French's voice I did didot not ot hear him approach me nor leave Yank he must have got his training with the Indians on your great plains of ot America I II I I could hear a slight scraping noise on my right and left lert Pretty soon the I whole reconnoitering patrol w was s' s ly ly- lying lyIng lying ing In a circle heads in French had in his noiseless way given orders fo for them to close In on me and await in it Left Leftenant nant Newall's voice In a ver verlow very low whisper came to us us- us If Boys the men in our trenches have received orders not to fire on a account ac ae- count of our reconnoitering p patrol be being b bIng being be ing out in ill front A. A strong German raiding party has Just circled our helland left hell and is making for our trench Its It's n up to us to send word back We Ve canall cant can't make to too all go because we might much noise and warn the the- German pax par party ty so Its It's up to one of us to carry th the news vs back to to- the trench that the raiding raiding raid raiding raid raid- ing ing party Is ms on Its way With this till information it will be quite quite- easy fo for fol our boys to wipe wip them out But It Its up to ta the rest of us to stick out here and If we go go- west we have havedon done ou our duty In a n noble cause Corporal Corpora French you had better take the news new ba back k because you are too valuable a a. aman man to sacrifice French under his breath answered answered answered an an- Sir ve r-ve been een out since Mons am and this is the first time that Ive I've ever ever eve been insulted by an officer If till this Is patrol Is going to click It Im I'm going t to click It too If we come out of this till you can try me for disobedience of o OF 1 derv ders but here I 1 stick and ru oID bi bie e no DO o damned if I go iD or her fn n voIce erno- erno French French its it's men like you that make It possible for our Little Island nd to withstand the world You are r a atrue atrue true Briton and Im I'm proud of you I was hoping that he would detail me to go back but he Hender Header Henderson Headerson son was picked for the job When Whet Henderson left Newall shook hands hand all around I felt queer and lonely You see fellows it was this way Henderson was to tell the men in the trench that we had returned and that it was all right for them to turn loose on the raiding party with their rifle and machine gunfire without us s clicking click click- ing their fire Leftenant Newall sure was a lad not arf ar he weren't That next nest twenty minutes of waitIng wait wait- Ing lag was hell Then from out but of the blackness over toward our trench rang that old familiar Alt who goes there We hugged the ground We We knew what was coming Then a volley volley vol vol- ley Icy from our trench and four typewriters typewriters type typewriters writers writers' machine guns turned loose Joose Bullets cracked right over our heads One hit the ground about a foot fromme from fromme fromme me ricocheted and went moaning and sighing over the German lines Leftenant Newall sobbed under his breath God were we're in direct line of our out own fire The trench-raiding trench party must have circled us us Our boys in our trench sure were doing themselves proud The bullets were cracking and biting the ground nil around us In between our trench and our ous party curses rang out in German athe a athe as the Boches clicked the fire from the English trench Star Etar shells were shooting into the air and dropping inNo In InNo No Mans Man's land It was a great but terrible sight which which met our eyeS Fritzs Fritz's raiding party was was sure being wiped outTen outTen out Ten or fifteen dark dart forms the remnants remnants remnants rem rem- nants of the Germ German n raiding party dashed past us in the direction of the German trench We hugged hugged- the ground It was our only chan chance chance- We knew that it would only be be a few seconds before Fritz turned loose If we had legged it for our trench we would have been wiped d' d out ut by our own fire You see oui our boys thought we were safely in t i Then up went Fritzs Fritz's star lights turning night into day and hell cut loose Their bullets were snipping twigs from the hedge over our heads Suddenly the fellow on my left MacCauley by name emitted a muffled muffled fled lied groan and started kicking the ground then silence He had gone west A bullet through the napper I suppose There were now five of us left Suddenly Leftenant Newall Newell in a faint choking choking- voice exclaimed exclaimed- got me Fr French ch Its It's through the lung and then fainter fainter- fainter fainter- youre you're oure in command See that that that- His Din voice died away Pretty x J soon he started moaning loudly r must have heard these moans moans- because they Immediately turned their fire on us French called ed to m me Honney y come h here re my lad our officer has cli clicked ked i It itI it I crawled over overto to him himl He ne' was was sitting on the ground with with ih the left leftenant's leftenant's nants nant's n- n ants ant's head resting In his lap and was getting Setting out his first aid packet I told him to get low or he would click hick it ft He answered Since when does a n bloomin lance corporal take orders from a bl bloody ody private private vate Tate You tell teU the rest of the boys if leg It they've not as yet gone gohe west to leg back lack to our trench at the double and get geta et a |
