Show I II II I I THE TOP By A An Airth UlY Gy Emu ey Who Machine Gunner Serving in France Copyright 1917 by Arthur Guy Ouy Empty Empey EMPEY GOES OVER THE TOP FOR THE FIRST TIME AND HAS DESPERATE HAND TO FIGHT Synopsis Synopsis Fired Fired by the sinking of the Lusitania with the loss of American lives Arthur Guy Emp Empey y tin nn American living In Jersey City goes goe to England and enlists as a private In the British army Af After er a short experience as a recruiting officer In London he Is sent to training trainIng train- train Ing quarters In France Prance where whre he first hears the sound of pf b big g guns and makes the acquaintance of cooties After a brief period of training Empey's company Is sent Into the line front trenches where he takes his first turn on the fire step while the bullets whiz overhead Empey learns as comrade falls that death lurks always In the trenches CHAPTER X X Continued 7 7 We had a sergeant In our battalion named Warren He was on duty with his platoon In the fire trench one afternoon afternoon afternoon after after- noon when orders came up up from the rear that he had been granted seven se n days' days leave for Blighty and would be relieved at five to o'clock-to proceed to England lIe He was tickled to death at these welcome tidings and regaled his more or less envious mates beside him on the fire step with the good times In store for him He figured it out that In two days' days time he would arrive at Waterloo station London and then then then- seven days' days bliss I At about five minutes to five he started to fidget with his rifle and then suddenly springing up on the fire step with a muttered Ill send over overa a couple of souvenirs som to Fritz so that so that hell he'll miss me when I leave he stuck stuck his rifle over the top and fired two shots when crack went a bullet and he unnoted off the step fell Into the mud at the bottom of the trench and lay still in a huddled heap with a bullet hole in his forehead At about the time he expected to arrIve arrive ar at rive at Waterloo station he was laid I to rest In a little cemetery behind the lines He had gone to Blighty In the trenches one can never tell tell tell- It Is not safe to plan very far ahead After stand down the men sit on the fire step or repair to their respective respective tive dugouts and wait walt for the rum Is Issue Issue issue Is- Is sue to materialize Immediately following following following fol fol- fol- fol lowing the rum comes breakfast brought up from the the rear Sleeping Is then In order unless some bome special work turns up Around 12 1230 30 dinner shows up When this Is eaten the men try to amuse themselves until tea appears at about four o'clock then stand to and they carry carryon on as before While In rest billets Tommy gets up about six In the morning washes up answers roll call Is Inspected by his platoon officer and has breakfast At 8 45 he parades drills with his ls company company com com- pany or goes on fatigue according to the orders order's which have been read out by the orderly sergeant the night previous previous pre pro Between 11 1130 30 and noon he Is dismissed dismissed dismissed dis dis- missed has his dinner and is on his own for the remainder of the day unless unless' he has clicked for a digging or working party and so it goes on from day to to day always looping the loop and looking f forward to to peace and Blighty Sometimes while engaged In a cootie hunt you think Strange to say but It Is a fact while Tommy Is searching his shirt serious thoughts come to him Many a time when performing performing performing per per- forming this operation I have bave tried to figure out the outcome of the war and what will happen to me My thoughts generally ran In this channel Will I 1 emerge emerge safely from the next attack If I 1 do will I 1 skin through the following one and so on While your mind Is wandering Into the future It ItIs ItIs itis Is likely to be rudely brought to earth by a Tommy Interrupting with good for rheumatism Then you have something else to think of Will you come out of this war crippled and tied Into knots with rheumatism caused by the wet and mud of trenches and dugouts dugout You give It up as a bad job and generally saunter over to the nearest estaminet to moody forebodings In a glass of ot sickening French beer or to try your luck at the always present game of ot house You can hear the song sing-song voice o of a Tommy droning out the numbers numbers' as he extracts the little squares of ot cardboard from the bag between his feet CHAPTER XI Over the Top On my second trip to the trenches our officer was making his rounds of ot inspection and we we received the cheerful cheerful cheerful cheer cheer- ful news that at nt four in the morning we were to go over the top and take the German fro line front trench My heart heartt t turned to lead Then the officer carried carried carried car car- ried on with his Instructions To the J best est of my memory I 1 recall them as follows At eleven a wiring party will go out In front and cut lanes through our barbed wire for the passage of ot troops In the morning At two o'clock our artillery will open up with an Intense Intense intense In In- tense bombardment which will last until until until un un- til four Upon the lifting of ot the barrage barrage bar bar- I rage the first of the three waves will go over Then he left Some of ot the Tommies first getting permission from the Mie Jitt went w into the machine gunners gunners' dugout and wrote letters home saying that in the morning they were going over the top and also that If the letters reached their destination It would mean that the writer had been killed These letters Jetters were turned over to the captain with Instructions to mail mall same In the event of the writers writer's being killed Some of ot the men made out their wills in their pay books under the caption Will and ald Last Testament Testa Testa- ment Then the nerv racking nerve wait walt com com- Every now and then I 1 would glance at the dial of my wrist watch and was surprised to see how fast the minutes passed by About five minutes I to two I got nervous waiting wafting for our guns to open up I could not take tale my eyes from m my watch I l crouched against the parapet and strained my muscles in a deathlike grip upon my rifle As the hands on my watch showed two o'clock a blinding red flare lighted up the sky in our rear then then- thunder intermixed with a sharp whistling whistling whis whis- sound in the air over our heads The shells from our guns were speedIng speedIng speeding speed- speed Ing on their way toward the German lines With one accord the men sprang up on the fire step and looked over the top In the direction of the German trenches A line of ot bursting shells lighted up No Mans Man's Land The din was terrific and the ground trem trem- bled Then high above our heads we could hear a sighing moan Our big boys behind the line had opened up and and inch 15 shells commenced dropping Into the German lines The flash of ot the guns behind the lines the scream of the shells through the air and the flare of ot them bursting was a spectacle that put Pains Pain's greatest display display display dis dis- dis- dis play Into the shade The constant pup pup of ot German machine guns and an occasional rattle of rifle firing gave me the impression of ot of ota a huge audience applauding the work of the batteries Our 18 IS were destroying the German barbed wire while the heavier stuff was demolishing their trenches and bashing in dugouts or funk h- h holes les Then got busy Their shells went screaming overhead overhead over over- head hend aimed in the direction of cOf the flares from our batteries Trench mortars mortars mortars mor mor- tars started drop dropping ing Minnis 1 in our front line We clicked several cas cas- T Then en they suddenly ceased Our artillery had taped or silenced them During the bombardment you could almost read a newspaper h in our our trench Sometimes In the flare of a shell burst a mans man's body would be silhouetted against the of ot the trench and It appeared like a huge monster You could hardly hear yourself think When an order was to be passed down the trench you had to yell it using your hands as a funnel into the ear of theman theman the theman man sitting next to you on the fire step ster In about twenty minutes tes a generous generous rum issue was doled out After drinkIng drinking drinking drink drink- ing the thel rum which tasted like varnish and sent a n shudder through your frame you wondered why they made you wait walt until the lifting of the barrage barrage barrage bar bar- rage before going over At ten mins minutes minutes min min- utes utes to four word was p passed down Ten ren minutes to go l I Ten minutes to live Jive I We were shivering all lI over My Iy legs felt as I If they were v re asleep Then word was passed down First wave get on and near the scaling lad lad- ders i t Before a charge Tommy is the politest politest politest po po- po- po of ot men There Is never any pushIng pushIng pushing push- push Ing or 01 crowding to be first up these ladders We crouched around the base of the ladders waiting whiting for the word to go over I 1 wa wn SIck and faint and was puffing away at an nn unlighted fag Then came come the word Three minutes to go upon the lifting of the barrage and on the blast of the whistles Over the top with the best o o 0 luck luel and give them Ulem hell The famous phrase of the western front The Jonah phrase of ot the western front To Tommy It means If it you are lucky enough to comeback comeback come comeback back you will be minus an arm or a leg Jeg I 1 glan glanced ed again at my wristwatch wrist watch We all wore them and you could hardly call us sissies for doing so It was a n minute to four I 1 could see the hand haild move to the twelve then a dead si si- si lence hence It hurt Everyone looked up to see what had happened but not for long Sharp whistle blasts rang out along the trench and with a cheer the themen themen themen men scrambled up the ladders The bullets were cracking overhead and occasionally a machine gun would rip and tear the top of the sandbag parapet parapet para para- pet How I 1 got up that ladder I will never know The first ten feet out In front was agony Then en w we passed through lanes In our barbed wire I knew I was running but could feel no motion below the waist Patches on the ground seemed to float to the rear as If I 1 were on a treadmill and scenery scenery scenery ery was rushing past me The The Germans Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans had put a barrage of shrapnel across No Mans Man's Land and you could hear the pieces slap the ground about you After I 1 had passed our barbed wire and gotten into No Mans Man's Land a Tommy about fifteen feet teet to my right front turned around and looking in my direction put his ha hand d to his mouth and yelled something which I could not make out on account of the noise from the bursting shells Then he coughed stumbled pitched forward and lay still His body seemed to float to the rear of me I could hear sharp cracks inthe Inthe in inthe the air about me The These e were caused by passing rifle bullets Frequently to my right and left little spurts of ot dirt would rise Into the air and a ricochet ricochet ricochet rico rico- chet bullet would whine e on Its way If a Tommy should see one one of ot these little spurts In front of ot him he would tell the nurse about It later The crossing of ot No Mans Man's Land remains a blank to me Men on my right and left would stumble and fall Some would try to get up while others remained huddled and motionless When Then hen up smashed-up barbed wire came Into view and seemed carried on a tide to the rear Suddenly In front of me loom loomed a in bashed-in trench about four feet wide Queer-looking Queer forms like mud turtles were scrambling up Its wall One of these forms seemed to slip and then rolled to the bottom of the trench I leap leaped d across this intervening space The man to my left seemed to pause In midair then thep pitched head down Into the German trench I 1 laughed out out loud loudIn loudIn loudin In my delirium Upon alighting on the theother theother theother other side of ot the trench I 1 came ame to with witha a sud sudden en jolt Right flight In front of me loomed a giant form with a rifle which looked about ten feet long on the end of which seemed seven bayonets These flashed In the air all In front of me Jh Then n through my mind flashed the admonition admonition tion of our bayonet Instructor back In Blighty flighty He had said whenever you get in a charge and run your bayonet up to the hilt Into a German the Fritz will fall tall Perhaps your rifle will be wrenched from your grasp Do not waste time If It the bay bayonet net Is fouled In his equipment by putting your foot on his stomach and tugging at the rifle to extricate the bayonet Simply press the trigger and the bullet will free It It In my present situation this Was vas the logic but for the life of me meI meI meI I could not remember how he had 1 fold old me to get my bayonet Into the German Ger Ger- man To me this was the paramount issue I 1 closed my eyes and lunged forward My rifle was torn from my hands I 1 must have gotten the German German Ger ter terman i man because he had disappeared About twenty feet to my my left front was ryas a huge Prussian nearly six feet four Inches In height a fine specimen n of physical manhood The bayonet from his rifle was missing but he clutched the barrel In both hands find and nd was swinging the butt around his head I could almost hear the swish of ot the butt passing through the air Three little Tommies were engaged with him They looked lIk like pigmies alongside of the Prussian The Tommy on on the left was gradually circling to the rear of his opponent It was a funny sight to see them duck the swinging butt and try to jab him at the same time The Tommy nearest me received the butt buttof buttof buttof of the Germans German's rifle In a smashing blow below the right temple It I smashed his head like an eggshell He He pitched forward on his side and a convulsive convulsive convulsive con con- shudder ran through his body Meanwhile the other Tommy haft had gained the rear of the Prussian Suddenly Suddenly Suddenly Sud Sud- denly about four tour inches of ot bayonet protruded from the throat of the Prussian Prussian Prussian sian soldier who staggered f forward and fell I will never forget the look of blank astonishment that came over his face Then something hit me In the left shoulder and my left side went numb It felt as If a hot po poker er was being being- driven through me I 1 felt no pain pain pain- just a sort of ot nervous nervous A bayonet bayonet bayonet bay bay- onet had bad pierced me from the reN reer I fell ell backward on the ground but was as not unconscious because I could see dim objects moving around me Then Thena Thenn a n flash of light in front of or my eyes eres and unconsciousness Something had hit me on the head I have never found out what It was I dreamed I 1 was being tossed about In an open boat on a heaving sea and opened my e eyes es The moon was shin- shin Ing lag I was on a stretcher being carried carried car car- ried down one of ot our communication trenches At the advanced first-aid first post ost Amy my wounds were dressed and then I 1 was put into an ambulance and sent to one oae of ot the base hospitals The The wounds w in my shoulder and head were not s serious rio s and In six weeks I 1 h had d rejoined rejoined re re- joined my company for service in the tile front line Une a aI I Empey Joins the Suicide club The thrilling details are I II I told in the next installment TO BE CONTINUED a |