Show VL a ra 4 e 16 AN R I 1 k A th liff fe Y MACHINE CUMMER IN MANCE 9 1917 BY I 1 EMPEY elvirey JOINS PICK AND SHOVEL SQUAD AND DIGS TRENCHES IN NO MANS LAND synopsis fired by the sinking of the with the loss of american lives arthur guy empey nn an american km erlean living in jersey city goes to england and enlists as a private to in the british army alter after a short experience as a recruiting officer in london lie he Is sent to training quarters in ii prance france where he first hears the sound of big biff gu guns ns and antl inkes ices the lie acquaintance of cloties cooties co oties otles after a brief period of training empens Eni compary Is sent into the front line trenches where he takes his first turn on the fire step while the bullets whiz overhead empey empe y learns as comrade falls that death lurks always in the trenches chaplain distinguishes himself by rescuing wounded men under hot fire with pick and shovel empey has experience as a trench digger in no mans land CHAPTER XIII continued we lined up tip in front of the baths soaked with perspiration and piled our rifles into stacks A sergeant of the it km kal 0 with a yellow band around hla his left arm on which was S P sanitary police in black letters took charge ordering us to take olt off our equipment unroll our puttees and unlace boots then starting from the right of the line lie he divided us into squads of fifteen I 1 happened to be in the first squad we entered a small room where we were g given iven five minutes to undress 1 alien I en filed into tho the bathroom m in here were were fifteen tubs barrels sawed in two half full of water each tub contained a piece of 0 laundry soap the sergeant informed us that we had just twelve minutes in which to take our baths soaping ourselves all over we took turns in rubbing each others backs then by means of a garden b hose ase washed the soap off of the water was ice cold but felt fine pretty soon a bell rang arid add the water was turned oft off some of the slower ones were covered with soap but this mado no difference ta the sergeant who chased us into another room where we lined up in front of a little window resembling the box office in a theater and received clean underwear and towels from here we went into the room where we had first undressed ten tea minutes were allowed in which to set get into our clabber my pair of drawers come came up to my chin and the shirt barely reached my diaphragm but they were clean no strangers on them so I 1 was satisfied at the expiration of the time allotted we were turned out and finished our dressing on the grass when all of the company had bad bathed it was a case of march back to billets that march was the roost most uncongenial t h IQ v i W A bathroom at the front ono one imagined just bussing cussing and blinding nil all the way we were covered with white dust and felt greasy from sweat the ilie woolen underwear issued was itching like ilice the ini mischief after eating cating our dinner of stew which had been kept for foi us it was now four we went into the creel creek and had another bath if giloly JOP joe could have heard our remarks about the divisional baths and aminy red tape lie he would have fainted al our wickedness but tommy is raly human after till all I 1 just mentioned holy joe or the chaplain in on an irreverent sort of way but rio no offense wits meant as there were toro some veri very brave men among them A there are so many instances of he role deeds performed under fire in res cuing the wounded that it would tak several books to chronicle them but I 1 have to mention one instance ns tance per formed by a chaplain captain hall by b name in the brigade on our left be can cause it particularly appealed to me A chaplain Is not a fighting man be h Is recognized as a noncombatant and anc carries no arms in a charge or trend trench raid the soldier gets a feeling of con contact with his rifle revolver or bomb he Is carrying he has something bonk to protect hini himself self with something with which lie he can inflict harm on the enemy in other words he Is able to get his own back but the chaplain Is empty handed and Is at the mercy of the enemy if 11 lie he encounters them so it Is doubly brave for him to go over the top under fire and bring in wounded also a chaplain is not required by the kings regulations to go over in a charge but this one did made three trips under the hottest kind of fire each time returning with a wounded man on his back on the third trip he received a bullet through his left arm but never reported the matter to the doctor until late that night just spent his time administering to the wants of the wounded lying on stretchers the chaplains of the british army are a fine manly set of men and uro aro greatly respected by tommy CHAPTER XIV picks and shovels I 1 had not hot slept long before the sweet voice of the sergeant informed that no I 1 section had clicked for another blinking digging party I 1 smiled to myself with deep satisfaction I 1 had been promoted from a mere digger to a member of the suicide club and was exempt from nil fatigues fatigue j then come came an awful shock the sergeant looked over in my direction and said dont you yon bomb throwers th rowers think you are wearing top hats out here cordin to orders youve been taken up on the strength of this section and will have to do your bit with the pick and shovel same as the rest of us I 1 put up a howl on my way to get my shovel but the only thing that shat resulted was i a loss of good humor on my part we fell in at eight outside of our billets a sort of masquerade party I 1 was disguised as ai a common laborer had bad a pick and shovel and about one hundred empty sandbags sandbars sand bags the rest about two hundred in all were equipped likewise picks shovels sandbags sandbars sand bags rifles and ammunition the party moved out in column of fours taking the road leading to the trenches several times we had bad to string out in the ditch to let long columns of limbers artillery and supplies get past the marching under these conditions was necessarily slow upon arrival at the entrance to the communication trench I 1 looked at my illume illuminated wrist watch it was eleven before entering this trench word was passed down the line no talking or smoking lead off in single file covering party first this covering party consisted of 30 men armed with rifles bayonets bombs and two lewis machine guns gun s they were to protect us and guard against a surprise attack while digging in no mans land the communication trench was about halt half n mile hlll wg long a zigzagging ditch eight feet dep de p and 1 three feet wide now and agn again n germin germer shrapnel would whistle overhead och cad and burst in our vicinity we would enuch crouch against tho the earthen walls while the shell fragments slapped the ground above us once fritz turned loose with a machine gun the bullets from which cracked through the air and kicked up tile the dirt on the top scattering sand band and pebbles pebble which hitting our steel helmets sounded like hailstones upon arrival in the ire fire trench an officer of tho the royal hoyal engineers aavo us our instructions and acted as guide we were to dig dg an advanced trench two hundred yards front from tile Ger germans germana the trenches tit at this point ivere sly alx lx w hundred yards apart two winding lanes innes five feet wide had been cut through our barbed wire for the passage of the fron from these lines white tape had been laid on the ground to thu the polut point where wo were to commence work this in order that we would not get lost in the dar darkness knoRs the proposed trench was also laid out with avith tope tape the cover covering lug party went out first after a short wait two scouts caine back with information that tho the working ing party wua was to follow and curry carry ou on wadi ith their work in extended order two yaris yards apart we noiselessly crept across no I 1 annd d it wi was 1 s nervous work evar every y minute we e ex expected a machine gun to open fire on us stray bullets cracked around us or a ricochet sang overhead arriving at the taped diagram of the trench rifles slung around our shoulders we lost fio no time in getting to work we dug as quietly ns as possible but every now and then the noise I 1 of a pick or shovel striking a stone would sell send tile tho cold shivers down our backs bablis under our breaths we heartily cursed cur bcd the offending tommy at intervals a star shell would go up from tho the german lines and wo would remain motionless until tho the glare of its white light died out when the trench had bad reached a depth of two feet we felt safer because it would afford us cover tn in case we were discovered and fired on the d digging I 1 had been in progress progreso about two hours when suddenly pud denTy liell hell seemed to break loose in the form of machine gun and rifle fire we dropped down on our bellies in the shallow sli allow trench bullets knocking oe 4 I 1 ta v trench digging up tac the ground and snapping in the air then shrapnel butted in the music was hot and tommy danced the covering party was having n rough time of it they had no cover just had to take their medicine word was passed down the line to t beat it for our trenches we n needed code 1 I no urging grabbing our tools and stooping low we logged legged lt it across no mans land the covering party got away to a poor start but beat us in they must have had wings because we lowered the record panting and out of breath we tumbled into our front line trench I 1 tore my hands getting through our wire but at the time notice it 11 my journey was too urgent when the roll was called we found that we had gotten it in the nose for 63 casualties our artillery put a barrage on fritz front line and communication trenches and their machine gun and rlue rifle fire suddenly ceased upon the cessation of this fire stretcher bearers went out to look for killed and wounded next day we learned that 21 of our men hat had been killed and 37 wounded five men were missing lost in the darkness they must have wandered over into the german lines where here they were either killed or captured speaking of stretcher benr bearers ers and wounded it Is very hard for the lie average civilian to comprehend the enormous cost of taking carlof care of wounded Toun ded and the war in general he or she gets so accustomed to seeing billions of dal dollars in print that the significance of the amount s passed over without thought from tin an official statement published in one of the lie london papers it Is stated slated that it costs between six and seven thousand pounds to to L kill 1111 or wound a soldier tills this result was attained by taking the cost 10 of f the war to date and dividing lilly it by tho the killed and wounded it may sound heartless any anu tribu inhuman mail but it isa Is a fact nevertheless that from n military standpoint it Is better for n annn to be killed tanu wounded ernyey tells cf many ways tile tiie soldiers have of abusi amusing rl 9 them i selves in the next installment jj afe t TO dr CE CONTINI ULD |