"Bombing Along,"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2878, 16 September 1916, Page 10

"Bombing Along,"

A sergeant, wounded in the thigh, .and landed' at Southampton, expressed himself as being anxious to be hack with his platoon. "Now they've made such a fine start, I want to be back with them. I reckon they saved t-ho battalion's flank there between Authuillc an' Ovillers; an' there's 110 sort of doubt they smashed the flank of the Bochs battalion. He'd got a reg'lar nest o' typewriters there; machine guns, I should say, sir. We stood it for a hit, an' then my officer ho began to get pretty mad with 'em. Always was a bit 011 the hot-tempered side, you know, sir; but as good an officer as ever I served n it-h. ■' 'Hera, damn their German eyes!' he says, just like that, when he sees our chaps a-dropping. 'They're not goin' to tell off my platoon that way. Come 011 sergeant-,' he-says; 'at the double) now. Get those bombers of ours up here behind 1115.' Wo fairly raced them for their right flank," an' all there was of us tumbled down into their ditch, all of a . lump. 'Bombers here !' yells my officer, Ifo'd got two machine-gun bullets in him then. Much he cared for that. We got our bombers up, and went through that trench like terriers in a rat earth. Never so glad in ine life to have plenty bombs. Any Boc-he that, missed the bombs, well, lie got the steel, an' got it good an' hard. All'' that's iic-iv our battalion wan ahlc to make such a good advance. The rest of our company was layin' doggo while, wo promenaded down that bloomin' trench: an' when my officer gave the word—he'd got a thirdi bullet in him, then, sir; not to mention bomb splint: ers, ail' the like o' that—they come on like a cup-tie football crowd, an' the rest of the battalion after them. They went over that first line with hardly a casanltv; -ban-in' just a few from shrap'.: an' if they didn't give the Boche what for, in his second an' third lines, I'd-like to know"

Buried in a Trench. Writing to his sister in iilacklioath, a sergeant in tho London Scottish a vivid description of an ordeal lie went through in the early days of the great push." He writes:—"l cannot tell you exactly what part we played in the 'elioiv;' but it was more important than one would expect. AYe went over in tho greatest bombardment ever known. How any of lis reached tho Him lines is still a -wonder to me, but the point that matters is we did set there, over their fourth.' line, and hung oil for the best part of tho day. How inany ! 'of lis got, back is another story, and not for me to tell, - but I've •seen somo fine work out hero, and this surpassed everything. As regards myself, my usual luck rover deserted ine until the finish, and then according to the rules of tho game, I should have been counted out —'right out!' I had just.got back to our linos, after being out in No Man's L-ind for half an hour; where 1 cxpected to bo blown to pieces every second, and was beginning to feel safe, when a 'beauty' landed smack on the parapet, and I was immediately buried beneath seven or

oight sandbags and earth. The weight was enormous, and, despite all my effoi ts, I could not rnovo, an inch, and tlio more I struggled the furthor I was forced down. ' The mental strain was awful, and how I kept my head 1 don't know. I did go mad for a minute when I niado a frantic effort" to free my head so that I might get if blown nff—and death rather than the one I tried to resigui myself to. After over half an hour of this hell, a man of A Company scrambled over me, dislodging a sandbag in doing so. I shouted, and, thank God! he hoard mo. He worked for fully ten minutes tn get mo out; even then'.lie had to cut my •shoulder-straps with a pack knife to effect, my release. I remembered shaking hands with my rescuer, and nothing else for a while. A German Walter. Are the German soldiers becoming disillusioned't A wounded officer said: "Cue ol' our prisoners had been a waiter in London ior years, and knew his London as well as I do; most intelligent chap, and utterly sick of the war. lie talked to me in just the sort of tone he'd have used if he'd been taking my order for supper. This chap said that in his regiment the officers had explained to them that our advance on their front last Saturday was made by the Brigade of Guards (who'va never been near the place, you know); but that the Guards liatl since been withdrawn to another front, what was left of 'em; and that the British troops now in our line there were Kitchener's conscripts, and all quaking ill their boots at that. 'We were told you would throw down your rifles directly we got close _ to you, and that you know no more' about soldiering than children,' said my waiter chap. 'Wo came qn for a walk-over, „to have the sport of going right through your line. Well, as you know, it was not so.' And he kind of grinned ?t mo, at that. 'Indeed,' says he, 'it was very otherwise, sir, wasn't it?' I should think it was. I bet my fellows gavo 'em the hottest quarter of an hour of tlieir lives. They weren't in the mood for negotiations, I can tell you." The Bomber's Pluck. A bomb thrower in the Border Regiment, wounded in arm and thigh and hand, gives his nf the battle. "It wcro half-past 7 when wo started, in a kind of a bit wood. B and C Company bein' afore us, we could see them movin' in, the open, like, past tlio wood till the fire caught 'cm, an' they went dowin like grass. I was besido the Coloiiel in .jjjp front trench. 1 carried . bombs, yo see. The Colonel, he was to go wi' tho last lino, after us. But whgii_ lie .sees the secoticf line cut down that way, an' our time come —'Oil, dann;.!'--says,he—just like that— and ho ups and over tho parapet, 'Conio on, mo ■ lads,' ho said —like that —ail' just that 'raonient he was hit, and kind of staggered, an' afore I coukl get to him, like, ho fell backward into £ho trcnch again. I ,doubt it killed him. But we had to go. I had iiv>_ bombs. Wo was singing 'John Pew' like mad, all but two or threo near, who saw the Colonel an' chcerin' to raise the dead.

"I (jot- a bullet in me arm here directly 1 was ou parapet, an' somehow, it made mo stumble, like, an' I foil. But I went on as quick as I could, me bavin' tho bombs, ye see. But ye'd nsvo wondered to hear how loud our lads were singin' an' cheering, like at a football match. Aye, 'twas a. pity I lost me riile an' bayonet an' me cap an' all; when I fell then. But I'd tile bombs, ye see. I know well we'd need tho bombs. Wonderful thick thom bullets flew, to bo sure. You'd hardly believe it, not havin' bin there, like. It was just past their first' lino I got this one in mc'hnnd. A bit sore, like, that was, more'n the arm; but not so very bad lint what I got on all right; then this third one got me here, and I fell ill a snell "hole near by tho 'second line. The pity was, I could ha' used me bombs, like; aye, I eould from there, but 1 was afeard o' killin' our own lads. But Lance-corporal —he took 'em on from me, an'.l lay a Jong while. Near along evening time I could see,our stretcher bearers comin'-out behind an' hoppin' back wi' a wounded man when they eould. But them Bocbes is dirty devils. They saw tho stretchers, ail' every time tho bearers showed up; they turned a gun on 'em an' they swep' the ground very low to kill oft' the wounded. They got all our stretcher-hearers that' way, after a bit, just one after the other, as they tried to work. "They've no decency like, they Germans.

. "So I just kind o' humped myself •along. But they fired when they saw a move, an' then I got into trench, an' they couldn't son me crawl. I came to where the ,d(\id lay blockin' the way, an' I didn't like, to crawl on top o T they'. Rut I saw thor was Huns, an outside, ye see, the bullets come pretty thick, so I crawled on 'em, tin I found I was on one of our own lads. I couldn't crawl on thorn, !in' I' got out again, an' then 1 don't 'seem to mind much after. 'Twas after dark I got in, an' the M.O. at •the dressin' station lie said: 'You're .iiii' right, lad,' he said, like that; an' lie give me a cigarette. Aye, an' a stretchc-hearer helped me out.through the wood." "Tin Hats." Six months ago, when 'first issued, the bullet-proof helmets or "tin hats," were far from popular. They, wcro heavy, and difficult to keep in position; in short, they were "a fatigue." But expoi-ionce has proved thc-ir value. A private of the Middlesex Regiment-, with his head bound up, delivered himself as follows:— "Nasty scalp wound? Yes; but by rights I'didn't ought to have a head on at all to-day. How? Well, I. got a direct hit, fair on top of my nut, from a shell splinter. It knocked me «(f my perch, I can teli you; I was on the parapet at the time. But it never touched me! What am I bandaged for? The splinter knocked a dent in my hat, and the h'at twisted round and gave me a bit .of a scalp wound. But I didn't grudge it. A K.calp wound's better than no head, and that's a fact."

The Emergency Exit. One hoars many tales about the completeness and ingenuity oP the Bochc dug-outs. "We were clearing out a bit of their second-ling, trench,!' said a servant of a London regiment., "when I eaino on the entrance of a deep dugout. . I couldn't sco whether thorn was anyone there, so I started to explore. The moment my foot stenped oji the sill.of the doorway I heard an electric boll ring somewhere down helow. That decided me! I called 011 ono of our lads who was carrying bombs, and we dropped a Mills grenade' into the dug-out.. • 'J'hon the bomber and I stood back, one 011 oacli did* of the doorway, and waited. A Mills grenade tiles about five seconds to explode, but bofo"e that period was 111; wvcii Gtrmans had come out of that dug-out. • It was the best bit of omer-goucy-exit work I have over seen."