"THE GRAVE"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3042, 31 March 1917, Page 12

"THE GRAVE"

• i A GERMAN SOLDIER'S' IDEA OF THE j SOMME j The following is. a translation (in itlio "Daily Mail") of .an article recently .published in that well-known German periodical the "Leipzig Illtis:trated Gazette" ("Illustrirto : Zeitung") under, the heading "The Grave on the Somme" Toot-too t-toot! "Hostilo aeroplanes! Take cover!" That is what the signal means; , i The British airman is flying very loiv, not more than ,a hundred yards; ligli. I can hear the whirr of his propellers quite distinctly. In the trenqlies the'ear soon learns to tell the : Englishman by the sound of His machine. . i ; This fellow is an artillery observer. Since dawn he has-been over our posi- . .tions, sending .back, his signals, which i ;we can hear quite clearly. Now he . has cauglit siglit of something again; i already I can detcot the rushing i flight, of shells approaching from the . ;distanco. We know the sound well' ; enough . . . they must be llin. shells. . jat least, Tlifl earth trembles; and a . ;miglity pillar of mud springs aloft from . whera tho. shell has fallen, leaving' Wj gigantic crater.... >• ; "Hostile, aeroplanes.! ; Take : cover. I'V - ; . Tho word is passed.down tho-itrench [. from inan to man. But tlicrc is no t cover. A. simple, very Bliallow trench [ is our. solo defence. I have managed ■ scrape myself a hole in the parapet,' . 'and in this way I ;can at . least sit . down, with the pack of a dead coni- . fade ,as ,a seat.. .... ; -, T; ... ~ I wonder, if the airman:has fouud us' put already. The trench is quite new, j and it.was'dug with eyerjj:possible -pre-- .. caution. The English seem.: to have L got plenty of. ammunition again today, so everything that looks; like a i trench, where our brave lads are gall lantly holding out, is to be : smashed and ploughed, up by the' British : Heavies. . • . . ' [ The battalion on one side of us is : catching it. no#., Tho sun is rnicom- . hionly. hot. to-day, and wo aro all suffering from thirst. I don't know why. I am. so thirsty, as I have just -.finished one water-bottle.' ' I wonder how long we shall be here. Our orders are to hold the line at all costs. If only • I were not so thirsty. :. Tiv can only come from -the-penetrating, odour of dead bodies, for they lie in heaps. For days the smell has haunted me; my food'tastes- of it; that is why 'I hardly-'eat at all now. It is the. same with drinking, hut you can't do without water. I think I'll'just get my second water-bottle . '. . but there is the humming of,propcllors agaiti, and this- .time. -the. Englishman is' coining .nearer. . 011 our lert lio niaKos a circle in the air, then his .'monotonous toottoot resounds, and almost- at once the' ■ shells come rushing over, much nearer: . to us now. Earth and.steel are"flniigfar a,nd wide.■I press myself close up, against the parapet. Keep-still, everybody, .so that lie doesn't find .us' out. He- comesnearer and nearer . . . now he is Over : .'u s . Then he seems,;, to -. start ;iu: " surphse and ho corkscrews down so , you. i almost touch' him. Von,' cautiously, I • peep out .under my steel helmet; then a wild rage seizoß me...1/spring up and • seizotherifleof the man v by my side to shoot the intruder down.f But he has already turned his ma-chine-gun on the trench. Tack-tack-tack-tack . ~ .he sweeps the trench; hut in vain. Then suddenly I hear a! shell. "That is coming, to you!" is mv ■ "first" thought.,. Then the "heavy shell plunges into the soft ground'right in front of me, the trench rocks, ,and I am buried under tons .of earth,' as it seemß. _ Sly body is shaken as though I had jumped _ from a lofty window on I to the pavement, and iny senses'begin to slip . away from me. ! Like lightning my whole life flashes through my mind like a film run across the screen at express, speed ... all is 'over . . . I am dead. '. . Yet I still hear the shells bursting right, and left,'l can still hear the English airman sending back lis signals. Then crash after crash re-echoes in my trench, the. parapet quakes;.lhat is f'drum-fire.'.' . . .Oh! if only the shells would kill me again so that ,1 might not hear them.'still I , : Now they are falling closer, first dull reports, then loud explosions. Those must be gas shells. Now L-hear the voices of my men. The shelling bns increased. ■ That means they are attacking . . aha, my;.lads will give it to ,them! , The voices are louder. They have-be-1 guu : to destroy my grave . . . daylight -filters in. What is that smell . . . gas: or tlie dead?.- It must ..be gas, for-it-releases/me from my sufferings. The; pressure is going ... at last I am, passing away peacefully, gently. V'AU I know. is that the feeling of terror has left inq; and that all is still. Thunderous ;crashes, wake me again. "Will the shells never leave me .in ; peace ? The; trench is narrow, and I l din'lying in' it; at full length.. My.. 'senses, are coming back to me: I put ; out my hand and feel that somebody is.'lying-, by >my : side quite quiet and contented.. A violent shaking. . .. .:L open my eyes. Where am IP It is 519 bombardment, but the rattling of. .theambulance over the shell-holes iit. {lie. road. I feel as if every one-of my ribs ; were broken. The wagon is badly hung, and plunges as it is driven.swiftly;jorward, for English shells dearly 1.10v.e the roads. : ' Slowly I realise what lias happened/ My men.must'have seen my hand.pro-, jecting from-the mass of. earth under which I had been buried by the big shell, and forthwith set to work with pick and shovel to dig me out. :