The Great Push

Advance

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under it, behind the German lines, a burning mine threw a flame, salmon pink[12] and wreathed in smoke, into the air. Our Company was sadly thinned now, it had cas

he smoke stood up from the latter straight as the chimneys themselves. The whirr of machinery in the mine could be heard, an

the star-shells, red, green and electric-white, rioting in a splendid blaze of colour over the decay, death and pity of the firing line. We could hear the dull thud of shells bursting in the fields and the

e from little tin mugs inside near the door; the garret of the house was blown in, the rafters stuck up over the tiles like long, accusing fingers, charging all who passed by with the mischief which had happened. The cats were crooning love songs on the roofs, and stray dogs slunk from the roadway as we app

uter row of houses. Two months before an impudent red chimney stack stood high in air here; but humbled now, it had fallen upon i

f marching to[14] make the village. Bill Teake growled. "One would think t

ne, their hands close to their rifle barrels. Sleepers lay stretched out on the banquette with their overcoats over their heads and bodies. Out on the front the Engineers had already taped out the night's work; our battalion had to dig some two hundred and fifty yards of trench 3 ft. wide and 6 ft. deep before dawn, and the work had to be performe

ow and tapering tall as the[15] props that held the web of wire entanglements in air, shook gently backwards and forwards as the slight breezes ca

enemy snipers, until our artillery blew the place to atoms. Silent and full of mystery as it lay there in the moonlight, the place had a strange fascination for me. How interesting it would be to go out ther

lay a line of barbe

I asked th

rmans'," h

ng me as I walked, and lurking shell-holes caught me twice by the foot and flung me to the ground. Twenty yards out from the wire I noticed in front of me something moving on the ground, wriggling, as I thought, towards the enemy's line. I threw myself flat and watched. There was no mistaking

n the ground," I said. "A man movin

had hardly changed its position since I last saw it. It was dressed in khaki, the

g-party?" asked t

swer from the grass, and a

asked t

he[17] ground. "It's cold lying here,

y was so far out," said the officer, an

e watcher; he was the sergeant

ty out diggin

answered. "Is the cove

got orders to shoot on sight when they see anything s

right front came th

sap," said the sergeant. "Both sides are working and none

us to strike a li

ghter from his pocket. Over a hole newly dug in the earth, as if with a bayonet, the s

smoke?"

1

and the man gave

ely a sweet idea; but God! they do whisper at night. The ancients called the winds the Unseen Multitude; the grasses are long, tapering fingers la

ul and not to go too close to the enemy's trenches or working parties. "And mind your own covering-pa

he neighing of horses came to my ears. On my right a working party was out; the clank of hammers filled the air. The Germans were strengthening their wire entanglements;[19] the barbs stuck out, I could see them in front of me, waiting to rip our men if ever we dared to charge. I had a fee

hold of a mate's idle sh

ovel?" said

e," I answered. "It would nev

he answered. "Will you ke

red. "You've got to go to the back of t

'," Bill replied. "'Av

d brittle, and the pick went in easily, making very little sound. M'Crone, one of our section, w

[20] they won't fire on us, having their ow

shift come to a

is brow as he spoke. "The nights are growing longer," he sai

by the German wires. Half a dozen shots were fire

said Pryor, leaning on his

and two men came in from listening

sergeant. "We exchanged shots with them and then withdrew. We have no casual

ent through his stoma

rmans (we were quite close to them) put his hands across his s

2

ts then," said Bill Teake, w

Pryor. "It was 'My God

that the German said 'Mi

nce 'Gott' like 'Gutt' on a dark night

gs would say," Bill muttered. "It's just l

ading in the west, we packed up and took our way out and mar

ype="