The Great Push

Nouex-l

dier to h

re and bay

forth to u

t from Noue

Cockney mate, to finish a bottle of vin rouge, a snub-nosed soldier

ll, the feller

I ans

he man with the snub nose, as he turned to his mates who were illustrati

"I knew 'im the moment I

had his trigger finger deep in beer, made answer. Then the dri

2

crossed at this point and made for this one, but somehow or another we missed our objective. Just another drop of

ht in an English regiment; he was notorious for his mad escapades, his dare-devil pranks, and his wild f

eyes glowed brightly under heavy brows, his jowl thrust forward aggressively seemed to challenge all upon whom he fixed his gaze. It looked as if vast passions hidden in the man were thirsting to break free and rout everything. Gilhooley was a dangerous man to cross. Report had it that he was a[24] bomber, and a master

es picked off a few of our men, an exasperated English subalt

said the young officer. "I'm going to ea

y out into the open with a couple of pet bombs i

cer fell with a bullet through his head. Gilhooley turned roun

in the trench till dusk, when he went across to the

Two soldiers were wounded, and Gilhooley went off to the Hospital at X. with a metal reminder of his discrepancy wedged in the soft

no hurry to leave there for the trenches; but when Colonel Z.

was considered fit for further fight.

" the Colonel ask

s the answer. "I can'

up there," Colonel Z. answered. "

l asked the next man, who had com

ifty yards,"

yards from those of the enemy,"[26] the Colonel

," the third soldier was told; the fourth ma

p," said the Colonel. "I

o Gilhool

ave you killed?

t fifty," was Gi

aid the Colonel; "and up yo

sauntered into the Café Pierre le Blanc in Nouex-les-Mines, drank another man's beer, and sat do

ty, had an unrivalled capacity

y?" someone remarked

hand in the pocket of his tunic and taking out a l

2

"This," he said, holding the bomb between trigger finger and

moment of distraction, forgot that a fuse was lighted, then followed a hurried rush, and the café was almost deserted by the

the bomb disappeared, and, leaving Bill, I

oley?"

s it?" he i

to inquire. "Something better than this b

er smile hovered about his eyes. Somehow I had a guil

, matey,

and sat down. I called f

2

aid to my mate. "He's the bomb

rop of champagne," said Gilhooley, his voice rising. "Damn yer champagne. You think I'm

o your fame," I said. "In the dim recesses of the tre

e ye talkin' about

you,"

clinked glasses with me when we dr

and before leaving he brought out his bomb and showed

jar and out comes this bomb!" said Gilhooley. "Then

d idea," I said. "

ust poked his head through the café door. He look

h must report to their comp

Teake. "I suppose we've got to get up to the trenches to-n

s, took a stump of a cigarette

urselves," he sa

s bound for the trenches where we had to continue

s and picks over their shoulders, the boys went out into the perilous space between the lines. The night was grey with rain; not a star was visible in the drab expanse of cloudy sky,[30] and the wet oozed from sandbag and dug-out; the trench itself was sodden, and slush squirted about the boots that shuffled along; it was

hrapnel and the red, lurid flames of bursting concussion shells lit up the night. So far the missiles were either falling short or overshooting their mark, and nobody had been touched. I just got to our company when the enemy began to shell it. There was a hurried flop to earth in the newly-dug holes, and I wa

longed for the comparative safety of the fire trench. Why had I come out? I should have stopped with the other stretcher-bearers. Bu

dark figure kneeling on the ground. I went forward and found a dead soldier, a Frenchman, a mere skeleton with the flesh eat

r-and had been wounded. Immediately he was struck he got out his entrenching tool and endeavoured to dig himself in. A few shovelsful of earth were scooped out when a bullet struck

?" I said to one o

he answer, given almost indifferently. "I had to th

rapnel-proof bomb store, smoking and humming ragtime in low, monotonous voices. Music-hall mel

ther stretcher-b

o their companies," I was told.

ad

the answer. "Are o

e safe; but they're getting s

uld've seen the splinters coming in here a minute ago, pit! p

rench, stumbled into our shelt

London Irish

rs," I said. "Ha

d down I flops in the trench. My mate was standing on the parapet and down he fe

' I yells, 'I'm s

ck.... I wriggled out from under and had a look.... He was dead, with half his head blown away.... Your boys are sticking to

lion sparks fluttered earthwards fro

34] in the quiet the gods were meditating, then, losing patience, they again burst

men's lives were flicked out like flies off a window pane. A dug-out flew skywards, and the roof beams fell in the trench at our feet. We crouched unde

bearers at

ank into unconsciousness and never recovered. His grave is out behind the church of Loos-Gohelle, and his cap hangs on the arm of the cross that marks his sleeping place. A man had

the next day. They were very quiet, and we lay at ease in our dug-outs, read week-old papers, wrote letters and took turns on sentry-go. On our front lay a dull brown, monotonous level and two red-brick villages, Loos and Hulluch. Our barbed-wire entanglement, twisted and shell-scarred, showed countless rusty spikes which

their profession: to each man was allocated his post, he worked a certain number of hours, slept at stated times, had breakfast at dawn, lunch at noon, and

ts were held in the big dug-outs, and little supper parties were fashionable when parcels were bulky. Tea was drunk in the open, the soldiers ate at looted tables, spread outside the dug-out doors. Over the "Savo

ot might be heard, and we would ask, "Who is firing at the birds on the wire entanglements?"

l mines. Loos looked quite small, there was a big slag-heap on its right, and on its left was a windmill with shattered wings. We[37] had been shelling the village p

lt village. Houses built for a few hundred francs in times of peace, cost thousands of p

merable guns and wagons of shell which came through Les Brebis and Nouex-les-Mines daily. Even the Germans got wind of our activities, and i

E BIG PUSH

E WAI

the board to pieces ten m

soft shadows rustled over the roof and walls. The shadow of an elbow of chalk sticking out in the wall over my bed looked like the beak of a great formless vulture. On a closer

in the World." Was it not? It was

he Unknown with its mysteries deep a