A Yankee in the Trenches

marching

ddy well

all the

ing all t

marching

ddy well

till my

all marc

in Amiens and passed the great cathedral up there to the left, on its little rise of ground, the chant lifted and lilted an

e song was far from being a holy song. It was, rather, a chanted

or really smart work. We were, indeed, hard. But not hard enough. So some superior intellect squatting somewhere in the safety of the rear,

imlessly up and down the country-side of Northern France, imposing ourselves upon the people of

is, Maisincourt, Barly, Oneaux, Canchy, Amiens, Bourdon, Villiers Bocage, Agenvilliers, Behencourt, and others that I failed to set down and have forgotten. We swept across that country, sweating under our packs

nches it always rained, whether the season warranted it or not. Except on days when we were scheduled to go

little wet and welcomes a lot of clouds. No such luck for us. It wa

a matter of ten miles to a place called Villiers du Bois. Before that I ha

of the medieval soldier who had done his figh

about a hundred pounds of armor. But he rode a horse and had a squire or some such striker tr

or assistance for himself. The soldier has two basic functions: first, to keep himself whole and healthy; second, to kill the oth

ifty rounds of ammo, a tin hat, two gas helmets, and a lot of miscellaneous small junk. All this is draped, hung, and otherwise disposed over his figure by means of a web harness having more h

worldly goods with him all the ti

t at one,-the very worst time of the day. The roads so near the front were pulverized, and the dust rose in dense clouds

ore of the joys of being a corporal brought home to me. I was already touche

begin to weaken, an officer

s rifle," or "Corporal Collins, take t

olly well done. If one complained, his officer w

ow! You are a Non-commissioned Officer, and

he August heat. We flopped in the ancient filth. The cooties were very active, as we were drenched with sweat and hadn't had a bath since heavens knew when. We had h

ave. He knew his job all right, but he was a fine example of what an officer ought not to be

was very highly educated, had, I take it, spent the most of his life with the classics. He was long and thin and sallow and fish-eyed. He

twenty-mile hike in heavy marching order he would casua

etson. Don't you j

te Stetson. In the same or similar ways he made personal

d Harry died. He came very near

ds down in shell holes with a heavy machine-gun fire crackling overhead. I was in

with his left arm shattered. He dropped into the next shell hole and

nd fixed the arm. When it was done Mad Harry,

t up out of this ho

s a very dear friend of the boy, evidently went more or less crazy at this. I saw him leap at Mad Harry and snatch his

They were in no condition for foot inspection,-hadn't washed for days. Harry came round and gave me a royal dressing down and ordered the who

ed to think that it is more than half the making of any soldier. There has been a good deal of talk in the press about a democratic army. As a matter of fact fraternization between men and officers is impossible except in nations of exc

officer can relax his dignity very much. With the exception of Mr. Blofeld, who was one of those rare characters who can be personally close and symp

ust. I have watched Colonel Flowers many times when he was holding orders. This is a kind of court whe

g circumstances"; but when none could be dug out he passed sentence with the last limit of seve

known them in the trenches. Their real characters came out. You knew how far

he gets to France. I had joined in the trenches and had volunteered for a raiding party and there had been no opportunity to reduce me. I had not, however, had

e for a day or more. It was, up at six, breakfast of tea, bread, and bacon. Drill till noon; dinner; drill till

the short time up to nine was usually spent in the estam

Blighty. Parcels and mail came along with perfect regularity on that hike. It was and is a marvel to me how they do it. A battalion chasing around all over the place gets its stuff from Blighty

me unsuspecting village, to send the quartermaster sergeants ahead on bicycles to locate billets. We had an old granny named Cypress, better known as Lizzie. Th

nto an estaminet, bought about a dollar's worth of drinks, sneaked out the back door, and preempted the schoolhouse for C company. I also took the house ne

. We all of us had it fairly easy at Oneux. It was hot weather, and ni

dare to use at home would, I am sure, shock some of the patriots. The fact is

lly, night after night, day after day, would pipe

s? Wot? Wot'd th' Rooshians hever do fer us? Wot's th' good of th' French

ight like the very devil, and I verily believe will be hom

figured out that the war was all due to the tyranny of

asonable price. Anything, so they would

ny great recognized principle. And yet, with all their grousing and criticism, and all their ov

troops with more dash than the Canadians, but when it comes to taking punishment and hanging on a hopeless situation, there are no troops in the wide world who c

et. We were not in the war yet, and any remarks from me usually dre

anford was a F.F.V. and didn't care who knew it. Also he thought General Lee was the greatest military genius ever known. One night he and I got started and had

arby, 'oo th' blinkin' 'ell was

d Darby syin' 'ow this Gene

ss on a long-gone-by small-time scrap like the Civil War with the greatest show in history going on a

march from one village to another, we stopped for the customary ten-minutes-in-the-hour rest. Over yonder in a field there was a camp of som

t on the l

ld coyotes h

in the litt

e just si

n New Orleans, and it was sung by a wild

"Hello, Yank.

red, "B

of laughter came out of the night. Just then we had the order to fal

the band played ragtime and the officers had a gabfest and compared medals, on top of which we were soaked with two hours' steady drill. We were at Canchy ten days, and they gave it t

blow-out. It would be the last time we would all ever be together. He furnished us with all the drinkables we could get away with, inc

ing. It was a farewell party, and we went the limit. If there is one thing that the Britisher does

es somewhere in France. Those who are not are, with one