SNAFFLED."
The Ypres Times.
1?5
By J. McKERROW.
From our Episode Competition of last year.
Most of us have experienced sentry duty in the early hours of the morning, just
before the day is dawning. We shall probably never forget some of these experiences.
I, for one, cannot forget a turn between 2 and 3 a.m. on the 26th September, 1917»
in front of Lagnicourt, when the Boche raided us, taking two prisoners and leaving ten
killed and fifteen wounded behind him.
We had not been long in the line, but the Boche was quiet until the afternoon and
evening of the 25th, when he smashed our wire twice in the same place with heavy
minnies." We expected an attack and took precautions accordingly.
My mate woke me up at 1.50 a.m., with a mild kick in the ribs. I cursed him for a
fool and asked him why he carried a cheap watch. He repliedhowever, that does not
matterI stumbled out of my bivvy and lurched to the firestep, muffed to the eyes, my
teeth chattering, my wits in my boots! The night was black-blacker than ink
and no less opaque! A slight wind stirred the lank grass in front and puffed gently along
the trench. It was this icy wind-which really woke me up. With a start I realised that
the Boche must be meditating an attack at any momentmost certainly before dawn.
I ran to the next firebay and scrounged a box of bombs and some S.A.A. and then set
about watching my front with eyes and ears very wide open. In my excitement I could
see figures at the wire and fired twice on the off chance of hitting a prowling Boche. I
positively jumped when a big rat clambered on to the parapet and leered at me with its
fiendish, ghoulishly gleaming, red eyes. I killed the brute with my bayonet and felt
comforted thereby Half an hour, three quarters, slipped away, and still all was
silent. At ten minutes to three, to the second, the Gates of Hell opened and the Boche
barrage rolled out. Biff, bing, bang, krrumpp." Over it came, whizz bangs, five nines,
minnies, and everything else used on such occasions. In literally two seconds everybody
was out and standing to. H.E. rained upon usblinding, stifling, ear-splitting and heart-
sickening everywhere a dead smell of gas, blood and sand. I cannot describe the scene,
but you will understand what I mean. A pall of black smoke hung over the trench and, for
awhile, everything was confusion. Up went the S.O.S., but, for some unknown reason,
our artillery was very late in opening out. I took up a position with O.C. Company and,
at his orders, constructed an O.P. with mail bagsmuch to the detriment of home parcels,
worse luck. We were on the left flank and at one end of the Boche barrage, which was
divided into two sections (or boxes) with a neutral unshelled zone in between. At our
end we only got the bits, but, on the right flank events were really taking place. The
neutral zone was full of smoke, dense rolling black clouds of it, and the Section there could
not see what was happening elsewhere. Suddenly a voice spoke through the smoke and,
in perfect English, ordered them to spread along the trench. Unsuspecting, they obeyed,
and a British officerto all intents and purposesentered the trench, holding a revolver
in each hand. Immediately he set foot on the duck board he blew a whistle and six burly
Boches slipped over the parapet beside him. Our men started to attack, but the Boches
were too quick for them, and, with amazing agility, seized two of them, trussed them up
and threw them over the top like bundles of hay. With a burst of fiendish laughter the
Boches disappeared in the cloud of smoke. Another whistle blast sounded from some
where in No Man's Land and a Boche searchlight commenced to play on the sky. All of
a sudden the fight went out and the barrage ceased. An unearthly calm prevailed—
the hush before the dawn. Presently it came first a flush of rose pink, gently suffusing
the sky, then a brilliant blood red stain, spreading, as it seemed, over the whole earth.
A lark rose to greet the new-born day, a hymn of gladness in his throat. Another day
had dawned and the past must bury its dead
