World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, Canadian
About 4 P.M. I commenced to dig a small narrow trench in front of
the _Zwischen Stellung_. While the boys were digging, my corporal,
now acting platoon sergeant, asked me if I would like a drink of hot
coffee. I replied, "Yes," and at the same time said, "What is the use
of asking me, when you know we could not get it on account of the
attack." However, I was agreeably surprised to hear him say, "There is
plenty of coffee, sir, enough to do the whole platoon if you are not
afraid of being poisoned as it has been left by the Germans in one of
their dugouts." I therefore asked an officer from a nearby platoon to
keep in touch with my men and informed him I would be back in a few
minutes, as everything was quiet at that time. Taking my batman and
three men, I was led by my acting platoon sergeant around shell
craters and shell holes to the _Zwischen Stellung_ trench until we
came to the mud-blocked entrance of a German dugout. We cleared away a
little more of the mud. I noticed to the right of the entrance a large
bell and a horn very much like a Claxton horn. These, no doubt, were
sounded by the Huns when we made our gas wave attacks upon them.
[Illustration: Going His Last Round at Night. All Is Well in the
Support Line]
We descended the staircase, which was at an angle of about 55 degrees,
until we reached the bottom. There we came to a door with a sliding
window. As we turned a brass door knob and pushed open the door,
candles were burning on a desk and I saw a room about 12 feet square,
which had a wooden floor, a neat little rug under the desk, a few
chairs, a comfortable looking spring bed in the corner with the softest
of woollen blankets. In another corner was a small stove with a well
filled coal bin in the rear of it. A wash basin with running water,
electric light fixtures, telephone, and the wooden walls were papered
and burlapped. Over the desk was a picture of the Kaiser. In addition
there were German spiked helmets and caps, uniforms, pistols, swords,
binoculars, maps, one Iron Cross, postcards, magazines, newspapers.
In the drawer of the desk, I found a small Eastman Kodak, an English
dictionary, and a large quantity of note paper engraved with the
emblem of the Iron Cross. I presume the winners of the Iron Cross
were allowed to use this kind of stationery. In addition, I found the
photograph of an N.C.O. of the 263rd Bavarian Regiment. This man's body
I subsequently found in a shell hole directly on top of his dugout.
He had evidently fought to a finish, as his rifle lay by his side
with magazine empty. His gas helmet was suspended by a strap from his
shoulder. On his tunic was the Iron Cross Ribbon. This photograph and
ribbon I have in my possession at the present time. Later on, when we
buried the body, we found a small .22 calibre Colt automatic pistol
fastened to his belt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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