Over the Front in an Aeroplane, and Scenes Inside the French and Flemish TrenchesPulitzer, Ralph
History
Over the Front in an Aeroplane, and Scenes Inside the French and Flemish Trenches
Pulitzer, Ralph
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
It appeared that the prisoners were from German Poland. When the
Belgian artillery had the day before driven the German troops into
their bomb-proofs these two had seized the opportunity to crawl forward
out of the trench, through the wire entanglements, across the open to
a Belgian advanced listening-post, where they had surrendered. They
were now at General Headquarters and had already given much valuable
information, including the unusually large number of men who slept
during the daytime in the blockhouse, and the presence in a certain
farm of a number of German officers.
A Captain of a battery of 75's who sat near me at lunch, was going to
tackle the farm-house that afternoon with his guns. The Captain in
command of my howitzers was not at lunch, as he was already on his
way to his observation-post, situated at the extreme front, within
270 yards of the blockhouse. From there he was going to correct the
howitzer fire, over some four kilometres of telephone line connecting
his observation-post with his guns.
A good deal of the talk at lunch was devoted to anathematizing a
certain general-staff officer who had charge of the uniforming of the
army and, apparently, was bent on changing the new khaki caps of the
officers from the British shape, which they all liked, to the French
shape.
A good story was told to illustrate the amazing efficiency of the
German intelligence department. One day when the army was being
reuniformed in khaki, a certain regiment of chasseurs was ordered to
leave their trenches right after dark that night to march to the rear
for the purpose of having their new uniforms issued to them. An hour or
two after they had received this order the Germans right opposite them
hoisted a great placard above their trenches. On it was sign-painted:
"Good-bye, brave chasseurs! Run along to get your new uniforms at
seventeen francs fifty apiece!"
Lunch being finished, my Commandant and I said good-bye all round and,
with detailed directions, started on a half-hour's walk to find the
howitzer battery. The Chaplain, in khaki, with an old black umbrella
and a long fishing-pole, came along as far as the first canal. There,
standing on a flat bit of embankment between two shell-holes, he
placidly began to fish.
The artillery, which had been booming in a desultory way all morning,
had of course stopped during the lunch-hour. For the artillerymen on
both sides certainly keep union rules in laying off when the time for
the dinner-pail comes round. If the noon whistle blew they could not be
more punctual in dropping work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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