The Martial Adventures of Henry and MeWhite, William Allen
History
The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me
White, William Allen
World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
Some of the trucks are mysteriously
non-committal as to their contents--again reproducing the impression
of the circus parade. Probably they hide nothing more terrible
than tents or portable ice plants. But most of the trucks that go
growling up and come snarling down the great white roads, bear men;
singing men, sleeping men, cheering men, unshaved men, natty men,
eating men, smoking men, old men and young men, but always cheerful
men--private soldiers hurrying about the business of war; to their
trenches or from their trenches, but always cheerful. Sometimes
a staff officer's car, properly caparisoned, shuttles through the
line like a flashing needle; sometimes a car full of young officers
of the line tries to nose ahead of the men of the regiment, but
rather meekly do these youngsters try to sneak their advantage,
as one swiping an apple; no great special privilege is theirs.
Interminable lines of truck-mounted guns rattle along, each great
gun festively named, as for instance, "The Siren," or "Baby" or
"The Peach" or "The Cooing Dove." Curious snaky looking objects
all covered with wiggly camouflage--some artist's pride--are these
guns, and back of them or in front of them and around them, clank
huge empty ammunition wagons going out, or heavy ones coming in. At
short intervals along the road are repair furnaces, and near them
a truck or a gun carriage, or an ambulance that has turned out for
slight repairs. In the village are great stores of gasoline and
rubber, huge quantities of it assembled by some magic for the hour's
urgent need.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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