Trench Ballads, and Other VersesGarrett, Erwin Clarkson
History
Trench Ballads, and Other Verses
Garrett, Erwin Clarkson
World War, 1914-1918 -- Poetry
the Cid
The chief heroic figure of Spain, who lived in the Eleventh Century,
fighting ably against the Moorish power until exiled by his king in
the year 1075, after which he became a free lance, sometimes
engaging in battle the Infidel and sometimes the Christian. He died
in 1099, and, while a very able commander, it is generally
understood that most of his great deeds are a gorgeous fabric of
tradition rather than actual history.
Artillery Registering
The bursting of shrapnel over your trenches, by the enemy, in order
to get the range for their shell-fire which is to follow.
*Trucks*
Toto
A nickname for a Cootie, qv.
Including nuts, candy etc.
The American soldier has a notoriously “sweet-tooth,” and big husky
men positively gormandize on things saccharine, when obtainable.
Mademoiselle
The army man pronounces the word “mademoiselle” at full length,
using the most punctilious care to enunciate each and every one of
the four syllables. Whether this is due to the word being foreign to
many of them, or whether it is due to their all-saving subtle sense
of American humor, so that it seems rather delicious to call the
little French ladies by so long and ponderous a title, I really do
not know, but I strongly suspect that it is the latter.
The First Division
Caesar had his Tenth Legion, Napoleon had his Old Guard, and the
American Army during the World War had its First Division. It might
therefore not seem entirely malapropos to quote the words of the
great French general Mangin, who was the corps commander of the
First Division of the American Army, the famous First Moroccans of
the French Army and the Second Division of the American Army, at the
Second Battle of the Marne, that began on July 18th, 1918, and was
the turning point of the whole war. In this great door movement the
First Division was given practically the post of honor at the
_hinge_ itself, i.e., directly at Soissons, only one division, the
153rd French Infantry Division, being on the inside of the First
Division, and as it was in this engagement that a gentleman of
Teutonic origin, operating a machine-gun from our extreme left
flank, and apparently very much irritated about something, put a
bullet in my side and out my back, it is only natural that the
message of Gen. Mangin was of interest to me, and saved, and here
quoted verbatim:—
Lauds Americans in Battle.
General Mangin Thanks Pershing’s Men for Brilliant
Part in Drive.
(By Associated Press.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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