Four Weeks in the Trenches | Page 5

the second and third, but the fourth hit three men in the
battalion in the rear of us. Our forward movement, however, was not
interrupted, and we did not see or hear anything beyond two or three
startled cries. The next shell burst right ahead of us, sending a shower
of bullets and steel fragments around. A man about twenty yards to the
right of my company, but not of my platoon, leaped into the air with an
agonizing cry and fell in a heap, mortally wounded. As we were
advancing very swiftly, I only saw it as in a dream, while running by.
Then came in rapid succession four or five terrific explosions right over
our heads, and I felt a sudden gust of cold wind strike my cheek as a
big shell fragment came howling through the air, ploughing the ground
viciously as it struck and sending a spray of sand around.
We ran on perhaps a quarter of a mile, when from the rear came the
sharp command, "Down," and the next second we lay on the ground,
panting and exhausted, my heart almost bursting with the exertion.
Simultaneously the whizzing of a motor above our heads could be
heard and we knew why the enemy's shrapnel had so suddenly found us.
It was a Russian aeroplane which presumably had signaled our
approach, together with the range, to the Russian gunners, and now was
probably directing their fire and closely watching its effect, for a chain
of hills was hiding us from the view of the enemy, who consequently
had to fire indirectly. The air craft hovered above our heads, but we
were forbidden to fire at it, the extremely difficult, almost vertical aim
promising little success, aside from the danger of our bullets falling
back among us. Our reserves in the rear had apparently sighted the air
craft too, for soon we heard a volley of rifle fire from that direction and

simultaneously the aeroplane arose and disappeared in the clouds.
Just then our own artillery came thundering up, occupied a little hill in
the rear and opened fire on the enemy. The moral effect of the
thundering of one's own artillery is most extraordinary, and many of us
thought that we had never heard any more welcome sound than the
deep roaring and crashing that started in at our rear. It quickly helped to
disperse the nervousness caused by the first entering into battle and to
restore self control and confidence. Besides, by getting into action, our
artillery was now focusing the attention and drawing the fire of the
Russian guns, for most of the latter's shells whined harmlessly above us,
being aimed at the batteries in our rear. Considerably relieved by this
diversion, we resumed our forward movement after about fifteen
minutes of further rest, our goal being the little chain of hills which our
advance guard had previously occupied pending our arrival. Here we
were ordered to take up positions and dig trenches, any further advance
being out of the question, as the Russian artillery overlooked and
commanded the entire plain stretching in front of us.
We started at once to dig our trenches, half of my platoon stepping
forward abreast, the men being placed an arm's length apart. After
laying their rifles down, barrels pointing to the enemy, a line was
drawn behind the row of rifles and parallel to it. Then each man would
dig up the ground, starting from his part of the line backwards,
throwing forward the earth removed, until it formed a sort of
breastwork. The second half of the platoon was meanwhile resting in
the rear, rifle in hand and ready for action. After a half hour they took
the place of the first division at work, and vice versa. Within an hour
work on the trenches was so far advanced that they could be deepened
while standing in them. Such an open trench affords sufficient shelter
against rifle bullets striking from the front and can be made in a
measure shell proof by being covered with boards, if at hand, and with
sod.
In the western area of the theater of war, in France and Flanders, where
whole armies were deadlocked, facing each other for weeks without
shifting their position an inch, such trenches become an elaborate affair,
with extensive underground working and wing connections of lines
which almost constitute little fortresses and afford a certain measure of
comfort. But where we were in Galicia at the beginning of the war,

with conditions utterly unsteady and positions shifting daily and hourly,
only the most superficial trenches were used. In fact, we thought
ourselves fortunate if we could requisition enough straw to cover the
bottom. That afternoon we had about half finished our work when our
friend the aeroplane