File:"Ladies from hell, (1918) (14576900637).jpg

Identifier: ladiesfromhell00pink (find matches)
Title: "Ladies from hell,"
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Pinkerton, Robert Douglas
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918
Publisher: New York, The Century co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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Text Appearing Before Image:
We must have been
neatly outlined to German snipers, for we had
hardly set out when the entire surrounding terri-
tory jumped up in little puffs of dust, each mark
ing the landing-place of a German bullet.
We immediately took to the ditch and dragged
our heavy tools to the communication-trench.
But, even so, we were still observed and were sub-
jected to a heavy machine-gun fire, which swept
across at a nasty angle and bagged three of the
boys. Our line at this point bent back from the Ger-
man line in a great half-circle. Thus to command
it required practically double the number of men.
It was the work of this evening to straighten this
bend and so release the men there for service
elsewhere.
As soon as darkness fell we went over the top
from a listening-post. There were about one hun-
dred and fifty of us on the job. The German lines
were about five hundred yards away. Five hun-
dred yards is not a great distance when there is
nothing between you and the German fire. But
fortunately our occupation was not discovered,
and we spread out across no-mans-land in a
ragged line and began to scratch ourselves in with
the enthusiasm of a bull-pup seeking a long-buried
bone.
Text Appearing After Image:

© International Film Service Inc.
The London Scottish detaching a truck

THE FARM-HOUSE 175

At frequent intervals we would hear across the
stillness of the night the preliminary hiss of a
flare, and, from a forest of bobbing heads, no-
mans-land became as vacant as a cemetery, to all
outward appearances, at least.
We were barely well started on our work, when
our outposts screen, about thirty feet in front
of us, reported a strong German working-party
coming our way. Rifles were hurriedly secured
and loaded, and available protection was at a pre-
mium. By good fortune, however, the working-
party drifted in the opposite direction, and before
the first streaks of dawn crept up over the horizon
a neat trench had been prepared. The dirt had
been evenly distributed over several yards, so that
even from the German observation-balloon our
new position was not apparent.
This shortening of the line and all the prelim-
inary work in plotting the machine-guns of the
opposing forces was merely the prelude to a local
attack. This took place one evening shortly after
dusk, when five hundred yards of our line went
over the top and at the Bavarians, who com-
manded the Teuton trench at this sector.

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