WHEN THE HUNS COME OVER THE TOP

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 6, 2 October 1917, Page 9

WHEN THE HUNS COME OVER THE TOP

■ OFFICER'S "NEEVY" STORY. , "Over'the top" is a phrase that is now of household currency. ,'lt expresses in terse soldier-language one' of the most nerve r racking experiences it is possible .to'undergo. . But. that ; "6yer-the : top" feeling; is nothing, compared with'.s the slow agonies—the prolonged nervous' strain—Of an expected enemy,-counter-at-tack. Before the attack is delivered the imaginative man undergoes-moments of acute terror—terror nPt unlike that of a child -cowering:.in darkness... He'can feel the pounding of the enemy's barrage long 'before it crashes jacross'the parapet. Ho 'sutlers that senisation "of paralysis "so familiar 'in dreanis. -Ee stands riveted the - spot 1 till the scorching ' bayonet, a grey, ghost of his brain, is. tearing through his flesh. . . . And yet the same man with calm courage will unflinchingly expose hipiself and, open rapid tiro when the actual attack begins. ■ It.is' a' curious point in psychology. I have' .faced .-several counter-attacks, and my.' senaations we're, precisely the same on c-ach occasion. There was first a waiting period of acute tension—of unconquerable nervous impotence aud agony—which , held me in its grasp, then vanished utterly. It gave place to. a quaint sensation pf ' excited "curiosity und detachment from the events that were happening.

■ I I rccall the, evening as if it were yesE I terday. The details are stereotyped'on ! my brain. ' The sky was. fleecy with )' I white clouds. There was nothing' in : I the. sun-baked, stretch of the enemy's r! lines to -indicate that. he. was massing : with 'fixed .bayonets, four deep in his . front line. ! But suddenly his guns openi ,e(i," and shells of all.' calibres; rushed i i through the air. towards ;us, bursting i I'Cj&b at hand and covering us with earth, . small stones', and sulphurous fumes. For the nest half-hour my eyes wore ; glued' to my periscope..... 1. shall never forget that half-hour of vivid expectancy. I prayed for something to happen that would break tho spell. Jly heart was thudding in my throat. . . . Should I bo able to. keep ray legs firm when they jpaiuo over? . . . How. -would it feel the bayonet was-, .pushed ''into niy body . And, above all,, what would happen if I lost the line? '. . . What would the men say, and the captain and>the colonel arid the. general?. . These wero ths thoughts that coursed through, my excited brain. ' ■ Then tho: first , wave of the expected counter-attack scrambled over- the enemy's parapet. A thread snapped in my brain. I rapped out a firo order. ■ A movement rippled down our line. My men were manning the parapet. I dropped my periscope and stood up v cn the tire-step. I:felt no sensation of feari only a . vast and consuming curiosity-as to whether the I Hun's would-reach cur trench. .-.. ; ' The firet- wave advanced fully thirty yaj'ds before one of -th«m dropped. -. A machine-gun crackled its staccato rat-tat-tat-tat . rat-tat-tat rat-tat;-and several others picked up. the crisp chorus;' The leading wave still ran towards us. But in their centre a wide gap suddenly yawned. In this £ap the ground, was strewn' • with -figures; some of them .squirmed and wriggled, others lay placid in death. . . .. Tha wave of men still rushed on. A second wave poured over the garapet of the enemy's trench. Then our own artillery burst forth. It was a stupendous salvo. It rumbled overhead 'like gigantic engines thundering through the air. 'In front of us the attackers wavered. The detonation ,of , bombs sounded farther down the trench. ' I 'turned my periscope sideways. IKin bodies were being fluug over our parapet .* . . My sergearit appeared. "Cleared 'em'out with bomb's, sir," he remarked. "Ijook, sir!" He pointed to our front. , ' "Cease fire," I ordered. For- -the . at- ; tackers had disappeared.' What was lett of them had retired. ; j "That's tho end, sir L" c.huckled my , sergeant. . " " . . ■ I thi'ust'my hands into my breechcs pockets. I did not want him to see they ■ were trembling. . ". .—Drysdale nuuth, ( in the "Daily Mail."