TANK FIGHTING
The early stages of the morning fighting were repetitions of the first
day's advance. Success perched upon British standards from the first.
Try as they would, the Germans were unable to hurl back the British
infantry, which advanced steadily under the protecting wings of
countless armored tanks.
Every now and then one of these terrible instruments of warfare burst
to pieces, killing its crew, as a German shell struck in a vital spot,
but, for the most part, they advanced unharmed.
Over the German trenches they plowed their path, as though there was
nothing in the way to bar their progress. Walls, earth, and human
bodies were crushed beneath them, and they passed on as though nothing
had happened. In vain the Germans charged straight up to their sides.
There was nothing they could do when they reached the monsters, except
to fire ineffectual rifle shots in an effort to penetrate the apertures
and reach the gunners, or to hurl hand grenades, which had no effect.
Each time the enemy charged it was never to return. While they wasted
their energies attempting to put the tanks out of commission, British
infantry mowed them down with, rifle fire. At length these attempts
were given up.
The Germans, after an hour's desperate fighting, deserted their
first-line trenches, and sought the shelter of the second; from these
they were driven to the third.
Hal and Chester found themselves in the midst of the fighting,
alongside the heroic Canadians of Vimy Ridge fame. The part of the
field in which they found themselves was to the extreme north of the
Hindenburg line, almost opposite Douai.
Time after time the Canadians drove the foe back at the point of the
bayonet. The Canadians, it appeared soon after noon, had been the most
successful of the entire British army. They had pushed their lines
almost to Douai. To the south, General Byng's forces had not advanced
quite so far.
Suddenly there was an explosion inside a tank scarcely a hundred feet
from Hal and Chester. Great clouds of earth ascended into the air.
The tank stopped stock still. Apparently it was undamaged, but it
proceeded no further. A moment later, the armored door swung open, and
the half-dozen men who composed its crew got out.
"Something the matter with the engine," one said in reply to a question
by a Canadian officer.
Members of the tank's crew secured rifles and joined the advancing
infantry. Hal pressed close to Chester.
"I've a hunch I can fix that thing so it will run," he shouted to make
himself heard above the din of battle.
"Lets have a try," Chester shouted back.
The boys left their places in the line, and approached the tank. Hal
climbed inside first. Chester followed him.
He bent down and tinkered with the engine. It was not the first time
the lads had been inside a tank, so they were fairly familiar with the
mechanism.
After some tinkering, Hal gave an exclamation of satisfaction.
"She'll go now," he cried.
He opened the throttle, and the machine moved forward. Hal brought it
to a stop almost immediately.
"We can't man all these guns," he cried. "We must have a crew."
Chester alighted and approached a captain of infantry who was passing
at that moment.
"We want a crew for this tank!" he exclaimed. "Can you give me four
men?"
"Take your pick," the captain called back.
Chester motioned four stalwart Canadians to follow him. They entered
the tank not without some foreboding, for it developed that none had
been mixed up in such warfare before. But they were not afraid and
took the places Hal assigned them.
"You can handle these guns, can you?" Hal shouted.
The men nodded affirmatively.
"All right. Take your places. Looks like there is ammunition enough
there for a week. Ready?"
"Ready, sir," one of the men answered.
Chester made the door secure, and Hal now moved the tank forward.
Straight over the German trench plunged the car tilting first to the
right and then to the left, as one side or the other sunk into a deep
hole. But, although it jostled the crew considerably, it did not roll
over, as it seemed in imminent danger of doing.
The other tanks had gone forward some time before; so had the mass of
the infantry. Hal's tank now lumbered forward in an effort to overtake
the others. It moved swiftly enough to push ahead of the soldiers
afoot, and gradually it overtook the others, which went more slowly in
order that the infantry might keep pace with them. At last the lads
found themselves on even terms with the most advanced tank.
Perhaps a dozen of these monsters, pressing close together, now made a
concerted attack on the second-line German trenches. Down went
barbed-wire entanglements directly in front of the trenches. There was
a loud crash as the tanks pushed their noses into the trench itself,
and threw out rocks, boards, and earth in shattered fragments. The
troops poured into the trenches behind them.
Half an hour's desperate fighting in the trenches and the Germans
fled. As the tanks would have pushed along further, a bugle sounded a
halt. Instantly the infantry gave up pursuit of the enemy, and all the
tanks came to a stop--all except the one in which Hal was at the
throttle.
"Whoa, here, Hal!" shouted Chester. "Time to stop. Can't you see the
others have given up the pursuit?"
"I can't stop!" Hal shouted back. "The blamed thing won't work."
Every second they were approaching where the Germans had made a stand.
"Come about in a circle then and head back!" shouted Chester.
Hal swung the head of the tank to the left. It moved perhaps two
degrees in that direction, then went forward again.
"Something the matter with the steering apparatus!" Hal shouted. "I
can't turn it. I can't stop it. I can't shut off the power, and the
brakes won't work."
"Let's jump for it, then!" cried Chester. "We'll be right in the
middle of the enemy in a minute."
The tractor was still spitting fire as it advanced. It was plain that
the Germans took the advance of the single tank as a ruse of some kind,
which they were unable to fathom. They could not know that the
occupants of the tank were making desperate effort to stop its advance
or bring it about and head back toward the British lines.
From the British troops shouts of warning arose. Crews of other tanks
had now dismounted, and these men added their voices to those of the
others calling upon the apparently venturesome tank to return. These
men could understand the advance of the single tractor no more than
could the Germans.
"The fools!" shouted one man. "They'll be killed sure; and what good
can they do single-handed against the whole German army?"
But the tank driven by Hal took no cognizance of the remarks hurled
after it; nor did it swerve from its purpose of waddling straight up to
the foe.
"Let's jump!" called Chester again.
"We'll be killed sure, or captured if we do," said Hal.
"Well, we'll be killed or captured if we don't," declared Chester.
"Exactly. It doesn't make any difference just what we do, so I'm in
favor of seeing the thing through."
"By Jove!" said Chester after a moment's hesitation, "I'm with you!"
He explained the situation to the man.
"Let's go right at 'em, sir," said one of the Canadians, grinning.
"Maybe they won't hit us with a shell. We'll shoot 'em down as long as
we have ammunition--and it's about gone now."
"Suits me," said Hal quietly.
The other men nodded their agreement.
So the tank still waddled forward. With but one foe now to contend
with, the Germans braved the fire of the single gun, advanced and
surrounded the tank.
"Surrender!" came a voice in German. "Surrender or we shall blow you
to pieces."
Hal smiled to himself.
"Can't be done, Fritz," he said quietly.
At the same moment one of the crew fired the last of the ammunition.
"Well, we've nothing left but our revolvers," said Chester. "Here
goes."
He poked his weapon out one of the portholes, and emptied it into the
foe.
"Give me yours, Hal," he said.
Hay obeyed, and the contents of this also was poured at the enemy.
"That settles it," said Chester.
One of the Canadians drew out a cigarette and lighted it.
"Might as well be comfortable," he said.
Outside, the Germans danced wildly around the car, shouting demands for
surrender, all the while bombarding the tank with rifle and revolver
fire.
"No use, Fritz," said Hal. "We just can't, whoa!"
The tank had stopped abruptly.