HELD UP
Equipped with gas masks, their packs filled with first-aid outfits,
carrying emergency rations, with the "tin hats" on their heads and
with rifles firmly grasped, over the top went the Khaki Boys, and
thousands like them, in another attempt to subdue the Boche enemy.
Behind the boys roared out the big guns that were laying down a
protecting barrage--a veritable curtain of fire behind which they
might advance and without which they would have been swept back into
their trenches broken and bruised and killed. The artillery duel had
been under way some little time now, and it had evidently taken the
Germans by surprise, for they were longer than usual in replying.
"Smash 'em up! Smash 'em up!" yelled the lieutenant in charge of that
particular part of the advance in which Jimmy Blaise and his chums
were included. "Smash 'em up, boys!"
"Wow! We're with you!" howled Franz. "Smash 'em up!"
Forward they surged, the gallant American lads, who a short time
before were peaceful clerks, factory and farm hands and happy college
lads, and some boys who instinctively shrank from the mere thought of
killing. But now their spirits were on fire with the sacred wine of
liberty, and they were daring as they had never dared before. Their
daring was imbued with right, and other than this nothing will stand.
The gray mists of morning swirled this way and that, blown not so much
by nature's wind as by the bursts from the flaming mouths of great guns.
And through this mist rushed the Americans, some to horrible death or
agony, and some to escape scatheless--to inflict just punishment on a
mass of men who had lost all sense of right and wrong--men who had
reverted to beasts.
"Are we all here?" yelled Jimmy, above the horrid din of battle, as he
tried to see if Bob, Roger and the others were near him.
"I guess we're here--yet," snapped back Franz, grimly. "No telling how
long we shall be, though!"
"Come on now--sharp's the word!" yelled the commanding officer.
"Separate there, you!" he cried to Jimmy and the other four, for they
were too close together. "Spread out! You're too good a target for a
machine-gun as you stand!"
They knew the advice was good, and they took it. But they did not
separate too far, for they wanted to be together as they went into
this fight. It might be the last for all or any one of them.
The din was terrific. It seemed as if all the guns of the world were
letting go together, and as Jimmy rushed forward, firing at a foe he
could not see, he reflected that this same terrific havoc and riot
of sound was taking place for miles along the front held by the
Americans, and also along the sectors where the gallant French and
British were disputing with the Huns the right to rule the world.
"Forward! Forward! No lagging!" cried the young lieutenant, leading
his men. It was getting lighter now, as the sun arose, but the orb
itself could not be seen because of the smoke and mist.
But he need not have concerned himself about the laggards. There
were none in the 509th Infantry. Too often had they had their mettle
proved.
A shell rushed screechingly over Jimmy's head seemingly within a few
feet of him, and instinctively he ducked. Then he almost laughed at
himself, for he realized that if he heard the noise he was safe.
"We're getting closer," mused Jimmy as he leaped forward, firing as
he went, now crouching down, and again standing partly upright, as he
hurried on. He and his chums were passing through an orchard, now, on
their way to come to grips with the Germans. That is, it had been an
orchard, but all that was left of it now were a few broken stumps of
trees. The firing of heavy guns, and the bursting of big shells had
wiped out the work of nature.
There came an explosion on Jimmy's left--an explosion from a small
German shell that blew up a section of the orchard, tossing the
blackened and gnarled stumps high in the air. And with the stumps were
mingled poor, twisted human bodies.
For one terrible moment Jimmy feared for Franz and Iggy, whom he had
last noted almost at the very spot where the shell exploded. His heart
turned faint within him. But it was no time to falter. One must not
halt nor turn back even though one's own brother were torn to pieces.
Forward was the word in that grim and terrible fighting. Forward to
your own death, perhaps, to the death of those you held most dear!
Forward to insure life and happiness for those who would come after!
Such was the sacred duty!
And then, to his great relief, Jimmy heard a voice he knew well
exclaim:
"Ach! Him was one big whizz-bang, yes!"
"You said it, Iggy!" shouted Franz, and Jimmy saw his two comrades
emerge from the smoke and dust cloud, and rush forward. They had
just escaped death by the shell, which sent into eternity six beloved
bunkies of the 509th.
"Well, they're alive yet!" grimly mused Jimmy, as he fired and
crouched down. A look to the right showed him Roger and Bob doing the
same thing. So far the five Brothers had suffered no harm.
But the battle was only beginning. The German big guns had not yet
opened in force to reply to the challenge of the American heavy
artillery. So far the barrage had, in a great measure, protected our
lads. Now they were to move forward again. The guns at the rear
were elevated, to send the bursting shrapnel further into the German
ranks--to prevent them from rushing at the advancing American troops.
And now was a critical time, for even in spite of the barrage some
parties of Huns, in bomb-proofs, might suddenly arise and confront the
Americans. There was a chance for close fighting.
But it did not come. That part of No Man's Land over which Jimmy and
his chums were advancing, leaping from shell crater to mud hole, and
from one slimy pool to another, seemed to have been cleared of Huns.
Once again came the explosion of a comparatively large shell, and
again, hurled aloft in a shower of stones and dirt, went the bodies of
a half score of Americans. The Germans were taking frightful toll.
"This way! This way!" suddenly ordered the lieutenant. "Into the
woods!"
Jimmy saw a large grove of trees on his left. He turned toward them,
and he noted that Franz and Iggy were ahead of him, while Bob and
Roger came in the rear.
And, just as they reached the somewhat sheltering woods, there sounded
from the air above them several explosions, and with them was an
undercurrent of humming and droning as if from a million swarms of
bees.
"The Boche aëroplanes! They're right over us--a whole flock of 'em!"
cried Roger. "And they're dropping bombs on us!"