Our Despatches from the Front (No. 116).
Page 14
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The Trials of a Motorcyclist Attached to an M.T. Tunnelling Company on Active Service.
WITT A TUNNELLING CO.,
November, 1916.
Prie could write of lots of things, but anything short of the terrific experiences of the actual fighting units seems hardly worth chronicling. The M.T.s come in for more gibes than ever, a lot of them undeserved. Occasionally the man who jeers at the " sanguinary runs up against a transfer from infantry to A.S.C. Then the jeerer gets it pretty badly, the exinfantrymen being able to reply with full measure, and finish with the very favourite retort ' Before you came up." You see, the exinfantryman has usually been out since 1914.
Undeserved Jeers for M.T. Men.
Apropos this subject of jeers. I had occasion. some time ago, to take a motorcycle up to a smashed village just behind the lines. There I was to leave it for the use of an officer on the following day, returning to billets by lorry which I should pick .up at the next village to ray destination. On the way out I sheltered in an estaminet from a heavy rainstorm, the only other occupants being three members of non-combatant units whose remarks about the "cowardly A.S.C." I could not help overhear• ing.
It was whilst replying to this remark that I noticed they wore the badges of corps that are as free from war risks as any of us. When, half an hour later, I left that motorcycle in a ditch and hurriedly dropped into old Bosche trenches to dodge unfriendly 5.9's, I could not help recalling the discussion.
Risks Mtn.
Of course I had chanced to ride on to a road about which our batteries were grouped, and had done so in the midst of an effort of the enemy to find those batteries. The din was infernal, and the only "
dug-out" I could find was a disused roofed shelter in a trench which would not have stopped an air-gun bullet. The country was hilly, and this artillery activity was bidden from me by a sharp bend in the road, and the noise of the exhaust until I came right into it.
Charged by Runaway Horses.
After an uncomfortable half-hour I tried to ride on, and found myself being charged by a runaway pair of horses with a loaded general service wagon in tow and no driver. It was a narrow squeak, for the horses were scared by the shelling, and were prepared to gallop over
anything. Eventually I got the machine under cover of a ruin and myself into a crowded but safe dugout. The " strafe" over, the walk to the next village in the darkness was enlivened by the most wonderful display of trench fireworks, white lights, blue, red and green ones, and shrapnel. Just a few minutes intense artillery strafe, on the firing line this time ; it was' an enthralling spectacle.
Silence the Exhaust.
My homeward journey, a passenger amongst a crowded lorry load of miners, gave time for thoughts on the desirability of quietening the exhaust on motorcycles in the war zone.
I am sending you the Christmas card of one of the Canadian Divisional Supply Columns. The drawing is an effort of the driver
of lorry 16064. It very, cleverly depicts an unpleasant duty that is all too frequent during six or seven months of the year.
Originality of the Canadians..
The Canadians have a way of their own in everything. On the doors of stores, car sheds and such like they post up "Keep Out" instead of the more usual " No
Admittance," Or " Defense d'entrer." One door bore the legend, written very large, " Keep Out, You !" Yankee lorries are popular with them, a-nd they seem to get excellent results with the lorries from their own continent. Some of the best Yankee lorries are popular with our men, too, largely because they have such splendid reserve power.
"Shrapnel' Helmets" for Sparking Rugs.
By the way, " have you heard " of the tin hats for spare sparking plugs they are serving out now Not a bad idea. Just a simple protector of tin to save spare plugs being damaged in the tool box. I have heard them called "shrapnel helmets" for sparking plugs. [The illustration we reproduce herewith shows the plug in position.—En.] The outer end of the central electrode is threaded through holes in the tin, and the terminal nut keeps the whole secure.