Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 55, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1916 — RACKS THE NERVES [ARTICLE]

RACKS THE NERVES

Night on Listening Post Is Eerie Experience. Small Groups of Men Get as Close to Enemy’s Position and Lie, There All Night Just ListeningLondon.—An officer back from the British front describes the listening post as the most trying experience of the war. Every evening little groups of men steal out between the opposing trench lines and squat quietly in a depression all night long, trying to catch in their straining ears some inkling of the enemy’s doings. Not until the night has well fallen do the posts go out. The object is to get as close to the enemy’s lines as possible without being: defeated; and to be able to remain there as long as human beings can, until the first streaks of dawn show in the sky. Once the precise spot is located, the men who will form that particular post that night are carefully tutored in its position by means of the invaluable periscope. They instruct themselves in the various obstacles to be encountered on the way, and commit to memory every tussock and every little obstacle that will afford them cover as they creep out to take up their places after nightfall. It is. not easy work to map out even a hundred feet of country through a periscope. But since dear life depends on the accuracy of the observations made, those concerned are not disposed to leave anything to chance, and every man could find his way

blindfolded when he has completed! his survey. - - And then, with darkness to shield them, they climb very cautiously out into the terrible dead ground, every little article of their equipment that might rattle carefully muffled, for there are listening posts listening for them. They have brought sandwiches or bread and cheese with them, for it is hungry work; but the solace of tobacco is utterly denied them until their tour of duty is ended. The little heroic party picks its gingerly way through its own entanglements, crouching low, flattening itself to the ground, availing itself of every depression, as the star shells flare aloft and the pitiless blue-white light streams down. It may be that it is detected at once, and given twenty-sec-onds of a machine gun’s closest attention, and in consequence ceases to exist as a living thing; but it may also be that it escapes detection, and continues to wend its cunning way towards the chosen shelter.

Once there, it has practically nothing to do but to listen. Any sound might mean anything; the faint noise of a buzzer might indicate an order to attack; the scraping of a knife on tin might mean the preparing of a hand grenade or merely that a hungry soldier is snatching a mouthful of food. ‘ "A night on listening post ~is one of the most eerie experiences a man can have. The most amazing things happen; things that read like fables, but which are true as gospel. It has beeri known more than once for a German sniper to stumble into the post; with the intention of taking up cover there, and waiting throughout the following day to take unerring pot-shots at anything which shows above the parapet. Now the members of the post are not allowed to fire a shot under any circumstances, unless, of course, they get mixed up with any sort of a real attack, in which case they would do the best they could for themselves. And so, since it is their lives or the sniper’s, they deal with the intruder in a summary fashion. Bits of earth crumble down from the embankments near at hand, the sound bringing men’s hearts to their mouths, for it might mean the approach of an enemy. There is no prolonged peace in the dead ground; and, knowing that listening posts are out, both sides make a point of quartering the grounds with, spasmodic fire, that the posts might be made as nervous as possible, and so driven back to their trenches' or else rendered incapable of further satisfactory work that night. Your only satisfaction lies in knowing that you are being watched by your own scouts, who are lying under

cover not Tar away; with instructions to cover you with their fire in case of need. You see, you must tot fire yourself, no matter what the provocation might be, because to do so would be to point out your position —with tragic results to yourselves and to those who come after you. . If you are discovered by an enemy patrol of scouts nosing around in search of game, you can do one thing, or the other —either you can die as you crouch or you can make a fight with the bayonet, and hope that the patrol will hurry up in time, a remote possibility under ( the circumstances. "-. '. 1 ■