the normal position of man on the earth is on its surface.
generally speaking, when he is under the surface he is in his wine cellar, or he is dead. but at the front all this is altered. both the enemy and ourselves have reverted to the cave age, for if we wish safety in the lines—comparative safety, that is—we pass our time in caves or cellars, dugouts or trenches.
not that living underground would be taken as a matter of choice in the piping times of peace. for the mud and dirt of the trenches and dugouts cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to be comfortable or pleasant.
the fact that your only chance against a hidden enemy is also to hide makes your desires subservient to necessity. in fact, both the enemy and ourselves are continually burrowing deeper and deeper in each other's direction. at the end of the burrow or tunnel we place charges of dynamite to blow each other out into the open. the fear that your enemy may succeed in doing it to you first, and that some fine day you may awaken to find yourself sailing about in the heavens with no support but the explosion which sent you there, makes many a man on a dark night hear imaginary tappings, causing him to report that he fears the enemy are mining underneath us. more than once out of the pitch darkness has come into my dugout some lonely sentry to tell me that he has heard mysterious hammering underfoot, and only when we had located the real cause as something other than he thought, did his—and perhaps our—nervousness disappear.
on one occasion a non-commissioned officer came hurrying into the h.q. dugout of a certain canadian battalion. with hair standing on end he reported that an augur had actually come through the bottom of the trench in which he had been standing. the colonel insisted on investigating this himself, and found that a mole had bored his way through the ground.
these fears may have an unconscious effect in making everyone wish to get out of the semi-darkness of the trenches into the bright sunlight which dispels clammy feelings and fears as if they were mists of the morning. but the real reason for traveling overland is that at all ages and in every clime the forbidden or dangerous has its attractions. thus it is that out there both officers and men, contrary to orders and upon the flimsiest of pretexts, climb out of the trenches and in more or less plain view of enemy snipers or observation posts walk again like ordinary human beings on the face of the earth.
this practice is very common where the trenches are muddy, or knee or hip-deep in water. it is the recognized custom after dark when working parties are carrying up ammunition or rations. not rarely some of the men of these parties are hit by bullets put across from fixed machine-guns. it is a weird sight on a dark night to go overland and, in the dim light of the flares or star shells, to discern long rows of men trudging along with packs of supplies. they loom up suddenly before you; or, perchance, a column of the ever-useful packmules pass, patiently carrying their burdens overland. and often by day one comes across the body of a mule that was given rest from its weary toil by a german bullet, at which times one cannot but wonder if in a happier land the patient, plodding, much-abused packmule is given his just meed of appreciation and kindness.
when someone pays the price of his recklessness in going overland, the price is most often exacted by a bullet. what insidious little things bullets are! they sneak in and hit you without forewarning you in any way, and they may hit so hard that you do not know you are hit even then. most men out there have more respect for them than for shells, for often you have time to "duck" against the side of a trench and so partly dodge a heavy shell.
but you can't dodge a bullet. it gives you a most uncanny feeling to be taking a short cut overland, and suddenly to hear a "ping-thud" just beside you, thus learning that some german is trying to pot you as you potted an innocent red deer on your last hunting trip. or you may be walking quietly through apparently safe trenches, maybe dreaming of your loved ones at home, when a bullet thuds into the trench wall a few feet from your head, insolently spattering mud into your face. then you know you are alive only by the grace of god and the poor aim of the german.
but, despite these risks, all take the chance of going overland to lessen a quarter-mile trip by one hundred yards, or to miss a particularly muddy bit of trench. any day you choose when you are five or six hundred yards from the front line you may see scattered parties of men crossing in the open.
the regimental aid post of the —— canadian battalion in october, 1916, when they were doing their tour in the lines, could be reached in two ways—one by trench, a roundabout route of over a mile; the other one-half mile by trench and one-quarter overland. the former route was never employed, except on regular relief days, officers and men passing daily the one-quarter mile overland, only about six hundred yards from the enemy front line. the field ambulance stretcher bearers made the trip twice daily, and one day when i was crossing over with their sergeant i asked him why the german snipers did not hit us.
"oh, 'heiny' is too busy keeping himself out of sight to notice us," was the careless reply. but at times those crossing this space heard a bullet whistling nearby, or ping-thudding into the ground close to their feet!
after a raid by our troops one early winter's morning when i had been attending the wounded for some time i came up to take a breath of air. a trench led from this cellar of mine some two thousand yards to a village of reasonable safety, but the road cut off two or three hundred yards of that distance. this road was in plain sight of the germans, yet some of our wounded tommies, walking cases, were leading a crowd of five or six wounded huns by the road, the party altogether numbering ten or twelve. as we watched them, suddenly, within a few yards of them, burst two shells. all the men broke into a double and jumped into a trench beside the road while a few more shells fell about. it is an ironical truth that the only members of the party hit were three of the germans.
on a certain relief day when food was scarce a medical officer started for a y.m.c.a. canteen in neuville st. vaast for some chocolate, taking a short cut overland, as he could save one hundred yards by this route. meeting a soldier he stopped to inquire as to direction, and this saved the life of the officer, for a shell struck the ground a few feet ahead on the spot where he would have been had he not stopped. as he and the tommy hugged a tree nearby two more shells struck the same spot, sprinkling them with earth. they turned and ran in the direction from which the doctor had come, amidst the roars of laughter of some soldiers in a trench at the sight of the rather corpulent form of the medical officer on the double; so little is thought out there of narrow escapes! and when the officer made the same trip in the dusk of evening he found that the canteen had run out of chocolate!
in what had once been a little village, but was now a mass of ruins, the trenches ran through the streets. our mess was situated in the cellar of a house to which we could get either in a roundabout way by trench, or by crossing a road overland. no one ever dreamed of going any other route than the overland, despite the fact that the road was in plain view of the germans who had fixed on it a machine-gun with which they now and then swept it from end to end. i admit frankly that i never crossed that road without a sigh of relief when i reached the other side.
it was on a christmas day. i started out to make an inspection of my lines with my sanitary sergeant and a runner who knew the best routes. arriving at a support trench, and wishing to go to the firing line, the guide started over the parapet. on being asked the purpose he said that it was a much shorter way, but, to my relief, the sergeant told him to go by trench, for often one would rather go through a dangerous zone than appear afraid of it in the presence of his men.
however, we made the examination of the lines. after we had finished the firing line and were returning, we found ourselves crossing overland by the route over which he had attempted to take us to the front. he had led us up a gradually ascending communication trench, and so unknown to us had reached this overland trail. nothing happened, nothing was said about it, but i certainly felt relieved when i was once again in a trench without having a german bullet sneaking between my ribs. how little tommy cares about risking his life if it lessens his task!
in passing, it may be mentioned that on this christmas day none of that fraternizing took place which had taken place the previous christmas. in fact, early on the christmas morning the battalion on our left, after a severe bombardment, put on a raid, and christmas night the enemy retaliated with heavy stuff of all kinds. probably this is as it should be, for while it may look well in print to read of our troops and the germans exchanging cigarettes and eatables in no man's land, it is detrimental to discipline, and injurious to the best fighting spirit. it would be much more repugnant to the anglo-saxon at any rate to kill men with whom he had just passed a pleasant social half hour. this may appear heartless, but war is a heartless game, and fraternizing may very well be left until after the peace articles are signed.