CHAPTER XVIII
TANK FIGHTING
The early stages of the morning fighting were repetitions of the firstday's advance. Success perched upon British standards from the first.Try as they would, the Germans were unable to hurl back the Britishinfantry, which advanced steadily under the protecting wings ofcountless armored tanks.
Every now and then one of these terrible instruments of warfare burstto 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 wasnothing in the way to bar their progress. Walls, earth, and humanbodies were crushed beneath them, and they passed on as though nothinghad happened. In vain the Germans charged straight up to their sides.There was nothing they could do when they reached the monsters, exceptto fire ineffectual rifle shots in an effort to penetrate the aperturesand reach the gunners, or to hurl hand grenades, which had no effect.
Each time the enemy charged it was never to return. While they wastedtheir energies attempting to put the tanks out of commission, Britishinfantry mowed them down with, rifle fire. At length these attemptswere given up.
The Germans, after an hour's desperate fighting, deserted theirfirst-line trenches, and sought the shelter of the second; from thesethey 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 thefield in which they found themselves was to the extreme north of theHindenburg line, almost opposite Douai.
Time after time the Canadians drove the foe back at the point of thebayonet. The Canadians, it appeared soon after noon, had been the mostsuccessful of the entire British army. They had pushed their linesalmost to Douai. To the south, General Byng's forces had not advancedquite so far.
Suddenly there was an explosion inside a tank scarcely a hundred feetfrom Hal and Chester. Great clouds of earth ascended into the air.The tank stopped stock still. Apparently it was undamaged, but itproceeded no further. A moment later, the armored door swung open, andthe half-dozen men who composed its crew got out.
"Something the matter with the engine," one said in reply to a questionby a Canadian officer.
Members of the tank's crew secured rifles and joined the advancinginfantry. Hal pressed close to Chester.
"I've a hunch I can fix that thing so it will run," he shouted to makehimself 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. Halclimbed inside first. Chester followed him.
He bent down and tinkered with the engine. It was not the first timethe lads had been inside a tank, so they were fairly familiar with themechanism.
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 itto 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 passingat that moment.
"We want a crew for this tank!" he exclaimed. "Can you give me fourmen?"
"Take your pick," the captain called back.
Chester motioned four stalwart Canadians to follow him. They enteredthe tank not without some foreboding, for it developed that none hadbeen mixed up in such warfare before. But they were not afraid andtook 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 enoughthere 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 theright and then to the left, as one side or the other sunk into a deephole. But, although it jostled the crew considerably, it did not rollover, as it seemed in imminent danger of doing.
The other tanks had gone forward some time before; so had the mass ofthe infantry. Hal's tank now lumbered forward in an effort to overtakethe others. It moved swiftly enough to push ahead of the soldiersafoot, and gradually it overtook the others, which went more slowly inorder that the infantry might keep pace with them. At last the ladsfound themselves on even terms with the most advanced tank.
Perhaps a dozen of these monsters, pressing close together, now made aconcerted attack on the second-line German trenches. Down wentbarbed-wire entanglements directly in front of the trenches. There wasa loud crash as the tanks pushed their noses into the trench itself,and threw out rocks, boards, and earth in shattered fragments. Thetroops poured into the trenches behind them.
Half an hour's desperate fighting in the trenches and the Germansfled. As the tanks would have pushed along further, a bugle sounded ahalt. Instantly the infantry gave up pursuit of the enemy, and all thetanks came to a stop--all except the one in which Hal was at thethrottle.
"Whoa, here, Hal!" shouted Chester. "Time to stop. Can't you see theothers 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 twodegrees in that direction, then went forward again.
"Something the matter with the steering apparatus!" Hal shouted. "Ican't turn it. I can't stop it. I can't shut off the power, and thebrakes won't work."
"Let's jump for it, then!" cried Chester. "We'll be right in themiddle of the enemy in a minute."
The tractor was still spitting fire as it advanced. It was plain thatthe 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 theoccupants of the tank were making desperate effort to stop its advanceor bring it about and head back toward the British lines.
From the British troops shouts of warning arose. Crews of other tankshad now dismounted, and these men added their voices to those of theothers calling upon the apparently venturesome tank to return. Thesemen could understand the advance of the single tractor no more thancould the Germans.
"The fools!" shouted one man. "They'll be killed sure; and what goodcan they do single-handed against the whole German army?"
But the tank driven by Hal took no cognizance of the remarks hurledafter it; nor did it swerve from its purpose of waddling straight up tothe 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 infavor 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 aswe 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 contendwith, the Germans braved the fire of the single gun, advanced andsurrounded the tank.
"Surrender!" came a voice in German. "Surrender or we shall blow youto 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. "Heregoes."
He poked his weapon out one of the portholes, and emptied it into thefoe.
"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 forsurrender, all the while bombarding the tank with rifle and revolverfire.
"No use, Fritz," said Hal. "We just can't, whoa!"
The tank had stopped abruptly.
Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders; Or, the Fighting Canadians of Vimy Ridge Page 18
