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HUNTING THE HUN
Roadside Scene on the British Section of the WesternFront
HUNTING THE HUN
BY
CAPTAIN JAMES BELTON
LATE OF THE BRITISH AND CANADIAN FORCES
AND
LIEUTENANT E. G. ODELL
LATE OF THE 24TH CANADIAN BATTALION, B.E.F.
ILLUSTRATED
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON
1918
Copyright, 1918, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
FOREWORD
Captain Belton and Lieutenant Odell's book of the war will be readwith deep and sustained interest by everyone who wants to understand"the real thing." For myself I confess to being thrilled by thesimple, direct, conversational style of the chapters describing thepreparations for the attack on and ultimate capture of Vimy Ridge. Thecomplete absence of any attempt at word-painting, the little touches ofactuality, such as the pattern of white tapes on the practice groundwhich showed the conformation of the German trenches, and the method ofsignalling to the contact aeroplane during an advance—these featuresare at once novel and arresting. The story is told with the tersenessof a despatch. You see the battalion gathering for its deadly workafter the training is done; you plod with it in Indian file along theAux Reitz communication trench; you sprawl with the officers and menin the "jumping-off" trench; you wonder whether the missing jar ofrum will turn up in time, and, finally, you go "over the top" withwhat amounts to a sigh of relief that the ghastly period of waitinghas ended and that the "Zero Hour" will mark either the end or thebeginning of a strangely heroic experience. It is quite remarkablethat a plain soldier should be able to give such life to his story. Theachievement is a tribute to realism. Here is the truth, and nothing butthe truth, so you accept every word for what it is worth, and are evenglad to be spared the fine touches of the skilled literary hand.
I am sure Captain Belton and Lieutenant Odell's book will beappreciated by a wide circle of readers in this country. A Canadianbattalion and an American battalion must be close akin whether on theparade ground or in the battlefield. As these boys from Montreal,Toronto, and Winnipeg have done in France so will the boys do who hailfrom New York, Chicago, and th