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TECHNOLOGY IN AC TION™
Robotics Models
Using LEGO
WeDo 2.0
Design, Build, Program, Test, Document and Share
—
Diego Galvez-Aranda
Mauricio Galvez Legua
Robotics Models
Using LEGO WeDo 2.0
Design, Build, Program, Test, Document
and Share
Diego Galvez-Aranda
Mauricio Galvez Legua
Robotics Models Using LEGO WeDo 2.0: Design, Build, Program, Test, Document
and Share
Diego Galvez-Aranda Mauricio Galvez Legua
Bryan, TX, USA Ate, Ancash, Peru
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to
readers on GitHub via the book's product page, located at www.apress.com/978-1-4842-6845-2. For more
detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
Printed on acid-free paper
To my parents, Elsa and Mauricio,
and my sisters, Fernanda and Graciela,
for always supporting me. Vamos!
—Diego Galvez-Aranda
Table of Contents
About the Authors����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix
About the Technical Reviewer���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi
About the Graphic Designers���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xiii
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv
v
Table of Contents
vi
Table of Contents
vii
Table of Contents
Pelican�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 306
Design phase: Flapping wings motion��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 307
Build phase: Crank-rocker four-bar linkage������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 308
Program phase: Power control by sensor���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 331
Test phase: Getting closer and further��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 333
Document & share phase����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 333
viii
About the Authors
Diego Galvez-Aranda obtained his degree in electrical engineering from the National University of
Engineering in Lima, Peru.
Thanks to his father, during his childhood, Diego grew up building LEGO Technic models, awakening
his interest in engineering. During his undergraduate days, Diego started a blog called “Not Just Bricks” in
which he started posting various projects and building instructions that he developed using the LEGO WeDo
and LEGO Mindstorms set.
Thanks to his blog, he started a “Robotics in Schools” project. The main idea behind the project was to
implement robotics classes at various schools across Peru and elaborate support materials for teachers to
apply robotics in their classes.
Simultaneously, Diego was invited to write several articles in HispaBrick Magazine about the LEGO
WeDo set. In the magazine, he wrote 12 articles on how to program various LEGO WeDo projects from the
entry level.
In 2012, together with a group of friends, Diego founded the “Lego Robotics Club” at his university. As
part of the “Robotics Club,” he competed in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015,
getting the first place in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions.
Diego believes in robotics as a powerful tool to enhance the learning experience of children in different
areas. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering at Texas A&M University in Texas, USA. His
thesis work involves machine learning and molecular simulations of rechargeable Li-ion batteries.
Mauricio Galvez Legua is an electronic engineer graduated from the National University of Engineering
in Lima, Peru with more than 30 years as a teacher in Institutes and Universities in Peru. He has a master
degree in “Evaluation and Accreditation of Educational Quality”.
He was in charge of the implementation of educational robotics in the peruvian Ministry of Education.
He is currently a professor at the Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the National
University of Engineering. He teaches courses on digital systems, microprocessors/ microcontrollers,
programming C, computer architecture, data networks, operating systems and Robotics.
ix
About the Technical Reviewer
Edwar Alvarado Zavaleta obtained his degree in electrical engineering from the National University of
Engineering in Lima, Peru. He was in charge of the implementation of educational robotics in the Ministry
of Education, Peru.
Edwar is continuously teaching robotics in various schools and preparing virtual material that is used
as support material for teachers and students through the virtual platform “Robotronic” that helps them to
use robotics in their classes. He also coached several high-school teams that competed in the World Robot
Olympiad (WRO).
Edwar collaborated on the development of the building instructions shown in this book.
xi
About the Graphic Designers
Fernanda Galvez Aranda is an environmental engineer from La Molina National Agrarian University in
Lima, Peru. She has attended multiple drawing and painting workshops showing her artwork.
In this book, Fernanda has designed the illustration concepts, considering the goals of the book and the
environment in which the animals that inspired the prototypes live.
Fernanda has created and drawn by hand the main characters, all their positions, and all the objects
which they have interacted with.
Graciela Galvez Aranda is a biologist from Ricardo Palma University in Lima, Peru. As a student, she has
worked in management and graphic design in companies related to education.
Her studies in science have given her a different view of robotics, since she believes it studies nature as a
way to understand it better.
In this book, Graciela has digitized the hand-drawn drawings of each character and helped give them life
with colors.
Also, she has done the covers of each chapter like they were from fairy tales, trying to ensure there was
harmony between nature and the prototypes.
xiii
Introduction
This book has been written with the purpose of documenting my experience in the design and construction
of robotic prototypes and is aimed at children who like to put things together and take things apart, who
are restless, and who express in their behavior a need to understand how “our world works.” That curiosity
was fueled in large part by LEGO kits, which were companions on adventures throughout my childhood. I
was fascinated by how I could “build” objects, animals, and machines, following building guides. My hands
began to be those of a “digital artisan,” which allowed me to build my own ideas. Over time, and given my
degree in electronic engineering, I started sharing my knowledge to the next generation of creators. Through
robotics courses for children, I developed a teaching methodology called “five phases in prototyping,” which
is the basis of this book.
The book is aimed at young LEGO enthusiasts who want to prototype solutions to challenges using
mechanical and computer science engineering. Teachers and parents will also find the book a helpful guide
to introducing the world of robotics in a dynamic and fun way. Its fundamental purpose is to introduce
concepts of design, construction, and prototype programming in a fun way. The book uses simple language
to make it easy to understand for children. We chose projects based on animals (not robots) in clear allusion
to the importance of maintaining the bond with our natural world and respect for nature and environment.
Each book’s chapter will follow the “five phases in prototyping” to create robots inspired by animals,
challenging you to replicate a bio-inspired motion, such as crawling, quadruped walking, biped walking,
flapping wings, and swimming. Through the five phases in prototyping, you will encourage your
problem-solving skills by analyzing situations, designing solutions, and checking how they work, stimulating
your imagination and creativity.
xv
What to know
1
before you start?
Contents
- Initial concepts: Learning, technology, science and engineering
- Robotics
- Phases in prototyping: Design, Build, Program, Test, Document & share
- Mechanics
- Informatics
- Electronics
- Robot
- 3D projections
1
2
Initial concepts
Learning I wonder how planes can
• Is strongly related to doing. fly?
• Is an active knowledge-building experience.
• We learn when we are curious: We investigate, explore,
make, and test.
Technology
• Is the set of skills, methods, or processes used for the
design and construction of machines or services to
satisfy human needs.
Science
• Nowadays, the work is mental and no longer only physical.
• Intelligence is the work tool.
• The knowledge is obtained through observation and experimentation.
Technology Science
Engineering
• Apply scientific knowledge (math, physics, chemistry, etc.) to develop technology
(models and techniques) and solve problems affecting the humanity.
• Invention is making an idea come true.
3
Automated systems evolution
Metal Age
Stone Age
Automation Robotization
4
Robotics
• Robotics is the design and construction of machines with a certain degree of intelli-
gence, capable of replacing human beings in certain activities.
• Robotics is an interdisciplinary field, involving the interaction of several other fields
such as mechanics, electronics, and informatics.
Actuators
Mechanism Sensors
Structures
Controller
Mechanics Electronics
Machines Robotics
Network
Control
USB
software Informatics Bluetooth
Programming Simulator
language software
5
Phases in prototyping
It is time to introduce you
• Encourages problem-solving skills by analyzing
to some of my friends!
situations, designing solutions, and checking how
they work
• Stimulates imagination and creativity
• Five phases: Design, Build, Program, Test, and
Document & share
6
Test phase My turn! I like testing all the cool
stuff that my friends create.
• Visual verification that your prototype works as
planned.
• If the prototype does not work, this may be due
to errors in the program phase, the build phase,
or the design phase. If so, you should return to the
corresponding phase and solve the problem.
Phases in prototyping
Document
Design Build Program Test &
share
No Yes
Does it work?
7
Mechanics
LEGO pieces
• In your LEGO WeDo set, you will find pieces of different colors, sizes, and types. Each
of them allows you to build different prototypes.
• In the following sections, you will explore all the mechanical pieces that come in your
WeDo set.
Bricks
• Can be connected to other bricks by using the studs located on the top face.
Plates
• Similar to bricks but they are three times thinner.
• Come in different shapes, not only rectangular.
• Some of them have holes for different assembly methods.
8
Beams
• Similar to bricks but with holes at the sides.
• Are always 1 unit in width and from 2 to 16 units in length.
Axles
• They are used to transfer rotational motion. Usually work together with gears and beams.
• Can be also used as structural support elements.
• Axle length is measured by counting the studs from a beam. 6
Bushings
• They are used to hold the position of the axles.
Connectors
• They are used to assemble two beams together.
Pulleys
• They are used to transfer rotational motion. It must
be used together with a rubber band or a string.
9
Gears
• They are used to transfer rotational motion through their teeth.
• Two particular types of gears are worm gear and gear rack.
Wheels
• They are used to reduce friction, making the transportation of heavy objects easier.
• Must be used together with axles.
Slope bricks
• Let you get away from the blockiness of regular bricks by adding slopes.
• Come in different sizes and heights.
• Their function is mostly decorative to add details in your buildings.
Mechanism
• A set of pieces that are connected between them to transfer and/or transform energy
and motion.
10
Informatics
Algorithm
• Algorithm is a finite and ordered sequence of tasks to follow in order to solve a prob-
lem. To design an algorithm, you first have to identify and analyze the problem you want
to solve.
Flowchart
• A flowchart is a diagram that represents a sequence of tasks (algorithm).
• A flowchart shows each task as a box, and the order sequence is defined by connecting
the boxes with arrows.
Program
• A program is a set of instructions that a computer understands and executes.
• Programs are written using a programming language, allowing the communication b e-
tween the given instructions and the computer.
01101000 01101111
Hello 01101100 01100001
Language
incompatibility
Programming language
01101000 01101111
Hello Hello = 010111010 01101100 01100001
11
WeDo programming
• The WeDo program uses an iconographic programming language.
• A specific task is represented as a “block.”
• By “dragging and dropping” blocks, you can build a program.
• In a WeDo project, you can create your program and document your results.
Stop button
• Stops any running program
in the workspace.
Palette
12
Flow blocks
• Are the yellow blocks and control the flow of your program.
13
Electronics
• Electronics allows you to add “senses” to your prototype,
making it able to “see” or “hear,” thanks to the use of sen-
sors.
• Also, your prototype can perform tasks such as moving
around or picking up objects using actuators such as the
electric motor.
Hub
• It allows communication between the computer and
other electronic devices such as sensors and motors.
• It communicates with a computer, smartphone, or tablet
through Bluetooth.
• It is the power source for all the other electronic devices.
It requires two AA batteries.
• It comes with an LED (actuator) that you can program to
set the color.
Electric motor
• An actuator that transforms electrical energy into
mechanical energy.
• The electrical energy comes from the batteries inside the
Hub.
• It produces rotational motion.
• Five programming blocks allow us to control the electric
motor: motor power, wait for, stop motor, turn anti-clock-
wise, turn clockwise.
14
Tilt sensor
• It detects six different states. For each state, there is a pro-
gramming block: shake, tilt down, tilt up, tilt that way, tilt
this way, and tilt sensor no tilt.
Distance sensor
• It detects when an object is in front of it. The distance sen-
sor would be equivalent to the human eyes for a robot.
• Four programming blocks can be used with the distance
sensor: any distance change, distance change closer, dis-
tance change further, and distance sensor input.
Robot
• It is an electronic and mechanical machine, capable of movement and action, that
perceives its environment, performs tasks automatically, has computational intelli-
gence, and is programmable.
15
Robot characteristics
Building pieces
Mechanical
machine
No need of an
Software, program operator
Programmable Automated
Robot
Sensors Actuators
Computational
intelligence
Microcontroller
Electronics
16
Is it a robot? Let’s practice the definition of a
Only if the answer to all the six questions is YES, we robot and see if you can identify
are in front of a robot: which are robots and which are
not!
1 Is it a mechanical machine?
3 Is it programmable?
5 Is it automated?
1 YES!
x x x / 1 YES! 1 YES! 1 YES!
17
Three-dimensional projections
• Before you start building the several prototypes shown in
the book, you can test your skills by building some basic ones.
• A three-dimensional object has length, width, and height;
therefore, it has volume.
• Let’s explore the different methods that are used to rep-
resent a three-dimensional object on a piece of paper (two
dimensions).
Isometric projection
• It is a graphical representation of a three-dimensional object on a plane (two dimen-
sions).
• All the building instructions are given in an isometric projection.
• Example: By only using the following images, can you count how many bricks are in
each image?
Orthogonal projection
• Similarly to an isometric projection, it is a graphical representation of a three-dimen-
sional object but using several plane views: Top view
18
• Try to build the following constructions using only their projections:
Frog
Isometric Top view
Turtle
Isometric Top view
19
Penguin
Isometric Top view
American rhea
Isometric Top view
20
Caiman
Isometric Top view
Sea lion
Isometric Top view
21
Plesiosaurus
Isometric Top view
Dog
Isometric Top view
22
Skier
Isometric Top view
Astronaut
Isometric Top view
23
Dolphin
Isometric Top view
Pelican
Isometric Top view
24
Now you are ready to start building robots inspired by wildlife!
25
2
In-phase robots
Contents
Frog
- Parallel linkage and gear train
- Motor programming blocks
- Motor power and direction
Turtle
- Worm gear
- Tilt sensor programming blocks
- Tilt sensor states
27
Frog
28
Design phase: Parallel in-phase motion
• In this phase, you can use a white paper and a pencil to start drawing your ideas!
• On a piece of paper, you can sketch some ideas to replicate the frog jumping motion!
Parallel motion
• The parallel motion is a four-bar linkage in which two bars rotate while the other two bars
keep its position.
• The mechanism consists of a bar moving straight up and down from a transmitted
motion generated by two rotating bars.
• Used to convert the rotational motion into a parallel motion.
29
Build phase: Parallel linkage and Gear train
• Given the following building instructions, you can build your own parallel motion linkage.
1 2 6
3 4
Extra views
30
Gear transmission
• Gears have one main purpose: transmit mechanical energy.
• Gear teeth are designed to avoid slipping and provide a smooth transmission of ro-
tation between two gears.
• A gear train is formed by mounting several gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears
engage to transmit rotational motion.
• In a gear train, the first gear is the driver gear, the last gear is the follower gear, and all
the gears in between are called idler gears.
• Gearing down: If a large gear is driven with a small gear, the torque (force) increases,
but the speed decreases.
• Gearing up: If a small gear is driven with a large gear, the speed increases, but the torque
(force) decreases.
er
Driver
Fo r
Follower
w
le
llo
Id
er
Driver Follower
riv
D
31
Building instructions
1
32
3
33
5
10
10
34
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with Unrelated Content
Stretcher-bearers had to cross with their companies; none of the
attacking party must deal with the men who fell out on the way
across. A party would be detailed out to attend to the wounded who
fell near the assembly trenches.... The attack had been planned with
such intelligent foresight that our casualties would be very few. The
job before us was quite easy and simple.
"What do you think of it?" I asked my mate, Bill Teake. "I think a
bottle of champagne would be very nice."
"Just what I thought myself," said Bill. "I see Dudley Pryor is off
to the café already. I've no money. I'm pore as a mummy."
"You got paid yesterday," I said with a laugh. "You get poor very
quickly."
An embarrassed smile fluttered around his lips.
"A man gets pore 'cordin' to no rule," he replied. "Leastways, I
do."
"Well, I've got a lot of francs," I said. "We may as well spend it."
"You're damned right," he answered. "Maybe, we'll not 'ave a
chance to——"
"It doesn't matter a damn whether——"
"The officer says it will be an easy job. I don't know the——"
He paused. We understood things half spoken.
"Champagne?" I hinted.
"Nothing like champagne," said Bill.
CHAPTER IV
Before the Charge
Before I joined the Army
I lived in Donegal,
Where every night the Fairies,
Would hold their carnival.
But now I'm out in Flanders,
Where men like wheat-ears fall,
And it's Death and not the Fairies
Who is holding carnival.
The moment had come when it was unwise to think. The country
round Loos was like a sponge; the god of war had stamped with his
foot on it, and thousands of men, armed, ready to kill, were squirted
out on to the level, barren fields of danger. To dwell for a moment
on the novel position of being standing where a thousand deaths
swept by, missing you by a mere hair's breadth, would be sheer folly.
There on the open field of death my life was out of my keeping, but
the sensation of fear never entered my being. There was so much
simplicity and so little effort in doing what I had done, in doing what
eight hundred comrades had done, that I felt I could carry through
the work before me with as much credit as my code of self respect
required. The maxims went crackle like dry brushwood under the
feet of a marching host. A bullet passed very close to my face like a
sharp, sudden breath; a second hit the ground in front, flicked up a
little shower of dust, and ricochetted to the left, hitting the earth
many times before it found a resting place. The air was vicious with
bullets; a million invisible birds flicked their wings very close to my
face. Ahead the clouds of smoke, sluggish low-lying fog, and fumes
of bursting shells, thick in volume, receded towards the German
trenches, and formed a striking background for the soldiers who
were marching up a low slope towards the enemy's parapet, which
the smoke still hid from view. There was no haste in the forward
move, every step was taken with regimental precision, and twice on
the way across the Irish boys halted for a moment to correct their
alignment. Only at a point on the right there was some confusion
and a little irregularity. Were the men wavering? No fear! The boys
on the right were dribbling the elusive football towards the German
trench.
Raising the stretcher, my mate and I went forward. For the next
few minutes I was conscious of many things. A slight rain was
falling; the smoke and fumes I saw had drifted back, exposing a
dark streak on the field of green, the enemy's trench. A little
distance away from me three men hurried forward, and two of them
carried a box of rifle ammunition. One of the bearers fell flat to
earth, his two mates halted for a moment, looked at the stricken
boy, and seemed to puzzle at something. Then they caught hold of
the box hangers and rushed forward. The man on the ground raised
himself on his elbow and looked after his mates, then sank down
again to the wet ground. Another soldier came crawling towards us
on his belly, looking for all the world like a gigantic lobster which had
escaped from its basket. His lower lip was cut clean to the chin and
hanging apart; blood welled through the muddy khaki trousers
where they covered the hips.
I recognised the fellow.
"Much hurt, matey?" I asked.
"I'll manage to get in," he said.
"Shall I put a dressing on?" I inquired.
"I'll manage to get into our own trench," he stammered, spitting
the blood from his lips. "There are others out at the wires. S—— has
caught it bad. Try and get him in, Pat."
"Right, old man," I said, as he crawled off. "Good luck."
My cap was blown off my head as if by a violent gust of wind,
and it dropped on the ground. I put it on again, and at that moment
a shell burst near at hand and a dozen splinters sung by my ear. I
walked forward with a steady step.
"What took my cap off?" I asked myself. "It went away just as if
it was caught in a breeze. God!" I muttered, in a burst of realisation,
"it was that shell passing." I breathed very deeply, my blood rushed
down to my toes and an airy sensation filled my body. Then the
stretcher dragged.
"Lift the damned thing up," I called to my mate over my
shoulder. There was no reply. I looked round to find him gone, either
mixed up in a whooping rush of kilted Highlanders, who had lost
their objective and were now charging parallel to their own trench,
or perhaps he got killed.... How strange that the Highlanders could
not charge in silence, I thought, and then recollected that most of
my boyhood friends, Donegal lads, were in Scottish regiments.... I
placed my stretcher on my shoulder, walked forward towards a bank
of smoke which seemed to be standing stationary, and came across
our platoon sergeant and part of his company.
"Are we going wrong, or are the Jocks wrong?" he asked his
men, then shouted, "Lie flat, boys, for a minute, until we see where
we are. There's a big crucifix in Loos churchyard, and we've got to
draw on that."
The men threw themselves flat; the sergeant went down on one
knee and leant forward on his rifle, his hands on the bayonet
standard, the fingers pointing upwards and the palms pressed close
to the sword which was covered with rust.... How hard it would be
to draw it from a dead body!... The sergeant seemed to be kneeling
in prayer.... In front the cloud cleared away, and the black crucifix
standing over the graves of Loos became revealed.
"Advance, boys!" said the sergeant. "Steady on to the foot of the
Cross and rip the swine out of their trenches."
The Irish went forward....
A boy sat on the ground bleeding at the shoulder and knee.
"You've got hit," I said.
"In a few places," he answered, in a very matter-of-fact voice. "I
want to get into a shell-hole."
"I'll try and get you into one," I said. "But I want someone to
help me. Hi! you there! Come and give me a hand."
I spoke to a man who sat on the rim of a crater near at hand. His
eyes, set close in a white, ghastly face, stared tensely at me. He sat
in a crouching position, his head thrust forward, his right hand
gripping tightly at a mud-stained rifle. Presumably he was a bit
shaken and was afraid to advance further.
"Help me to get this fellow into a shell-hole," I called. "He can't
move."
There was no answer.
"Come along," I cried, and then it was suddenly borne to me that
the man was dead. I dragged the wounded boy into the crater and
dressed his wounds.
A shell struck the ground in front, burrowed, and failed to
explode.
"Thank Heaven!" I muttered, and hurried ahead. Men and pieces
of men were lying all over the place. A leg, an arm, then again a leg,
cut off at the hip. A finely formed leg, the latter, gracefully putteed.
A dummy leg in a tailor's window could not be more graceful. It
might be X; he was an artist in dress, a Beau Brummel in khaki. Fifty
yards further along I found the rest of X....
The harrowing sight was repellent, antagonistic to my mind. The
tortured things lying at my feet were symbols of insecurity, ominous
reminders of danger from which no discretion could save a man. My
soul was barren of pity; fear went down into the innermost parts of
me, fear for myself. The dead and dying lay all around me; I felt a
vague obligation to the latter; they must be carried out. But why
should I trouble! Where could I begin? Everything was so far apart. I
was too puny to start my labours in such a derelict world. The
difficulty of accommodating myself to an old task under new
conditions was enormous.
A figure in grey, a massive block of Bavarian bone and muscle,
came running towards me, his arms in air, and Bill Teake following
him with a long bayonet.
"A prisoner!" yelled the boy on seeing me. "'Kamerad! Kamerad!'
'e shouted when I came up. Blimey! I couldn't stab 'im, so I took 'im
prisoner. It's not 'arf a barney!... Ave yer got a fag ter spare?"
The Cockney came to a halt, reached for a cigarette, and lit it.
The German stood still, panting like a dog.
"Double! Fritz, double!" shouted the boy, sending a little puff of
smoke through his nose. "Over to our trench you go! Grease along if
yer don't want a bayonet in your——!"
They rushed off, the German with hands in air, and Bill behind
with his bayonet perilously close to the prisoner. There was
something amusing in the incident, and I could not refrain from
laughing. Then I got a whiff from a German gas-bomb which
exploded near me, and I began spluttering and coughing. The
irritation, only momentary, was succeeded by a strange humour. I
felt as if walking on air, my head got light, and it was with difficulty
that I kept my feet on earth. It would be so easy to rise into space
and float away. The sensation was a delightful one; I felt so pleased
with myself, with everything. A wounded man lay on the ground,
clawing the earth with frenzied fingers. In a vague way, I
remembered some ancient law which ordained me to assist a
stricken man. But I could not do so now, the action would clog my
buoyancy and that delightful feeling of freedom which permeated my
being. Another soldier whom I recognised, even at a distance, by his
pink-and-white bald pate, so often a subject for our jokes, reeled
over the bloodstained earth, his eyes almost bursting from their
sockets.
"You look bad," I said to him with a smile.
He stared at me drunkenly, but did not answer.
A man, mother-naked, raced round in a circle, laughing
boisterously. The rags that would class him as a friend or foe were
gone, and I could not tell whether he was an Englishman or a
German. As I watched him an impartial bullet went through his
forehead, and he fell headlong to the earth. The sight sobered me
and I regained my normal self.
Up near the German wire I found our Company postman sitting
in a shell-hole, a bullet in his leg below the knee, and an unlighted
cigarette in his mouth.
"You're the man I want," he shouted, on seeing me. And I
fumbled in my haversack for bandages.
"No dressing for me, yet," he said with a smile. "There are others
needing help more than I. What I want is a match."
As I handed him my match box a big high explosive shell flew
over our heads and dropped fifty yards away in a little hollow where
seven or eight figures in khaki lay prostrate, faces to the ground.
The shell burst and the wounded and dead rose slowly into air to a
height of six or seven yards and dropped slowly again, looking for all
the world like puppets worked by wires.
"This," said the postman, who had observed the incident, "is a
solution of a question which diplomacy could not settle, I suppose.
The last argument of kings is a damned sorry business."
By the German barbed wire entanglements were the shambles of
war. Here our men were seen by the enemy for the first time that
morning. Up till then the foe had fired erratically through the
oncoming curtain of smoke; but when the cloud cleared away, the
attackers were seen advancing, picking their way through the wires
which had been cut to little pieces by our bombardment. The Irish
were now met with harrying rifle fire, deadly petrol bombs and hand
grenades. Here I came across dead, dying and sorely wounded; lives
maimed and finished, and all the romance and roving that makes up
the life of a soldier gone for ever. Here, too, I saw, bullet-riddled,
against one of the spider webs known as chevaux de frise, a limp
lump of pliable leather, the football which the boys had kicked across
the field.
I came across Flannery lying close to a barbed wire support, one
arm round it as if in embrace. He was a clumsily built fellow, with
queer bushy eyebrows and a short, squat nose. His bearing was
never soldierly, but on a march he could bear any burden and stick
the job when more alert men fell out. He always bore himself
however with a certain grace, due, perhaps, to a placid belief in his
own strength. He never made friends; a being apart, he led a
solitary life. Now he lay close to earth hugging an entanglement
prop, and dying.
There was something savage in the expression of his face as he
looked slowly round, like an ox under a yoke, on my approach. I
knelt down beside him and cut his tunic with my scissors where a
burnt hole clotted with blood showed under the kidney. A splinter of
shell had torn part of the man's side away. All hope was lost for the
poor soul.
"In much pain, chummy?" I asked.
"Ah, Christ! yes, Pat," he answered. "Wife and two kiddies, too.
Are we getting the best of it?"
I did not know how the fight was progressing, but I had seen a
line of bayonets drawing near to the second trench out by Loos.
"Winning all along," I answered.
"That's good," he said. "Is there any hope for me?"
"Of course there is, matey," I lied. "You have two of these
morphia tablets and lie quiet. We'll take you in after a while, and
you'll be back in England in two or three days' time."
I placed the morphia under his tongue and he closed his eyes as
if going to sleep. Then, with an effort, he tried to get up and gripped
the wire support with such vigour that it came clean out of the
ground. His legs shot out from under him, and, muttering something
about rations being fit for pigs and not for men, he fell back and
died.
The fighting was not over in the front trench yet, the first two
companies had gone ahead, the other two companies were taking
possession here. A sturdy Bavarian in shirt and pants was standing
on a banquette with his bayonet over the parapet, and a determined
look in his eyes. He had already done for two of our men as they
tried to cross, but now his rifle seemed to be unloaded and he
waited. Standing there amidst his dead countrymen he formed a
striking figure. A bullet from one of our rifles would have ended his
career speedily, but no one seemed to want to fire that shot. There
was a moment of suspense, broken only when the monstrous futility
of resistance became apparent to him, and he threw down his rifle
and put up his hands, shouting "Kamerad! Kamerad!" I don't know
what became of him afterwards, other events claimed my attention.
Four boys rushed up, panting under the machine gun and
ammunition belts which they carried. One got hit and fell to the
ground, the maxim tripod which he carried fell on top of him. The
remainder of the party came to a halt.
"Lift the tripod and come along," his mates shouted to one
another.
"Who's goin' to carry it?" asked a little fellow with a box of
ammunition.
"You," came the answer.
"Some other one must carry it," said the little fellow. "I've the
heaviest burden."
"You've not," one answered. "Get the blurry thing on your
shoulder."
"Blurry yourself!" said the little fellow. "Someone else carry the
thing. Marney can carry it?"
"I'm not a damned fool!" said Marney. "It can stick there 'fore I
take it across."
"Not much good goin' over without it," said the little fellow.
I left them there wrangling: the extra weight would have made
no appreciable difference to any of them.
It was interesting to see how the events of the morning had
changed the nature of the boys. Mild-mannered youths who had
spent their working hours of civil life in scratching with inky pens on
white paper, and their hours of relaxation in cutting capers on roller
skates and helping dainty maidens to teas and ices, became
possessed of mad Berserker rage and ungovernable fury. Now that
their work was war the bloodstained bayonet gave them play in
which they seemed to glory.
"Here's one that I've just done in," I heard M'Crone shout,
looking approvingly at a dead German. "That's five of the bloody
swine now."
M'Crone's mother never sends her son any money lest he gets
into the evil habit of smoking cigarettes. He is of a religious turn of
mind and delights in singing hymns, his favourite being, "There is a
green hill far away." I never heard him swear before, but at Loos his
language would make a navvy in a Saturday night taproom green
with envy. M'Crone was not lacking in courage. I have seen him wait
for death with untroubled front in a shell-harried trench, and now,
inflicting pain on others, he was a fiend personified; such
transformations are of common occurrence on the field of honour.
The German trench had suffered severely from our fire; parapets
were blown in, and at places the trench was full to the level of the
ground with sandbags and earth. Wreckage was strewn all over the
place, rifles, twisted distortions of shapeless metal, caught by high-
velocity shells, machine guns smashed to atoms, bomb-proof
shelters broken to pieces like houses of cards; giants had been at
work of destruction in a delicately fashioned nursery.
On the reverse slope of the parapet broken tins, rusty swords,
muddy equipments, wicked-looking coils of barbed wire, and
discarded articles of clothing were scattered about pell-mell. I
noticed an unexploded shell perched on a sandbag, cocking a perky
nose in air, and beside it was a battered helmet, the brass glory of
its regal eagle dimmed with trench mud and wrecked with many a
bullet....
I had a clear personal impression of man's ingenuity for
destruction when my eyes looked on the German front line where
our dead lay in peace with their fallen enemies on the parapet. At
the bottom of the trench the dead lay thick, and our boys, engaged
in building a new parapet, were heaping the sandbags on the dead
men and consolidating the captured position.
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