Collections for a Parochial History of Backwell (1898)

In single file they crept through the prepared opening in the barbed-wire entanglement, and so out into No Man’s Land, where they took up their spike-team formation. Phipps-Herrick was the leader, the other men were the wheelers. They had agreed on a code of silent signals: One kick with the heel or one pinch with the hand meant stop ; two meant back ; three meant get together. They carried no rifles, because the rifle is an awkward tool for a noiseless crawler to lug. But each man had a big trench-knife and a pair of automatic pistols, with plenty of ammunition.