The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-17
WAR AS 1T is TO-DAY.
JULIAN RALPH'S PICTURE OF A
MODERN BATTLE.

How 1t Looks and Sounds-No Great
! ResoundIn= Roar-Riae Fire Is
the Principal Feature Horrors
Among wounded.
Julian Ralph in London Mail,
What is a modern battle-how does It
look and sound?
Really, the field Of operations is so ex-
| tensive and the range of modern guns is
so great that battle conditions have all
tered until there is no longer any general
clash of battle" or even any possibility
Of grasping or viewing an engagement
from any single point. There is no great
resounding noise in war nowadays. You
hear one of our big guns loosed three
miles over on the right, and another one
two miles on the left. If you are near
one it makes a tremendous noise, yet
have not heard one explosion as loud as a
good. strong clap of thunder. You hear
the guns of the enemy cough far in front
Of you, and their shells burst within your
lines with a nearer, louder sound-but not
a really great or deafening noise, by any
means. Our guns create almost no smoke,
though out lyddte shells throw up clouds
of dust and smoke where they fall, miles
away Because the Beers are using old
fashioned powder in their cannon there
is small white cloud wherever one is
fired and a squirt Of red sand where their
shells dig into the YIELDS. The smoke of
war. therefore, and the so-called roar of
battle" are both alike-occasional, seat
tered, inconsiderable.
The rife firing has been the principal
feature of our battles il sounds, as l
wrote once before, Ike the frying or rat
or ike the cracking and swapping OF
Green wood in a bonfire. If you are with
IN TWO miles OF he front you are apt
10 be under FIRE and then YOU hear the
music OF the individual bullets. Their
songs Is like the magic note OF mos
duito-"Z-z-z-z-z" they go over your
head: "z-z-z-z-p" they finish as they
bury thems, Ives in the ground. This Is
a sound only to be heard when the bull
lots are very close. You kick up your
heels and run a hundre d, OF even NIFTY,
wards and you hear no, hing but the gen
eral crackle of rife fire IN and before
the trenches The "putt-putt (or Vick-
ersJNordenheld) gun Is able to interest
YOU at distance Of three miles. Its ex-
po.ions are best described by the nick
name given TO the gun by one regiment
THE blooming door-knocker," It's bull
LET'S or shells are as big as the bowl of
a largo briar-rcot pipe, ana they tear
and slit the air with terrible sound, ex-
plcdirg when they strike. The firing OF
the gun was heard all over the largest OF
cur battlehe DIS, and the explosions Of the
shells sound long way. because they
are apt to take place on the quiet outer
edge OF the field. The whizz that even
these misss make in flying, however, Is
like the whispered answers OF a maid in
love-only to b. heard by the favored In
d.y.dual WHO is especially addressed
Not Pandemonium.
In a word. there is not much noise in
modern battles. These individual sounds
OF which / speak are not loud enough to
blend. The browning, all-preva1ing
noises are those Of The guns and Of the
rife fire. and on the vast veldt, spread
over a double lire OF five or seven niles
in length, only those that are very near
are very loud.
The bravery OF our stretcher bearers Is
az much beyond question as II is beyond
praise. When all OF us lesser ana inn
mediate historiang Of the moment have
told Of the valor OF all The generals, colo
nels, majors. captains and '"rommies" OF
abe army, we shall stlll have in common