New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-26

Paris. Dec. 14-Bearing a message
from our commander 20 the English
general leading the troops in the re-
gion Of Ypres, reached his headquar-
ters at noon. The headquarters are in
the open. in a beet field between two
enormous stacks of straw. One hun
dred feet away totterng farm house
wall serves as shelter TO my car. and
accompanied by an officer Of the Royal
Service Corps ] crawl on all fours to
another straw stack 800 yards off, from
which am told the impending battle
can be seen
On top Of the stack an English bat
terry commander, speaking trumpet and
glasses in hand, is directing the ser
vice of six field pieces. The trumpet
is a necessity. for shells are bursting
200 yards from the battery and the
noise is deafening. The Germans are
slowly cropping for the range, and IN
few moments we shall have TO seek an
other shelter and the captain viii be
forced to move his battery.
High i'm the air, three of the enemy's
scouts are circling directly over the
battery watching the effect of the
shells. One suddenly rushcs of tow
ard the east.
THAT fellow has gone off to tell his
friends that they are about 200 yards
off the range" says my companion.
Better novel
The battery captain has also guessed
tho air scouts GRAND and in an in
slant the horses spring forward, are
hitched and the six cannons are moved
800 wards to the left We follow. The
mannuvre, executed with clocklike
precision, has taken six minutes; SIX
more and the guns are firing again.
4 belch of flames far on our right,
peal Of thunder and the stack, our
former shelter. is scattered 20 the four
winds. The Germans have found the
range. but ten minutes too late. My
companion smiles: "What'd ] tell
you?"
Men in Water Up to Knees.
A long valley stretches out before
US. The little rise on which we stand
about fifty feet above the plain
commands il, so that the British guns
are shooting almost horizontally at the
German infantry, trudging through the
mud 1000 yards away. At times the
men are in water up 10 their knees, the
floods having reached the valley that
very morning. Still they are keeping
close ranks. and through the glass the
regiments and the companies appear
well separated and at regular intervals.
One Of our shells has just struck In
the midst Of the first oncoming mass.
A column of water and mud rises In
the air and for a second confusion is
discerned in the advancing ranks, Few
antlike forms seem to scatter mere ana
there, but the regiment pushes for
ward.
count easily five regiments to-
gether. but further 10 the right sixth
on. evidently wards off flank attack
on the part of the French colonial
troops. which ] have left this morning
camped twelve miles back. The lone
regiment is the I'd Prussian Regl-
ment of the Guard. the Emperor's own,
the elite Of the Kaiser's army. LOU OF
the brawniest, most disciplined men IN
the world. IL is now | o'clock. In one
hour only 800 of these men VIII leave
the field.
A gust of wind brings to our cars the
sound OF music. The Guards band IS
encouraging the men. At the foot OF
the small hill on which we stand are
twenty lines of trenches filled with
Scotch and English infantry. The men
are silently awaiting the attack, not
rife is being fired. The trenches are
the Germans goal; these and the Brit
ish batteries once taken, the road into
Ypres is clear.
BEHIND me the thunder OF hoofs.
Three more English batteries are JON,
ing US. The horses are unhitched ana
ca7ssons numbered. and five minutes
have not elapsed before the newcomers