Semi-weekly herald., 1914-10-15

/
the irregularily being caused by tn,
efforts of both armies to keep to tn,
high ground with their main line
As we watched, the entire fire of tho
| Rus sian artillery seemed to be divert.
ed on village situated on low plair
about two thousand yards to the
nnrthward of our position. The vii
laEe- already deserted-was being
literally flattened under deluge of
iron and steel. The ruins were in
flames. After half an hour the rea-
son for shelling the deserted village
became evident A general advance
against the German center was being
launched, and the Russians were MAX
ing certain that the village, directly
in the line of advance, had not been
occupied by the German machine guns
during the night.
So far. | thought had been wit
Messing battle of obviously tremend-
GUS magnitude, | had not seen the
enemy. From our position slightly in
the rear of the German flank, it was
comparatively easy to trace our own
line through the glasses, but the gen
eral line of the Russians was hard to
determine, being indicated only by an
occasional flash of gunfire With the
start of the Russian attempt on the
German center, however, the entire
scene changed.
Yesterday, for the first time since
the start of the battle on Sunday, the
Russians attempted to carry the Ger
man center position by storm. All
Sunday and Monday, the opposing ar
tillery had been hammering away at
the opposing trenches. The marks
manship of the Russian artillery had
been bad, but l was told that q Rus
sian aeroplane had made a recon-
Nuisance of the German position
shortly dawn yesterday. I saw no
machines in flight. Twice under COW
er of their field artillery the Russian
infantry advanced in force yesterday. |
Twice they were forced back to their
defensive positions. Now they We're
to try again.
The preliminaries were well under
way, without my appreciating their
significance until one of my officer
escorts explained. At number of
points along their line, observable to
us, but screened from the observa-
ton Of the German trenches in the
center, the Russian infantry came
out, and, rushing forward.
took up advanced positions, awaiting
the formation of the new ana irregu-
srers wvae uIaggeu uong ! nand
Other troops-the reserves ook up
semi-advanced positions. III the
while the Russian shrapnel was rain
ing over the Germen trencl- es.
Every move OF tne enemy Was OBJ
viously being communicated to the
German center. The German reserve
column moved in closer The rifle fire
from the German trenches pr ,tically
ceased. The German officer moved
along in the open behind the trenches
and steadying their men,
preparing them for the SHOCK
Finaiiy came the Russian orders to
advance. At the word hundreds of
yards of the Russian fighting line
leaped forward, deployed in open or
der and came on. One, two, three,
and in some places four and five sue
cessive skirmish lines, separated by
intervals of from twenty to fifty |
yards, swept forward. Some of them
came into range of the German trench
fire almost at once. These lines be-
gan to wilt and thin out Others
were able to make a considerable ad-
vance under cover. The smoke of
the burning village gave grateful
protection to several regiments. But
on they came, all along the line, pro-
tected and unprotected alike, rushing
forward with yell, pausing, firing
and advancing again.
From the outset of the advance, the
German artillery, ignoring for the
moment the Russian artillery action,
began shelling the onrushing mass
with wonderfully timed shrapnel,
which burst low above the advancing
lines and tore sickening gaps.
But the Russian line never stop
ped. For the third time in two days
they came tearing on, with no indi-
cations of having been affected by
the terrible consequences of the two
previous charges. AS spectacle the
whole thing was maddening. found
my heart humping like hammer
and with no weapon more formidable
than a pair of binoculars I was men
tally fighting as hard as the men with
the guns. For the first time, sensed
the intoxication of battle and learned
the secret of the smiles on the faces
of the battlefields' dead.
On came the Slav swarm-into the
range of the German trenches with