The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1914-10-22

A T shutdown tonight, after fou
"a days of constant fighting, tn,
L "a German army holds its STRAIT
egic and strongly intrsnche,
position east of Wirballen. As | writ
this in the glare Of a screened motor
headlight several hundred yards bach
from the German trenches, l can
catch the occasional high notes of q
soldier chorus. For four days the
singers have lain cramped in those
muddy bitches, unable to move OF
stretch except under cover Of dark
ness. And still they sing They be-
lieve they are on the eve of a great
victory.
Today l saw a wave of Russian
flesh and blood dash against a wall Of
German steel The wall stood. The
wave broke-was shattered and hurl-
ed back. Rivulets Of blood trickled
back slowly in its wake. Broken,
bloody bodies, wreckage Of the wave,
strewed the breakers. Tonight | know
why correspondents are not wanted
on any of the battlelines. Descrip-
tions and details of the battles fought
in the year of Our Lord 1914, don't
make nice reading.
We struck the firing line at point
near the extreme right of the German
position, shortly before daylight and
breakfasted with the officers COM
handing a field battery.
was yanked out Of my reverie by
weird, tooth-edging, spine chilling,
whistling screech The fact tina, the
shell was from 500 to 1000 feet above
me and probably another couple Of
thousand feet beyond my ear register,
its flight did not prevent my ducking
my head and giving my officer chap
erons the chance to laugh that I had
resolved not to give them.
For half an hour the German bat
terry paid no attention to the shells
passing overhead and out of range.
Finally a soldier with telephone in
stalled on an empty ammunition box
began talking and copying notes
which the commander of the battery
scanned hastily. A word of command
and lieutenant galloped along the
line giving varying ranges to the
different battery commanders. The
crews leaped to their positions and
the battery went into action. The
firing continued for perhaps 10 min
utes. when there was halt, more tel
ephoning, new set of ranges for
some of the guns and a resumption Of
firing.
Aside from watching the German
guns in action, there was nothing to
see at this point-not even the OBJ
iective of the fire, so with my officer
escort, we moved up to the crest Of
the hill, following the line of the field
telephone to the point from which
half a dozen officers were watching
he effect and directing the German
ire. Now both the German and Rus
sian shells were screening and
overhead in a most uncom-
.ortable if undangerous fashion.
The line stretched off to the left as
ar as the field glasses would carry, IN
great irregular semi-circle, the IL
egularity being caused by the efforts
# both armies to keep the high
round with their main lines. AS we
watched the entire fire of the Russian ,
rtillerv seemed to be diverted on a
illage situated on a low plain about !
wo thousand yards to the northward :
f our position. The village-already
eserted-was being literally f1atten- :
d under a deluge of iron and steel
he ruins were in flames. After half
n hour the reason for shelling the
eserted village became evident. A ,
eneral advance against the German +
enter was launched, and the Rus
ians were making certain tlaI I'e =
ilIage, directly in the line Of adj >
ance, had not been occupied by the :
erman machine guns during the =
light. t
Yesterday for the first time since a
he start of the battle on Sunday, the f
ussians attempted to carry the Ger
ian center position by storm. f
Every move of the enemy was obvi- f
1slv being communicated to the Ger
AN center. The German reserve col e
mn moved in closer. The rifle fire I
ON the German trenches practically
,ased. The German officers moved v
ong in the open beside the trenches, t