Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-10-02
GRAPHIC
ACCOUNT
OF BATTLE
WHOLE SKY WAS LIT UP
BY BURSTING
SHELLS.
ENGAGEMENT NEAR AMIENS
Roads Packed With Refugees Of
All Ages.

London, Oct. 1.-Telegaphing from
Paris under date Of Wednesday, the
correspondent Of the Daily Mail de-
scribes the complete destruction by
the heavy German artillery of the
open and unfortified town of Albert,
1S miles from Amiens, which has been
the scene during the past few days
of a prolonged and terrible artillery
battle. He says:
"The struggle ON the part of the
Germans to prevent their right wing
being turned compelled them contin-
ually to push their front further north
and to the west while the allies con-
tinually replied by ,extending their
front to overlap the enemy, both
sides bringing up large reinforce
ments. This necessitated long march
es of 20 to 25 miles day, and the
Germans were repeatedly called upon
to make, a desperate effort in order
to avoid being outfanked, whereby
they suffered very heavy losses.
Efforts in Vain.
"On Saturday they began to real
ize that their efforts were in vain.
They therefore changed their tactics
and tried to drive wedge into the
allies front. The point of that wedge
was the town CT Albert. #s.
"The attempt almost succeeded.
They brought up and massed their
artillery and the French infantry suf-
fered considerably They kept up
fire so rapid in character that at
night the whole sky lit up by bursting
shells. On Sunday gained perceptibly
and on Monday they still pressed on,
but by that time the French had
brought up large numbers of their
famous quick firing batteries and
their deadly fire checked the German
advance.
Kept Up Efforts GameIy.
Yesterday @the enxu.y kept up mis-
efforts gamety, but IA The late after
noon it had clearly failed of it's aim
There were French batteries at vari-
Gus points around ALBERT, but none
within mile of the town. At ten
minutes past five German shells from
their heavy guns began to fall. Here
is an account of the scene from an
eyewitness who was on a hill over
looking Albert: =
Saw Vast Column. g
"We were warned along the road
to be careful and saw a vast column
of people coming away from the town
Dut nothing happened until. at ten
minutes past five we heard deep
boom, quite unlike the noise made by
an ordinary field gun, and a shell, ev
identity of much greater force and
size, fell in the town. We Thought it
must be an accident of misdirection
and then, to our Indignation, the
shells began to fall rapidly. They
came in 'bunches. There were several
batteries at work and their aim was
excellent. only saw three shells
burst outside the town. The place
collapsed literally like pack of cards
that had been built up into houses, as
every moment something fresh went.
Now it was the town hall, now a
group of cottages, and then a high
wall.
Like MeIodrama.
1T reminded one or a scene LII a
Drury Lane, melndrama. One could
not believe without an effort that one
was seeing a real town shelled. 1t
was just as if some inventor had
made new kind of explosive and
had invited his friends to see it de-
molish a model of a town. stayed
there an hour, fascinated
"That brings the story up to 6:15,
when the witness left with some
wounded who had been brought out
of the town. The road toard Amiens
at that time was packed with refu-
gees of all ages, and old men and
women, too feeble to walk, were be-
ing wheeled in barrnws.
"At half-past six a number of fires,
lighting up the whole countryside,
were visible. Looking toward Albert
they appeared to be hay ricks which
had been set alight by shells. The
largest of these red glares, however,
was Albert on fire. Against the fam
ing background the tall spire of a
church stood out uninjured up to
o'clock, but it was impossible to enter
the town, as the heat was too great
and the Strnets foo unSafen