The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-12-31

OF BATTLE TOLD
Of BY ARTIST
Londoner. Member of Artil-
lery Corps, Describes With
Unusual Vividness Attacks
on German Trenches.

London, Doc s0-Unoer what Pie
turesque circumstances men often
move forward TO the firing line is de-
scribed By o London srtx,, a mcmber
OF the Honorable Artillery oorps. who.
With The sensitive eve OF his craft.
tells 81 the Impressions with more
than ordinary vividi.ess. His letter Is
undated, but a presumably written
somewhere IN Beizium.
After doing wOrk an over one
country he write. we find our
serves In another. with every prospect
OF having r. very hot time. which we
have all been praying for. Al the
last place but Two We were dleglng q
second line OF trenches aud came In
for some very hot Gre. The next day
they caught Us az W went to dig IA
slightly more advanced trenches. and
we lay IN q small often for about
three hours with shell aud rifle ball
let's jumping about 0ver our heads
and Kicking leaves on the stunned ~n-
low trees in our ditch. one was quite
safe and rather bored. as IL poured
with rain. | played a game 81 pic
quet with the man next me and won
two francs, then the rain stuck fhc
cards together.
The nieht before last We left at
nou g. II was quite pitch black ana
intensely cold. aad snow lay heavily
everywhere on fields. roofs. and trees
as we marched silently through the
village and out into a long. long o q
with o wonderful aVenue Of trees like
Hohbema'a famous picture at the Ma
tional gallery. on We go, hardly able
To keep our footing un the frozen and
uneven ground. III always. like a
tremendous surf beating on an IRON
shore. comes the booming Of guns.
Rockets shot up. leaving a long stream
n stars. and showing up the silent
country. snowbouad and very peace-
ful looking, until one M 10 a viii
laee totally deserted. ruined walls.
heaps OF debris and great shell holes
in road and roof telling their dreadful
story. And a. II a miracle had hap
pened. there stands the church uu-
touched.
we halt silently and move on
again. and as n to remind us hat the
world is not 80 peacefui after an,
shells come bursting through the air.
one bursts quite close. setting a rum
ed house IN a tremendous hluze and
lighting np the whole scene quite
one for a painter. We are Just out
Of Il. nve minutes earlier would nave
shown rs an up. and We should proc
ably have been very effectively she'll
cd. We climoed down little slippery
slopes and up others very YEARLY
lone b. Carrying everything, and the
nails in ones boots ON the hard
ground make bad geing). over delds
and then We reach rescrt" trenches az
about go. ! haze reserve trenches
one of my great fears is sunocaton.
and 10 stagger into q hole in the
ground aud dnd oneself under the
earth. head touching knees and roof
above. iu Dlnck darkness not knowing
where one is, ana FEELING caught in
on every side. Is dreadful GO me We
do guards. each section ti about 4 80
In the morning, with slight shipping 20
remind one of the Germans, then We
form up and on again. and stagger. %
seems. for miles across fields and
broken country. Here We are az last
az the final nrst line OF trerC hes Bla X
silent figures suddenly appear a few
whispered orders. aud We hnd OUT
selves In the trenches.
There are ave OF US In our trench
The dawn cones up SLOWLY and we
can see what b IN f Int OF U.S. We
are evidently on top 81 a slope OF
rather not quite On top. There mas
Ia be one observer In every trench
for half an hour an through the day
and az niFht an hour The cold is stiil
Intense. bus We Open a tin go lam ana
start having breakfast. suddenly mN
slice 81 bread auS am h covered With
elias. knuCkr1 on the top OF th" par
apei. The snlpers are at work. ana
wonderful shots they are. too over a
hundred bullets were puf Just in the
top Of our trench. and whenever an
d uoscrVcr's head went up to look
through "a small i7closure, they We're
81 Il again. suddenly their batteries
opened fire on as. and getting the
range with marvellous CELEBRITY theH
B proceed ln the mex hour to put close
on one hundred shells on about halt
Il dozen trenches. Including ours, We
are ala crouched down. The noise Is
appaiiinu. O. eardrums feel split
ting a. each shell bursts. Clouds %
black. svil-smellng smoke, showers OF
earth and stones mangel-wurSeis n
pioces Of she'll come hyine into toe
trenches. one man nnds "a large
. piece 81 shell in his Overcoat pocket.
I No one was huri 90 our iot. On "a
left the rceimer had iour Killed and
several wounded This h being q
IRE Properly. and we are eiad they
have stopped ana given us a rest Noi
~ the suipcrs. who keen Il ~ an
day.
"Nleht observation - very nerve
/ rarkiag Trees o. about. showing
black against the snow, and the skN
Il very clouded, sil shapes % hu-
man. menaciuk and sdSanciue' There
il a tremendous artillery duet going
I on on our left. like a million STAGE
carpenters knocking togetheT a scene
81 herculean proportions, same reg
uiars come ZAP 90 reinforce q trene1i
an attack - expected. 1 can hear tho
tremendous movement 81 supply was.
ems going on just over the htll crest
in tho enemy lines SINAI red
sparks show htfuliy IN the trenches.
rockcta are going up. and the sky
eve and anon 81 split with great
flames Of iisht A BARN behind cur
lines i one ereat blanc aud they send