New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-29
BRITISH ADVANCE
IN HAZE OF GUNS
Continued from page /


err. men. who charged with valor be
vond words Of praise and with passion
ate courage which swept away all re-
sistance until the object was attained
and the sacrifice contaminated.
Water Red with German Blood.
All day there was heavy rain when
made the trenches and the fields wet
and DOGGY. and our soldiers, digging
themselves into the ground they gained
we're clogged with mud and soddened
with water red with German blood.
Red was the sunset which followed
this day of battle. and the tall po>ar
trees were ink black against its flaming
splendor. The rain had ceased and
with the night the sky cleared OF It's
storm cloud, the moon shone bright
above the battlefelds, where for Few
hours the bombardment died down, eX-
cep for the booming Of single guns,
the rattle OF machine guns and the vol
leys Of rife fire.
Yesterday Sunday while the hght
was in progress there was brilliant sun,
shine, with a cloudless blue sky. good
for artillery observation. All day there
was no cessation to the awful cannon
ade Down roads, few miles from this
massacre. Flemish citizens in Sunday
clothes walked to their village churches
10 pray God for victory, not knowing
vet how many more widows there were
1 s . i,ai, 10 dad
Down the roads came a procession OF
ambulances filed with wounded In
the field by the railwar line, within
sound of the battle, 400 German pris-
oners, a great mass Of slate gray men,
were living on the grass and awaiting
entrainment. The majority were OF the
Slavonic type, strangely Russian in ap-
pearance. with A touch of the Tartar
here and there They had beaten, eX-
hausted look.
The English gave us great sur
prise" said one of them. "The first
j knew of what was happening was
when ! saw your soldiers streaming
past our trenches. We were surround
ed on three sides and our position was
hopeless. but we fought until we had
spent the last cartridge"
Great Battle Is Resumed.
To-day the battle was resumed. The
British are advancing In an intensely
concentrated line between La Bassee
and Lens, with the French on our right
working upward from the captured
town of SoucheZ.
Today the weather was so bad that
artillery observation was difficult for
aeroplanes and stationary balloons.
Around Hill 70 a deadly struggle was
in progress 1t was easy TO see and
hear that the enemy was endeavoring
TO check US at this point. One could
see by tie constant CLINT of shells
bursting there, followed by white
clouds which hung in the air like enor-
nous mushrooms until they were torn
into ribbons by the wet wind and one
could hear by the thunderclaps which
slammed over the Stag heaps there.
By similar signs one could read the
progress Of the battle al other points.
Across the lower spur of Notre Dame
de Lorette there was continual storm
Of high explosives and shrapnel, show
ng that the Germans were endeavoring
10 thrust back the victorious advance
of French. Hour after hour the can
nonading continued, and to sit like an
ant on the edge Of the field of fire was
an experience no man could forget.
But the human side of ii was invisl-
Bile. None Of those generals or stan
officers who were gathered at different
parts of the line upon rising ground
could see through the veil TO where the
masses of brave men were fighting and
falling and struggling forward IN the
dreadful business out there. Battallons
and brgades went in the smoke and fog,
] nj In uyh =
tie voices whispered TO men lying out
in far fields at the end Of the telephone
wire to which they listened with
strained ears.
In the afternoon, at one Of those
hours of crisis, the sky darkened and
rain clouds broke, and sharp hail
storm swept across that mining coun-
try with its tangle of pitheads and
Stag heaps and railways. 1t is no
longer raining, but the night is very
dark and cold Not yet had the deci-
sion been reached, and all one can say
is that this night is full of hopos for
the British arms.
Aeros Peer Through Clouds.
Overhead all day long our aero
planes were flying on reconnaissance,
peering down through the clouds as
shells burst over the great battlefield.
Their record during these last few days
of battle has been remarkable. Every
day they carried out artillery observa-
tions, despite adverse weather condi-
tions. remaining two hours at time
over the enemy's lines at height OF
1000 feet, and heavily shelled by the
enemy's guns.
This plain record is splendid trib-
ute to the work of our aerial service,
on whose vigilance and continual dar-
ing the staff ,elies for much useful
information, enabling 1t to perfect pre-
parations for the great struggle which
is now in progress.
The armies have been graphing in
the greatest ordeal which can test the
strength and the steel Of mems hearts,
an advance through the hell fire Of
masSpd punS