East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-10-26
Stories From the War Zone

particular sections we're to be at
tackled.
This is the third day of the bonn
bardment' says one correspondent
Our artillery fire is intense. Point
by point section by section the
trenches barbed wire. has been pelted
with a hurricane Of shells Rifle and
rachine gun fire has been absent ex-
cepr for struggling bursts at night.
Looking out over the German lines
tCday, not one sign of life could be
seen, Not even trench periscOpes
was hoisted over the parapets to in
dicate the watchfulness Of the enemy
Doubtless the German infantry is
packed away in its deepes; dug-outs
/ The shells have done their best u
search them out. and must have made
them extremely uncomfortable
THE spectacle from our side has
been wonderful, awe-inspiring. To
the Germans il must have been awful.
The tremendoussheIls of our heavy
artillery were bursting in spouting
geysers Of flame and smoke and dust
on the Stag heap near Lens, among
the houses of the villages and along
the lines of the trenches Lyddite
from the howitzers plunged into the
communication trenches, blew down
their parapets and broke down their
sides; and shrapnel tore savagely and
increasingly at the masses of barbed
wire entanglement protecting the enc
mys front.
The amount of wire used by the,
Germans is stupendous. No matter
what part Of the front one visits the
same thing is found-thickets hedges.
piles Of wire. running in wide strips
before every trench. arranged in
heaps SO thick they look absolutely
solid round the redoubts and in the
more or less vulnerable angles
1T would be utterly impossible for
any infantry to advance under fire
and cut their way through. Shrap-
mel can blast a path but only after
hdAS bl NoHSAdll llllHSs
Because the Germans know quite
we'll that wire cutting with shrapnel
is a preparation for an advance. many
miles more wire must be demolished
than are actually required for the at.
tack.
Throughout today the batteries
have been cutting wide stretches of
wire, while the "heavies" have been
pounding the trenches. Every H. E |
shell that fell threw up an enormous
column Of thick dust that hung heay-
lily and drifted slowly down wind
along the German front. The pelting 4
storms of shrapnel swept clouds Of Z
dust before them to mingle with the
smoke of the bursting shells. Att
times while sections of the German
lines were blotted out by the slow +
moving curtain of dust and smoke /
and through the haze could be seen +
the vivid orange flame of still more
bursting shells and springing clouds
and pillars Of still denser smoke and .
dust.
THE believing thunder Of the guns /
the shrieks and screams and whistl-
ing and rumble OF passing shells. the I
crash and growl and thump Of the
bursts have never ceased all day. /
Even now. after dark. a steady vo-
ume of fire descends on the German
lines, the long roll Of distant guns, the
sharper picked -bscuit-tin bangs of
the nearer batteries the "r-r-rump'
and boom OF the shrapnel still con- |
tinues.
"The dark sky flickers and winks all
round the horizon from the gun
flashes As far as we can see to the
north these flashes tell the story Of
the artillery's ceaseless activity along
the battle front; as far as the ear can
catch them to the south. the roll and
mutter and rumble of the guns tell
the same tale.
"Whatever is to come ON the Nor.
row-if il is the big advance at last
the British army is ready and eager
for II"