Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-04-13
For Two Hours Decorations of
Bursting Shells Follow So
Closely That Earth Seems to
Reel and Tremble,
YELLOW TONGUES OF FIRE
BURST FROM SMOKE PAIL
HiNSideS Fronting on Darda-
neIIes Become Settling In
ferno When Big Guns Do
Their Work Of Death,

fAgeOgiuteG fftkS correspondence
Chanak Kaless, Dardanelles, March
7-For two hours the hillsides 'front.'
lao "a, tho Dardanelles resounded TO-
Ia, with the crashing thunder OF
hombardment, the greatest effort so
eor made by the allied fleet to silence
,ho forts south of this place, ana ki-
IA Rabr. on the European shore.
The bombardment started amour
12.15 in the afternoon and continued
pnrD shortly after 4 o'clock. ana TOT
two hours of that time explosion foi-
,owed explosion so closely that II was
dirfeult to separate the detonatlons
from the reverberatlons of the pre-
ceding ones. ,
when. shortly after 1880 o'clock,
the Turkish batteries in lamldleh
and Mediidieh forts added their quota
Of noise to the bedlam, the very foun-
dation of the ancient shores or inc
Uelespont seemed to rock and sway.
lowering Pail of Smoke.
ont on the horizon, $4,000 yards
distant the dense bank of black smoke
hovered like a threatening pail, from
the folds Of which leaped long yellow
tongues of fire-signals that agents oil
destruction had been sent on their
way. Around Fort Hamidieh, black
columns of earth and smoke rose ana
the slopes about Fort Medjldieh ana
the other works of Kilid Bahr were
al times entirely enveloped in the
fumes of the exploding shells of the
British. Dozens of waterspouts, pro-
PEELED skyward by the force of the
exploding projectiles, stood in the
strait between Chanak Kalessi ana
Kilid Bahr. over it all lay the bright
sunshine of an ideal spring day.
The correspondent had found cover
behind a deserted artillery epaulment,
about 500 yards from the Hamidieh
battery and 200 yards from Kale Sui
tanie AT 1880 in the morning the
danger signal had been hoisted on the
tower of Kale Sultanie. Five men of
war were seen entering the bay inside
the Kun Kale and Sidd ell Bahr line
II was learned that three Of the units
Of the fleet were British, two of the
Agamemnon and one of the Lord Nell
son type. Inc OllitI lWO Wtlt = itiNiis
Long Range Fire.
Slowly they steamed to within about
16, goo yards and then opened fire,
first on some Turkish howitzer bat
teries hidden IN the hills of the Euro
pean and Asiatic shores and then
upon Fort Dardanus, Fort Medjldieh,
and the works on the waters edge
l. xtrAf hD
Turkish forts did not reply but the
howitZers did their best to annoy the
allied fleet
One of the ships of the Agamem-
non type, steered little too far north
during one of its evolutions and came
to point 1900 feet off Fort Hami-
dieh. From behind the traverses COW
cred with the greenest of grass, rose
suddenly four columns of fire, fol-
lowed by as many balls of reddish
smoke and through the air shrieked
four large shells. One of them eX-
ploded not more than fifty yards
ahead of a British vessel, another fell
little short amidships; the third
dropped astern the craft, and the
salvo from the British vessel was the
reply.
Shells on All Sides.
The air was filled with the deafen-
Ing crash of the explosion, with shrek
ing, moaning, bowling fragments of
The shells. Other shells followed. Two
OF them hit the ground between the
epaulment and the earthworks of
fort Hamidieh. Another struck be-
hlnd a large building east of the Kale
suitanie tower Two more landed
near Fort Hamidieh. The roof of the
barracks building in the yard of the
fort was partly wrecked.
The artillery engagement was now
general Three of the long range
pieces in Fort Medjidieh barked in
dustriously. Fort Dardanus was heard
from but its gunners were driven into
cover by terrific cannonade. Fort
Medjidieh continued to show bad tenn
per and Fort Hamidieh fired another
volley.
from the turrets of the British and
french vessels ieaped sheets of
names. The air was full of crashing
thunder. Violent air currents seemed
20 urag at the correspondents behind
Tue epaulment, Jumps of sand, spray
%hu DTS of fractured steel and copper
zen everywhere. The foundations of
me earth trembled and the rare mo-
ihehts when no detonations could be
heard were full of a strange silence,
an absolute non-existence OF noise.
Fascinating Spectacle.
Men were under cover, fascinated
TO The point of self oblivion by the
terrible spectacle.
Inc allies later concentrated their
IRE on the Kilid Bahr works and Fort
Meu)ldieh, wrapping up the entire
mountain side in clouds of smoke and
uust, the fumes from the exploding
sneiis, carried northward by a gentle
Dree2e. showing in separate strata.
GRADUALLY the gunners of the ships
SEEMED to lose the precision which
nao marked their earlier efforts. Soon
we shells flew wide of their targets.
~ 4;io the last shells dropped into
.ne bardanelles between Chanak Ka-
L..