Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-09-10

ASSOCIATED Press correspondence
British Headquarters in France, Aug.
20.-The British have retaken the
mine crater at HODGE in one of the
most picturesque actions seen along
the British front for a long time.
Hooge is the name of what was once
a village in a region as fiat as bill
lard table. 1t is in the Ypres salient
where, 1t is generally agreed, more
blood has been spilled than over any
similar length of line on the Western
front with the exception of Souchez
where the French made their first at
tack in May and June.
The blowing up Of a mine under the
German trench recently made Hooge
about the hottest place in the Ypres
salient 1t was one OF the largest
mines the British have exploded, and
it made hole in the earth about 40
feet deep and seventy feet across.
The British charged and took posses
sion of the position.
In reply to the mine, the Germans
brought up their flame ejector appa-
ratus which they had tried on the
French before but now used on the
British for the fsrt time. Around the
edge of the mine-crater the English
men and the Germans were, AT one
place. only five feet apart. The crater
was so big and it had so disfigured
the landscape that it was difficult to
consolidate" the position. as the Of
fetal bulletins say particularly when
showers of bombs from either side
punished any enterprise on the part
of the other.
80 oil hn
neighboring part Of the British line
where the trenches were farther apart
and of bombardment with mortars and
bombs where they were close fogeth-
err, the Germans suddenly sprayed the
British front with fire over section
where their infantry attacked. the
British had to give up their crater and
HODGE too and some 500 yards OF
trenches. When they set out to recov-
er the lost ground at first they found
the Germans had the Hne briStling
with machine guns. so they regained
only one end of what they had lost.
| The rule in the Ypres salient seems
| to be never to lie down tamely after
any set back. Both sides fight TO re-
cover a loss no matter what the cost.
! Sanguinary battles are waged for few
acres of ground. All one day the Brit
ish kept an almost continuous roar OF
shells over other parts of the salient.
They made the German trenches boil
with dust under clouds of shrapnel
smoke The German guns replied.
| They threw in some more 1i-lnch
i shells into the ruins of Ypres and in
to other points which they had not
y, considered worthy of 17-inch before.
The thunders of this artillery duel
could be heard 80 to 40 miles to the
rear. 1t made sound like the roll
OF a drum with almost no interval be-
! tween the shots. Nothing heavier had
! been heard since Souchez.
About two the next morning guns
which had been silent before came
into action They were all directed on
the German trenches at HODGE, send
ing tons of high explosives and storms
of shrapnel Then at Ais by all the
. watches of gunners and infantry men
the guns stopped. The next minute a
British major at the head Of battal-
ion line leaped over the parapet. AS
he said. he found nobody at home"
The Germans were in their dug-outs
! according to the custom on such occa-
SONS, tdklnS SHELTER HUN VIC w iio,'o
of she'll fire which makes even look
out hardly possible. Turning the
corner Of a traverse. the major fairly
bumped into a German who had come
! out of his dug-out to see why the
Smelling had stopped.
You re mine" said the major put
ting his revolver muzZle to the Ger
mans breast He promptly agreed
that he was" as the major expressed
it.
The happiness of the officers ana
! men as they told the story OF that
fight to the correspondent turned on
gratitude to their artillery support. 1T
shows what artillery can do" said the
Colonel. land what the infantry can
! do when the guns give them that KIND
! of aid Their work was perfect
straight on there in front of the men
noses with no shells bursting short ana
then they all stopped like an orchestra
at the end of piece. My only trouble
with the men was to hold them PACK
from the front line. II there Is any
! thing that puts spirit into the men 1t
! is that kind Of support. We got four
good machine guns and I don't know
! how many were destroyed. Germany
is one big battery. She does 1t with
) artillery and machine-guns. Guns
against her guns and we shall be all
right. Yes, we had a fine show.
i He kept on speaking of the guns and
so did the other officers and men with
the depth of feeling expressive OF real
ization that the guns meant life and
death and success and failure for
them. Singularly, enough the British
loss in taking the trench was less than
J in losing it. They got about a thous-
and yards with the first rush. Mostly
/ they met the Germans coming from
their dugouts and 1t was hand hand
when the Germans did not yield.
/ AS soon as they had yielded they
were started back toward the British
rear. for in the maze Of traverses
where rifles and bombs are lying about
loose prisoners may soon renew the
fray. The next day a faint rumble
like that of human voice came from
a pile of earth and it was found that
one of the high explosives had closed
the door Of a dugout. The occupants
were rescued alive.
/ When an officer and some men came
to the edge Of the mine-crater they
found nearly hundred Germans in