Evening star., 1915-06-04
WHEN BIG SHELLS
!. FALL ON DUNK|RK
Herbert Corey Describes Sen
sations Produced by Ger
man Bombardment.
AIRMEN GIVE THE RANGE
FOR GUNS 20 MILES AWAY
Houses. When Hit. Are Left Mere
Heaps of Finely Pow
dered Ruins.
o;on-riuht. 1915. by Herbert Corey J

n;,nrrigit 1915. by Herbert Corer)
DUNKIRk, May l0.--Just at 63O
o'clock this morning the bed leaped
under The walls of the Hotel des
Areades shook. Some trumpery orna :
ments on the mantel tinkled. Although
l had been very soundly asleep.
woke Immediately So instantaneous
was my awakening that I identified
the thunderous reverberation of the
fifteen-inch shell which had just land
cd somewhere in town The second
bombardment of Dunkirk had begun
The German gun from which that shell
had been fired was more than twenty
miles away.
Mon Dieu." cried Frenchw oman in
the hallway outside my bedroom door
the shells have come again.
Never in my life did | leave a morn
ing bed with such alacrity. * would
be untrue to say that 1 dressed calmly
but l. at least. dressed with precision.
Al ore moment my left hand developed d
an odd nervous tremor. ! had to wait
for it to calm down. \ horrible fear
crossed my mind that my rear collar
button had probably crept under the
bed during the night. / knew that |
had not the courage to go under that
bed for that button. | beheld myself
appearing before my friends with a
collar hiking up behind and thereby
incurring their derision. But the but
ton had-miracu raculously-remained true
to its mosrings. The door opened and
another correspondent entered.
Did you hear it, he asked.
His chin was wabbling. l waited
until my own lower jaw resumed it's
normal quiet. Then | admitted that !
had / did not interrupt the process of
dressing to reply. j was with some
pride that l recall that | was dressed
to the last buckle when ! left the
room l had also packed and locked
my bag. Throughout this process a
bell had been ringing violently some
where in the house. Even -ually it's in
termitting jngles became one strenu-
GUS and determined peal AS l opened
my door I heard servant replying to
some one in the hall.
But. madame. said the servant in
protest. every one is i'll the cellar. The
bombs are falling upon the town.
Idiot said the crisp voice of a
/ should be deprived of my hot water
in the morning."
Work of the Big Shells.
Every member of our party was
rightened-every member, that is,
with the exception of the French off,
r-r VINO had us in charge. He is one Of
The sort who could not get frightened
if he tried. Probably he is used to fif-
teen-inch shells. 1t certainly is the
fact that-annoyed at being awakened
at such an hour in the morning-he
had taken book from his bag and
tried to read himself to sleep again
He had no success. His charges de-
sired to be assured by him that the
chance of being hit by large shell
was very slight. So that he had break
OF af a ho TO hi
earthly.
None of US has any apologies to
make. You see, we had examined the
night before what had happened on the
earlier. In three days thirtX-three If
teen-inch shells had been dropped into
the town There is soIpefbj1y iph una n
and preposterous about these big fell
lows They do not whistle like ordi-
nary shells do At least. that was the
testimony of those who had gone
through the first BON ba rdment Then
the report is uplling, turpultuous
sound. precisely like that of a peal of
thunder very close at hand. Other
shells break with a sharply defined
crash, with no following roar. Other
shells knock down walls When ff-
teen-inch shell lands on house the
house is expunged.
The walls are blown out. What had
been a house becomes mere heap of
powdered masonry. 1t isn't even tall
heap The brick and stone and timbers
are disseminated about the landscape
The difference in effect-likewise the
absence of the whistles, of course
que to the big fellows course. The
gun is fred at SO high an angle that
the shell descends like the falling stick
Of a rocket. They weigh 1900 pounds,
these shells. When they explode inside
a house it is as though a mine had
been discharged
What is that noise" asked some
one.
"A COW has been hurt" some one
said
Bombs From the Air.
For moment we all believed it. The
warning siren-though why whistle
should be blown to warn any one of
the presence Of hfteen-i1ch shells in
the air is incomprehensible-so
precisely Ike the believing of very
large and very sorely hurt bull Other
explosions were sprink1ed about the
town-tiny explosions, baby explosions
almost contemplate explosions Two
Taubes were sailing overhead an6 drop
ping bombs at US They accounted for
some of the explosions. The anti-air-
craft guns firing al the Taubes furnish-
ed the rest. We ran to the windows
High above us we could see the fiers
All about them the blue Of the early
morning sky was dotted with the little,
hard. paintedtin shrapnel clouds 1t
was perfect day. The sun drew a line
OF gold upon the comb of each one OF
Dunkirks red-tiled roofs
Go to tne cellar" said some one TT
~ an order when a bombardment be-
gins"
We did not want to go TO a cellar No
cellar rault!ng IN our poor opinion
could protect one from ffteen-inch
shell. We were fortified in this belief
by our examinations of the night be-
fore. II there were any people in the
cellars of those houses In which the
shells landed they are there yet, buried
under tons of stone. But IL appears
that the cellar order is not for protec-
tion against the big fellows. There is
10 protection against them. IT Is TO
keep people from being hurt in the
open by the Taubes' bombs or by the
bits Of falling shrapnel that have been
fred at the planes. In the previous
bombardment girl had been killed
IN this way at the very door of .he
hotel. We went TO the cellar. only out