The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-02-18

LONIDlN, Fen, lI-Ihp british
army In France IL now using heavy
howitzcrs which, according TO II re-.
port from the official eyewitness
with the expedItionnry force, have
gnned asCendHuCy over the heavy Ger.
man guns. These howitzers, he states,
were used In successful attacks ON the
German positions Ia the brick fields
south Of La Bassee canal II week ago
last night.
Our heavy howltzcrs took part In
this bombardment, their fire being di
rected ON the railway trinngle.' the
eyewitness says. The boom Of these
pieces aud the detOuutiOns OF their
shells were audible twenty miles away
above the roar of the other artillery
while to those close at hand the shrek.
ing Of the great projectiles through
the air was most impressive AZ were
! the volumes Of smoke and debris
/ thrown up The effect Of the lyddito
/ shells was truly terrific one house be-.
/ Ing blown into the air, and as they
burst among the brick stacks they ere.
ated great havoc among the enemy.
"'The assault was launched against
Il strong position or keep among the
stacks Of bricks held by the Germans
Our stOrmlng columns dashed on the
work from three side. at once and
captured 1t with very little loss, for
as prisoners nfterward stated, the noise
OF the bursting shells was 20 great
aud the clouds OF dust with which the
defenders were surrounded were =,
thick that they did not observe OuI
men advancing until II was too late
AT the same time trenches To the north
Of this point, between II aud the canal
were stormed by another party By
SELLING these points We were enabled
TO occupy continuous line south
ward from our forward posts on tn,
canal, which formed an adyantageou
position In front of the brick fields
I'VE captured nineteen unwOunde,
; prisoners In addition to many wound
ed, II trench mortar and machine gun,
The Germans left seventy dead on TN
ground, while our casualties were In
p significant.
Strategem Loses Novelty.
The Germans, however, showed n
inclination TO accept this reverse, fo
In the early hours OF February I
body Of them advanced along the cana
bank, shouting, Don't shoot, we are er
gineers This form Of strntagem, III
fortunately for the enemy, has nov
lost lts novelty. cur men held thei
fire untfl the supposed snppers wer
only Il few yards away and the
: opened with a machine gun, with III
- result that the engineers fell bacl
. leaving thirty dead bodies In front 4
D our line In the afternoon another a
tack was attempted, but II melte
away under artillery fire and did M
arrive at close quarters.
"A great feature Of the recent figh
ing has been the accuracy Of our Al
tillery fire On one occasion our gur
, accomplished the feat Of blowing III
: Germans out Of trenches they were o
cuping on an embankment, although
was only forty yards from that whiC
: we were holding.
"On February 0 most Of the enemy
y = casualties were due to our shell fir
The whole Of the area both behiu
and Immediately In front Of the trncl
, es we now hold were found to be II
= tered with the bodies Of hundreds q,
Germans killed In the various figh
since January % Our artillery Ill
here has obtained such ascendancy thi
after the assault ON that day our trool
actually were able TO put barbed vii
entanglements In front OF their trenc
es In broad daylight without beir
fired at by the enemy's infantry. Pri
Oners captured here were despondel
and much shaken.
iii New German lnecndlary Shell.
| The Germans rely very much on {
incendlary shell for damaging town
and In their recent bOmbardment
Armentleres they made Use Of pr
| jectlles OF this type packed with candl
composed Of celluloid, phosphorus Al
| wax, which material Is 50 inflammab
that II will ignite n placed In the sun
| The eyewitness" says some of n
prisoners captured recently have be-,
| OF comparatively poor physical dey,
Opment aud tells OF finding In Il
pocket OF dead German two me
| ical certificates stating that he vi
suffering from consumption. The ce
tificates were accompanied by an a
plication from the soldiers father as
| Ing that the sdn he relieved from n
necessity of going into active servlC
The official observer also quotes le
ters, which he says, were received
soldiers from home, and which we
found on bodies, complaining Of Il
increase In the cost Of living and Il
scarcity Of bread, and stating tn
even schoolb0ys were being call,
into military service
Revertlng to the German attack I
III Iannarw th.