The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-02-06
BATTLE in THE DARK
FIGHTING AT NIGHT PICTUR'
ESQUE AND TERRIBLY
BEAUTIFUL.

Hanover correspondence of the AS
ISOLATED Press: Though the modern
battlefield at night is the abode of
terror, it does not lack its pictur-
esqueness, according TO a German of
fcer whose opportunities to be i'm
pressed have been many. In a letter
to a friend here he wrote:
Being on observation duty at
night is not as lonely a job as you
think. Time passes very quickly.
There are nights, however. when ev-
cry minute seems an hour-all that
depends upon circumstances and your
own frame of mind.
WAR here is more intense than in
the east. My observation post lies
close to the lines of the French on a
hill. From there l report the move
ments of the enemy and direct our
artillery fire. Over me fly hundreds
of shells and shrapnel from both
sides. A share Of them came last
night.
Until about 10 o'clock all was
quiet. From out of the dark night
came the usual battlefield noises, II
noises one could call them. Some
where men spoke in an undertone-
what language | don't know, Then
came the sound OF footsteps. A maj
coughed in a suppressed manner, and
the steps of another were recorded
by the faint voice of two metallic
substances striking together. Then
the steps and other sounds vanished
and | replaced my revolver.
There was nothing to be seen,
until to my right the rifles in a
French trench began to sputter. Lit
tie tongues of purplish fire seemed TO
leap across the ground, and through
r the air went the wall of thousands
: Of bullets. What they shot at
f could not discoyer-false alarm, of
f course. But they kept it up valiant
j, ly and the excitement communicated
20 itself to the trenches in front of me
! and those beyond on my left.
In less time than it takes TO write
, it, the entire field rose from sleep.
searehlights which had lain still be
e gan to move about f~rantically. Here
4 and there other lights appeared as II
e somebody had turned on the electric
S current of a city.
e Headquarters wanted to know
S what was the matter. After confess
@ ing my ignorance I returned to my
y task of observing things in the dark
i But through my glasses the little
a flames of the rifles became merely {
trihe larger and more intense, anC
: the silhoutees and shadows cast by
I the ~searchlights blacker. From neal
came the buzzing of an aeroplant
! motor-it passed on, which way
don't know.
/ And then greenish flames in the
far off sky told of rockets or shrap.
mel. whichever they were. A detona-
ton back of me caused me to look
: around. Just then two or three guns
emitted columns of fire, and the next
instant a shell sailed through the all
above me with an uncanny moan
I Another came. Ahead of me. in rap
| id succession, two sheaf like flashes
and two explosions hat shook the
earth around me.
'Soon the fire became general.
! The battlefield assumed an aspect
, which | would call beautifully terri
bile. There were moments when ii
/, resembled a large city in which the
, inhabitants passed the night by pull
! ing up and down the shutters of their
! windows. OF a sudden whole rows
: of houses would be lighted up, as the
men in the trenches fired yolleys.
For a moment a part of this city
, would lie in utter darkness and then
would rise from it the columns OF
fire emitted by the howitzer batteries.
The pillars of fire would rise almost
perpendicularly, giving the impress
sion that you were looking upon a
p vast number of steel ovens.
I "Of man you heard not a sound
! No human voice could be heard In
the din. Softly ] tried my own. But
the effort mingled with an explosion
nearby.
For some time the fury of the
battle in the dark, about nothing
e increased.
For the greater part of an hour
the thrashing continued. But the
outbreaks lessened in volume and
? frequency, and finally died out alto.
: gether. In the trench in front o.
: me men now spoke, but soon 1t was
so still again that I could hear the
T. ticking of m watch and the sighine
of the wind In the nearby willows"
-O-