Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-04-12
Robert R, Mccormick Allowed
TO View Actual Operations
in Trenches and See Guns
in Action,
HIGH EXPLOSIVE SHELLS
SHAKE STRONGEST NERVES
War Game Goes on Day and
Night Where Allies Join
Forces Against German In
vaderS,
BY ROBERT IT. MCCORMICK.

Bv ROBERT II. MCCORMICK.
fronvrirlt. 1915. hv the Chicago Trhuno)
Paris. March e0.---I visited the Eng
llsh army at "a time when very little
fighting was going on. If ! had been
there In The midst of a battle even the
houndless hospitality Of my host could
nor have found means To show me
around
II fight had been on I should not
have been able to borrow the marvel
Gus French glass mounted on tripod
in that station where English and
French lines meet and from which
more Of the battle line IN Flanders
can be seen than from any other
point
Certainly, ! could not have spent an
hour watching the French and Ger
man trenches where they are within
100 Yards Of each other ! was al
most a mile TO the rear, but this mar
vel0us instrument brought me on top
Of them.
| could see Frenchmen crouching
behind their sandbags just as well as
if ] had been there. and so much
more comfortably. The place had
been shelled very heavily. | photo
graphed one Of the shell holes; il was
about six feet deep and fifteen feet
across.
German Fire Accurate.
i was peaceful on the hilltop, but
behind us the armored train was in
action in a wood where ] had been
half an hour before The German re-
ply was accurate. Shrapnel burst in
the air properly ranged. High explo-
sive shells were bursting on the
ground. on our extreme right the
German line ran close in front of a
cluster of farm buildings, from among
which came puffs of smoke and
steam
looked through the glass There
in plain sight, within point blank
range Of the French trenches. was a
thrashing machine at work. If that
was not the strangest sight OF war, /
do not know what was.
French farmers were being COM
PEELED 10 thrash their crops for the
conqueror even under the guns of
their countrymen. No German could
have lived in that SPOT, but the
French woule not fire on their own
people Foed may be in great de-
mand IN Germany. but as a practical
matter the little acquired in this way
cannot be worth the rage 1t lights in
the French armA
We were on the extreme right of
the British line. Leaving our motor
as We came within sight of the Ger
man artillery observation stations, we
had walked smack into two little
French "75's" aoclted up on end to act
as aero guns.
Jack d Giant Killer.
I had oaap sat4tfua and road de-
scriptions of tie great howitzers OF
the Germans, out this was my first
experience Of .ack the Giant Killer
l can give no | ett&e description than
to say that If | al cot been told what
they were, / wtnld have taken them
Tor signal cannona.
With them was range finder that
was permitted q look through Nat
urally, I sighted Il af fixed object
1t happened to be q farm some way
off. | had just distinguished some
chickens, and was thinking about
lunch. when / was told had seen
enough. My interest In chickens was
taken for something more scientific.
We took peep into the bombproof
houses Of the cannoneerg. quite like
the dugouts trappers make along
their lines and quite as comfortable
as number Of the housAs OF newly
arrived immigrants
We turned away ana suddenly
found ourselves in the midst Of bat
terry Of guns of larger size
We were discussing the extra ordt-
nary way in which they were con-
eealed when an aeroplane came sail
ing over. Iturued to see the f75' shoot
az II, but no one stirred They rec
ognized an ally.
From Ehe observation station a mile
walk took us TO battery ef English
sixty Founders
Noise of Shells Uncertain.
We arrived at a cheerfu moment
TINS very moment it had fred a shot
Which destroyed German piece. The
youngster who was n cha rye Of the
naftery was almoef de I've
with Joy He told the ss0f3 with an
attempt at the English habi Of indif-
ference. but his voice was osfkey with
delight.
fortunately for US he was about to
IRE again to make sure that another
gun had not been put in the same
place on the theory the English would
not look for it there. He fred two
shots, but the telephone reported no