The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1915-05-20
GREATEST ARTILLERY BATTLE
IN HISTORY NEAR YPRES.

GREATEST ARTILLERY BATTLE
IN HISTORY NEAR YPRES.
London, acknowledgements
cnce of Associated Press )-"This is
the greatest artillery battle in the
history OF the world; the expenditure
OF ammunition is fabulous writes
an observer from behind the British
lines at Ypres. describing the light
ing OF April 25 and %. which result
ed in considerable gains for the Ger
mans.
After describing the almost con-
tinuous cannonading that had been
going on for two days, with literally
thousands of guns in almost con-
tinual action, the observer suggests
that the intensity of the firing may
be judged by the fact that at one
small bridge across the User twenty
German guns fought eighteen Eng
lish and French guns all night, until
finally the German guns We're sill
enced. THE French 75's," he notes,
were fired so rapidly that they
sounded like an endless roll of thun-
der multiplied by thousand. /"
part of the battle, he says: zone of
the most notable incidents of the bat
tie was the work done by the Canad-
ian supply column. Not a cartridge
or shell was second late in reach
ing the man behind the gun, and
when the black fumes blew across
a section OF supply men and they fell,
others rushed in and kept the fight
ing line replenished until the wind
blew the fumes away.
During the afternoon two aero
planes-sup to be British
marked and shaped exactly as the
British aircraft are. flew over the
German lines, and it was noticed
that the German shells played all
about them without effect. Then they
would fly over the British lines an6
back again, but the German shells
always fell far short OF bringing
them down On their third visit the
Canadian tieldbattery let them have
several shots One aeroplane. badly
damaged. volplaned down into the
German lines. and the other fled out
OF sight behind the German trench
es.
Describing the artillery fighting
the writer says: LAS far as our glass
es could carry, we could see the
white bursts of shrapnel, the black
bursts of the German giant guns. or
the feathery floating clouds of anti
aircraft shells which broke in the re-
verberating dome of the sky, where
both German and English aeroplanes
scared The old theory that shoot
ing causes rain was disproved, for
| the sun shone brightly over the in
describable scene. The wind was so
strong that the areoplanes facing it
made no headway, and standing into
the wind in one place like kites, the
British aeroplanes seemed stationary
as the TO POT the Eiffel Tower, direct
ing presumably the British guniire.
| "From behind our hill two British
| monoplanes scared so low over us
that we could see their guns; they
climbed into the sky to drive away
n Taube biplane which was Tying
over the hill sidewise in the heavy
wind. The Taube took to flight at a
height so great that it looked like
a dot in the sky even without glasses
turned on it. Soon the white puffs
OF the German anti-aircraft guns and
the muddiCr white pucs OF the Brlt-
ish sky guns pune'lired the sky, above
ard below the glittering dots when
we're the aeroplanes cleaning in the
sunlight.
"Behind our hill were Belgian
peasants ploughing. Further behind
them, i'm "a meadow, we could see men
playing football l discovered later
that some of the men i'll the match
1 were to march five miles tonight and
enter the trenches in the maelstron
of fire which we were beholding.
smoke to one of these men who toio
me that he was one of those who mac
been the first to be sent to the wal
last August The umpire impatient
TX called time while j talked to the
goalkeeper =,
Tonight the glares of the battle il
Illuminate the sky of Belgium fol
many miles The tower OF the Clotl
Hall at Ypres and two church steep
les were visible in the rays OF tn
evening sunset, but many fires wer'
burning in the town and my gllmps'
! of the ruins of the Cloth Hall towe
4 NAV have been my last. for the Ger
man shells were falling about IT IN
cessantly." /"