Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-10-28

army is singing the praises OF the
guns and the planes. No such bonn
bardment had ever been heard on the
British front as that which preceded
the attack. Is
There seemed no intervals between
the reports of the guns; not even
those Of the beat of snare drum.
The roar had the power and continue
ty Of Niagara Falls. House windows
in the surrounding country kept up
a continuous rattle. eI
ut is the sweetest sound in the
world" said one of the surviving vet
Grams of the retreat from Mons. TT
trench and have fair fight of it and
you won't charge into the play Of the
machine guns or be hung up in the
barbed wire. A year ago when we
held the Germans back from the chan
mel ports we were doing 1t with flesh
and blood against the Outnumbering
German artillery. The. most comfort
ing sight in the world is an eight
inch hewitzer; and, next, to that is .
motor truck loaded with high ex-
plosives Shells" --&
AS morning approached after the
night Of bombardment. officers on the
British front were looking at their
wrist watches. In front Of Loos the
figure six marking theb half hour
half-past six-was the goal of the
creeping minute hand. At that mo-
ment a wave of men rose from the
first line British trenches, and the
volume OF shell-nre was lifted from
the first line German to the second
line as the stream from a hose is lift
ed from one flower bed to another.
Meanwhile every man in the charge
tried to outrun every other man. The
sooner they were in the German trench
the less likelihood of the Germans
coming out of their dugoutstand recov-
ering their senses after the bath of
shells and firing on the advance. II
only one machine gun can be manned
before the charge goes home the
charge may be stopped in that imme-
date section. 1t is all matter Of
wrist watches, of speed. team play
and Of seconds.
With the first flush of dawn the
birds of war had come from their aero
dromes. The shell-fire and the planes
were all that the onlooker might see.
II should think that we had eight
planes that day to one of the Ger
mans" said an aviator. I'VE hadcon-
centrated planes as we'll as guns"
Only when the secret Of the point of
concentration is kept can such an
attack succeed against a modern de-
fensive position. The Germans had
learned that the British were prepar-
ing an attack; for their soldiers called
out from their trenches to the Brit
ish: when are you coming?" to which
one Briton- replied: 'Tll let yousknow
as soon as Sir John French tells me-"
Attacks were made that morning at
several places; but the Germans ex-
pected the real attack elsewhere than
Loos. .,.. - sst, -.- ISL -. B..
.srhere has. been a. good deal, Of
talk" said d staff of1cer. ITO; the eff
feet that the element Of surprise has
disappeared from war. It is as vital
as it ever was. Only concealment
was never so difficult"
Troops and guns had to be moved
at night when the German planes
might not note the concentration.
British planes must ward off German
planes by day.
AdOOA olu pains AZ NS~NAA
are required, of hundreds Of thousands
of men for such an attack. That Of
the medical corps alone is stupendous.
On the morning Of the attack beds
were ready; and the countless ambu-
lances and the clearing stations and
all the intricate organization for car.
ing for the wounded ready.
AS the attack proceeded veritable
flock of planes was cutting circles and
dipping and turning over the battlefield
as if in an exhibition of airmanship.
They appeared to be disconnected with
the battle; but no participant was
more busy or intent than they. All
the panorama of action was beneath
them; they alone could really "see"
the battle if they chose But each avi-
ator stole only passing glimpses Of the
whole; for each one was intent on his
part which was to keep watch Of
whether the shells Of the battery to
which he reported were on the target
or not. To distinguish whose she'll
burst was whose insthe midst of that
cloud of dust and smoke. over the
German positions, seemed as difficult as
to separate the spout. OF steam from
one pipe from another when q hundred
were making wall Of -vaDor.
Every youth in England apparently
wants to get into the Aerial service.
So the corps has its pick. Promotion
is rapid the romance and the excite-
ment of the work appeal. It i&:easy to
learn to fly in the very stable latest
types Of machines which, as the say.
ing goes. are "fool-proof." 1t takes
only two months to train a man with
aptitude to do the routine work Of
But he must be young.
Men do. not learn readily. after they
are thirty, with few exceptions and
they are very poor pupils indeed after
they are IS. 1t Is not difficult to spot
shells when only few batteries are
Airing but when perhaps hundred
guns are dropping shells on a half
mile front of trench highly trained
eye is required. Occasionally a plane
was observed to slip down like a
hawk which had located g. fish in the
water At all hazards that intrepid
aviator was going to identify the shell
bursts Of the batteries which he rep
resented. The Germans might have
him in rife range but they were too
busy trying to hold back the English
infantry to fire at him.
Other planes were dropping shells
on railroad trains and bridges, to
hinder the Germans once they had