The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1915-11-30
ENGLISH OFFICERS
REFUSE To TAKE
WAR SERIOUSLY
Persist in Looking on 1t as a
Huge Sporting Proposition ;
Shown in Accounts Sent
From the Battle Fronts.

80
London. Nov. 1.-THE much criti-
eizcd British view of war as a sort OF
exalted game or sport is emphasized
~ "a British officers description of the
bomhardment of Dedeagutch by the
British {ieet. contained In a letter
published here. His letter bristles
with such phrases as 1t was a granu
picnic Tor the men, The ships COM
panies enjoyed themselves immense
~ THE harbormaster's office burned
spiendidly. The destroyers were
able TO creep In and plug an manner
of things.'
The officer began his letter by re-
marking that he was playing piquet
with the captain when the orders
came to lft anchor and attack DE.
dcagatch. and he reRrctfully chroni-
clcs that { eNigencics IT the serN-
lee made me sacrifice a hand contain
ing fourteen aces" There were some
grcwsomc preparations for the battle
bon the captains cabin. which had been
turned into an operating uhcutar No
need arose Tor using IT, however. AZ
no defense Of the port was attempted
boy the Bulgariuus.
The description OF tine actual bonn
bardment is In part as follows.
AT about a quarter past one In the
afternoon We luosed Oft at the hig
barracks. our first shot brought he
SOLDIERS tearing out Of the buildings
and We cased up a biz and let them
get clear. Then "" banged and bat
tered away at about $500 yards, maxi
ing enormous holes and smashing a.
great areas OF walls. Unless someone
was killed inside the build ugs I think
We ala not hurt anyone. tGcrmnn uc-
counts ct the battle declare hat scy-
cral hundred soldiers were Killed In
these |barrucks.j
we were only out for destruction
ANA damage, not slaughter as the
thirty nulRar hates to have his prop
erty knocked about bat cares very
little II his n~eighbor-or even himself
lis laid uut
After "a Bit we went for the har-
bor-very tricky work. as h bulk
of the Caiques which we had orders
Ia shoot az were just beyond a low
outer breakwater n with low tralec-
tory from the shin, the least altera-
tion In the elevation of the "a made
a big difference. rhe difficulty was
largely settled when our shells set the
masts n sails atirc, ana the flames
spreading downward 20 the ships.
The destroyeTs and monitors drew
much less water than our larger shipl
aud were able 10 creep iu on the lead
the charts Of ~Dedehgatch being inac.
%curate, and they plugged an name
of things. fortunately the population
OF tha town had an gone away, and
tho troops stayed behind up In IN,
hills. so don't think anyone wa,
hurt We killed 60 htting cusin,
which tried To- hide itself behind &
hush, but one which ran away escaped
Hll right Two of ,ho dcstroycrs IN.
spircd it To still greater efforts viii
their tuur-inch guns
when We realized hat there wal
no one Co hurt. IL Just became a bon
fire or Trafalgar day fireworks
being the liuth anniversary ot th'
battle Of Trafalgar. We SET an man
ner ct things on fire. Common shol
was effective hut lydditc was better
We burned q vast mountain eft coal
many railway vans aud trucks, ships
and i've oh storehouscs.
But the best blazcs were ware
houses behind the caiquc harpur am
an immense factory stuffed win high
~ iuflammHhle goods Il was siN stor
les hiEh, ten windows square, ana Ia,
two anueNes each of fuIr stories. Wit
20 roaring wind Go help cas- and no Fir
brigade tu spoil the fun, it was
most gorgeous flnrc-up. aud tn
Flames were bright enough Ca east
shadow SIX miles away
FL 1h. FHHl.gaN ..va NUHUV.I UH..VNIHa
the fire jumping along from one &
the other and ever eating away &
Windwnrd ana the storehouses hurue
solidly u we'll section after sectio
catching They had great glass sky
' lights. which we're shattered hy Ia
% shells and ventilated the ura nicel,
The great thing about Il was tina
r nobody tried tu pat the fires out. AN
~ one got smoky q shell brightene
things az Il BIT aud improved the ven