Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-03-27


Bolmow, Russia, Feb 24.-This is
a typical artillery day Its purpose, as
defined by a smiling German officer
who appears TO have no nerves, is the
destroying Of the positions Of the
enemy and especially the nerves Of
the enemy" In the night this shat
terlng Of intrenchments and tempera-
ments will be followed by infantry
attacks
The Russian shells are falling 1000
meters to the south OF us, a state
ment that creates an impression of
larger dauntlessness on the part Of
"us' than if you said they We're fall
ing three-ffths of a mile away
on each side of the highway lead
ing into Bolimow stands an Austrian
SOh centimeter gun which is reek
ing with grease and which every half
hour emits hellfire and destruction
to the amount Of nearly four tons,
turn and turn about, each gun every
fifteen or twenty minutes.
These guns are stupendous engines,
hut they work with the delicacy Of a
Swiss watch and travel on their own
motor trucks at the rate of three
miles an hour.
Conclusion Breaks Auto Glass.
Our automobile toiling up the Boil
nov road from Lowiez, halted 15Q
feet from these guns and we all dist
mounted to watch the firing. Three
minutes later | went back to the mos
tor to see whether the sausage amt
black bread were safely stored away,
hut when I reached the car another
matter demanded attention.
who in thunder did that PC
gan.
what blithering idiot has pokqd
a rifle barrel through that glass?
Then ii dawned on me.
The conclusion of the 30E cent?
meter gun at 150 feet had shivered
into fifty pieces the sheet of heavy
glass feet long, 2 feet wide ana
IA of an inch thick-in the front oil
the car.
And the draft created by the shell
as it left the gun took basketfuls OF
the matched roof of the cottage
standing thirty-five feet distant right
up into the sky.
Five minutes before either of the
guns is fired everybody is halted by
sentries posted l50 feet up and down
the highway. But if you are not
mounted you can come nearer TO the
gun than that.
Handle Them Carelessly.
Then a shell is uncrated in casual
way .hat never fails to give me
qualms and it is run smoothly Tor.
ward on light trucks to the mouth OIL
the gun A good minute before the
big smash the more innocent ny
SANDERS begin to scurry away
The soldier who works the wires
that fire the gun is stationed fity leet @
away from Il. Others like seventy-nVe
feet. am quite recOnciled to lOO leet
myself, the surge and roar OF souhu
being 80 terrific that it has ten
dency to make one sick at the stohi-
ach ut first. :,
AT The end Of an hour or so All
that passes, and even a clylllan setS
so he can follow the flight of the sneli
with pretty steady eyes-that is, II lho
light is right.
Officers Emulate Women.
! used to think it was SHY u
Women at the theater to put tnel'
fingers in their ears when there was
firing in a play. But | wasn't so any
when saw that the German ana Aus
TRAN officers who were directing t"e
fire were not ashamed to do TINS
The Austrian motor gun on Wy Wy
left hand side of the Bolimow roau
is little shielded by that cottage the
thatched roof of which its draft -
carrying away Some farmyard puiiu : :
ings shield the gun on the rlght VI
the road The concrete and mat'ine
bases of both guns are laid IN the
soil of soggy fields and both are
little screened from the enemy ls :
ers by evergreen trees whlch H'''o
been stuck up around them
The red trousered Austrlans anu
the gray coated Germans VINO az
serving the guns are black as colll.
beavers and covered with the grease
they are constantly smearing over tue
mechanism, ,,i+o
The tower of Bolirnow's big white
Church, a third of mile aWa!' 20 20
tie sighaT point for the directing "a
the fire IT is. connected by teiephoHss
With pits dug within a few teet o. %,
the guns and the pits are rooled WIZ, VIZ
eurving sheets of corrugated nor,
oyerlaid with earth and eYere' g"
bOughs e., col
From the pits come cheerful az
los" as the men in the church IN .ha
signal the pitmen to give thei'i '"e