Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-04-19
VERY DEAD ARE PLUCKED
FROM GRAVES IN BATTLE
Broken Coffins and Ancient Bones
Mingled in Churchyard
With Freshly Slain.
SCENE ONE or DEsoLATIoN
In Hail OF Lead at Neuve Chapelle,
Earth Seems to BE Smitten by III
tanic Hammer IN len Covered
With Blood and Broken Bodies.

! LONDON, April ia long and thrill
ing narrative of tho battle of Neuye
Cha pelle. tho first detailed story yet
published. outside Of the Official dis
patches. appears in to-day's newspapers
Following are few OF the best ex-
| tracts:
Describing the great cannonade which
prepared the way for the British at
tack. the writer says:
HI broke loose with "A mighty
hideous. screeching burst of noise as
| hundreds of guns spoke. Men in the
front trenches were deafened nv the
sharp reports of tho field guns splitting
out shells at close range 10 cut tho
Germans barbed- wire acknowledgements
I'm some cases the trajectory OF
vicious missiles was SO fat that they
passed only few feet above the Brit
ish trenches. The din was continuous
! An officer who put his ear to the
ground said it seemed as though the
earth was being smittcn great blows
with titanic hammer
FRAGMENTS OF HUMAN
BODIES ELL. Air
After the frst few shells had
earth and dust. into the German
trenches, dense pail of smoke hung
over the German lines. and sickenipr
fumes of lyddite blew back into the
British trenches. In some places tho
British troops were smothered by earth
ana oust'' and even spattered with
blood from the fragments of human
bodies that went hurting through tho
air.
Tho upper half OF German officers
body. the cap still on the head. was
blown into one of our trenches
There was bloody work in the viii
iaSe OF Neuvc Chapelle. We captured
the place at the bayonet point, which
is generally grim business in which
instant and unconditional surrender is
the only means by which Il great deal
OF bloodshed can be prevented, as tho
attacking troops must go through,
Staying such as oppose them. The viii
iaEe was sight. The mon say they
will never forget IL, 1t looked NJ II
an earthquake had struck it. the chaos
was so utter. The very lines of the
streets were all but oblitcrated. and
stone hardly remains upon a stone. II
was indeed a scene of desolatIon. into
which the rifle brigade of the First
Regiment TO enter the village raced
along. or the church, only the bare
shell remained The little churchyard
was devastated. and its very dead
piucked from the graves Broken
collins and ancient bones were scat
tered amid the fresher dead slain that
morning.
"Of all the once fair village. I'm,
two things remained intact. the great
clocihNlons reared aloft one in the
churchyard and the others over against
the chateau.
DIN AND CONFUSION
ARE UNDERSTANDABLE
The din and confusion were indie
scribable. Through the pail OF shell
smoke, Germans were seen on all sides
some emerging half dazed from cellars
and dug outs. their hands above their
heads; others lodging around shattered
houses; others firing from windows,
from behind carts and behind over
turned tombstones.
Machine guns were firing from tho
houses In the outskirts In one cellar
portly German was found dancing
about In an agony of fear. screaming in
nigh pitched voice in English:
Mercy, mercy: I am married.
Your missus wont thank us for
sanding YOU home retorted one OF the
men who took him prisoner. and his life
w3s spared.
riiic brigade subaltern. falling
over sand bag into a German trench,
came upon two officers, mere boys. with
their hands above their heads. their
faces ashen gray They were trem-
bling, and one said gravely. in good
English:
Don't shoot am from London
also They. too, were spared
Outside tho village there was a
scene OF tremendous enthusiasm The
rife brigade, smeared with dust and
blood. fell In with the Gurkhas. with
whom they had been brigadcd in India
The little brown men. were dirty, hut
radiant. Eukri in hand, they very
! thoroughly had gone through some OF
the houses at the cross roads and had
silenced party Of Germans who were
making themselves nuisance with