The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-08
CATCH 100 GERMANS
IN CRATER AT HODGE
When British Threaten to
Rain Bombs Men i'm Mine
Hole Surrender.
YPRES SALIENT FEARED
~ FREDERICK PALMER.

BY FREDERICK PALMER.
BRITISH HEADQUARTERS, FRANCE, Aug.
13.-The British ave retaken the mine
crater at HODGE In one OF the most pic
turesque actions which has happened
along the British front for a long time.
without counting the novel way In which
a bag OF prisoners was made. Hooge
is the name of what was once a village
In a region as fiat as n billfard tapie'
1t is in the Ypres salient.
As for the nature OF life In the Ypres
salient there is the testimony OF Ger
man prisoners, who say that when a
man on their side Is assigned to 1t the
saying Is that he may consider himself
as good rs lost. 1t Is generally agreed
that more blood has been spilled In the
Ypres salient than over any other sim
liar length OF line on the western front
with the exception of Souchez, where the
French made their great attacks In May
and June
The blowing up of a mine under the
| German trench three weeks ago made
Hooge about the hottest point In the
Ypres salient. II was one Of the larg-
est mines the British had ever exploded.
to begin with. and It made a hole In
| the earth about forty feet deep and
seventy feet across. The British
charged in and took possession OF II.
In reply to the mine the Germans
brought up their fame e1ector appa-
ratus. which they had tried on the
French before, but now used on the
British for the first time. Meanwhile.
around the edge OF the crater the two
sides were only 1--WE feet apart at one
place. The crater was % big and II
had 60 d~isngured the landscape that II
was very difficult to consolidate the
position" as the Official bulletins say,
particularly when showers OF bombs
from either side punished any enter
prise on the part OF the other.
British Give Up Hoose.
On top OF a bombardment OF all the
~neighboring part OF the British line.
where the trenches were further apart,
and OF bombar dments with mortars and
bombs where they were close together.
the Germans suddenly sprayed the Brit
ish front with Are over a section where
their infantry attacked. The British
had to give up their cratAr and Hooge,
too. and some Ave hundred yards OF
trench. When they set out to recover
It al first they found the had
the line bristling with machine guns,
as they got back only one end OF what
they had lost.
The rule in the Ypres salient seems
to be never to lie down tamely under
any setback. Both sides fight 10 re-
cover a loss, no matter what the cost
SanSuinary battles are waged for a few
acres of ground. All one day the Britt
ish kept an almost continuous roar or
shells over other parts of the salient
They made the German trenches boil
with dust under clouds OF sharpnel
smoke. The German uns replied. They
fArAny la nm mora seventeen men
| shells into the the ruins OF lpres and
into the other points which they had no'
considered worthy OF seventeen inch be-
fore. The thunder OF his artillery duel
| could be heard thirty and forty miles
to the rear. II made a sound like the
roll OF a drum. with almost NJ Intervals
between the shots. Nothing heavier had
been heard since Souchez.
About 2 the next morning guns which
had been silent before came into action.
| They were all directed on the German
| trenches at Hooge-tons OF his ex-
plosives aud storms OF shrapnel. Al
4:l5, by all the watches OF gunners ana
infantrymen. the guns stopped. the next
minute a British Major at he head OF a
battalion line leaped over the parapet
As he said. he found nobody at home.
The were In their dugouts' ac-
cording TO the custom on such occa-
sions. taking shelter from the tornado
OF shell FIRE which makes even "A lookout
hardly possible. Turning the corner OF
a traverse the Major fairly bumped into
a German. who apparently had come
I out OF his dugout to see why the shelling
had stopped.
his revolver muzzle 10 the
| breast. He promptly agreed that he
! vas, as the Major expressed II,
OoBcers Praise Artillery.
The happiness of the officers and men
a. they told the story OF that night to
the correspondent turned on gratitude
TO their artillery support.
1T shows what artillery can do. said
! the Colonel. "and what the infantry
| can do when the guns give them that
| kind of aid. Their work was perfect
straight on there In front of the mems
noses. with no shells bursting short
and then they all stopped like an or
chestra AZ the end OF n piece, My only
trouble with the men was 10 hold them
back from the front line. III there Is
anything that puts spirit into the men
/, is that kind OF support. We got fout
good machine guns and ] don't know
how many were destroyed. Germany Is
ons big battery. She does II with ar
tillery and machine guns. suns against
her guns. and we shall be all right Yes.
we had a fine show
He kent on speaking OF the guns. and
so did he other officers and men. with
the depth of feeling expressive of realt-
zation that the guns meant life and
Death and success and failure for them.
S~insularly enough. the British loss III
taking the trench was less than in los
ing il. They got about a thousand yards
with the first rush. Mostly they met
The German coming from their dugouts
and IL was hand to han when the Ger
mans did not yield.
When an officer and some men came
70 the edge OF the mine crater they
! found nearly a hundred Germans in the
| bottom OF It, where they had taken cover
from the bonrbardment, Tn British
locked down at the Germans and tho
Germans looked up at the British, As
one OF the men said. the surprise was
mutual, but the Germans were a little
The more surprised OF the two. The
British had bombs in their hands, All
they had to do was to stand back II
toss the bombs into the crater.
Bombs Throw late DuEout.