The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-10-12

at the back and that every piece
capable of f1attening out a parapet
and burying them, mangled and
broken, among their own cylinders
will be concentrated upon the front
line trench in which they stand.
''Time! Over the top the jet-pipes
are flung, and then, simultaneously
along almost two miles of trench,
there arises sibilant hiss, as some
monstrous and venomous snake sud-
denly arises from slumber. Now the
gasmen are working frantically with
wheel and spanner and key, and the
hiss increases in shrillness and vol
ume. Outside the parapet the green
poison fog is already spreading like
foul blanket over Nomansland.
Carried ceaselessly forward it's outer
edge is rapidly approaching the Ger
man trenches, into which it will pre-
sently sink, spreading agony and
death among those who cannot es-
cape.
"No rifle or machine gun fire has
been ordered this time, and from
either line scarcely sound is heard
except the deadly hiss of the escap-
ing fumes. The minutes pass in
tense ominous quiet Nature herself
seems to pause aghast to watch this
latest deviltry practiced by her chill
dren upon one another.
tEBehind their masks the gasmen
begin to breathe more freely, and
then suddenly, on the left, Crash.
And crash again, and yet again.
This time on the right, somewhat
close at hand. The men crouch low
er over their cylinders; the explo-
sions follow one another almost too
rapidly to count, and in any case
their minds are no longer fit
ted to count-or care. - Only the
valves must be turned, and the pipes
must be watched, and the sudden
spurt of vapor which marks a leak
must be checked by the application
of handful of mud, which the gas
itself Immediately freezes into an
iron-hard and impenetrable mass.
"In one of the bays, the parapet
rocks suddenly and falls forward,
burying the men and their cylin-
ders. Almost Immediately the men
scramble out unhurt; but the pipes
are broken, and the gas is now filling
the trench. With spanner and mud
the thing is stopped, new connec-
tions are rigged up, and the death
vapor is again directed outside what
is left of the trench. But one of the
men had had the mouthpiece of his
respirator broken, and already he is
coughing and choking painfully.
I've got it, he gasps hoarsely, and
goes behind the traverse to such an
ammonia ampule and dies slowly.
"Closing-up time! Rapidly the
valves are shut down, the jet pipes
withdrawn and plugged and stacked
away. Feverishly the men work at
bagging up their cylinders again.
Imperturbably a sergeant stalks down
the ruined and battered trench, shep-
herding his flock towards their dug
out He is an old timer-a trans
fer from the infantry-and he
scarcely quivers as shell bursts be-
hind a traverse he had just left.
Quietly he directs two of the men to
carry an unconscious case to the
nearest point of the communication
trenches where stretcher-bearers
may be found.
In the dug-out, with the shells
still pounding overhead, the sections
roll their names. Some are answer
ed by comrades as wounded and for
others no one answers at all.
But over in the German trenches
hundreds of men are choking and
paSninp in aoonv for an hour hafOro