The sun., 1916-09-18
EYEWITNESS STORY
OF SOMME BATTLE
British FOrcstallcd German
Attack by Making One
Of Their Own.
TANK" CARS 4 SURPRISE
kaiscr's Troops Alarmed by
the Terrible Charge Caused
by New Machines.

-
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE.
Sept. l6, via London. sept. 1I.--With
ccasclcss shcllatc from unprecedented
concentrations OF guns the battle ragged
%furiously all day, the British making
the Germans were rushing UP reserves
from other parts Of the western front.
The decentralization Of their infantry
yesterday by tho use OF the new armore
motor Ears called "tanks'' was freely
confessed by prisoners with whom the
correspondent Of the Associated rrcss
talked to-day.
In such an action "a that OF yesterday
tho correspondent, though he has FREQ
dom of the field and Ii informed Of the
plan of attack the night before n al
though he disregards sleep. ends II
dificult TO get a full report OF the re-
suits SO that he can send n despatch the
same night.
But moving about the lines from head
quarters OF the different units Of COM
mand I'm to the point where the wound
cd and the prisoners are being brought
in In , fresh orgy of struggle. hcari' =
innumcrahle accounts as vivid "a the
red spots on white bandarcs and p'cC.ng
bits 81 Information together before -ii-
ting down to write his cable. there seems
no question that Yesterday was tho most
dramatic day In the history Of the But
ish army In France.
r%orcstaiIa G~rman Attack.
The Germans themselves were mass
ing at many points. 1t appears. with a
view to making attacks to recover somt
high ground the lost. TIL" British an
ticipatcd the ticrma,f attack with theii
own u%nslaughts. assisted by their new
"Iiell' machines, whose secret they hat
been keeping up their sleeves Tor suci
an occasion as this.
The accounts Of both wounded RritiSt
soldiers m the prisoners taken from al
PARTS of the line agree that the German
losses were immense. As "A rule M
forces In the front line trenches sup
ported patrols in the she'll craters In thu
Somme battle area In small numbers
with a plentiful supply of machine guns
! This means a smaller force exposed u
/ artillery concentration in case OF attack
With the machine guns silenccd an,
the front trenches taken. then the re
serves expected under cover Of tho arth
lery nre Of their side to retakc II %,
| counter NttbVNs. lHiN Nv ~
tended TO attack. They had masse,
! large numbers Of men in their from
trenches.
These were not only caugh by IN
surprise OF the sudden blast Of h carl
| morning concert of tho British guns pre-
ed.nc the charge Of the British IN
fantry. but were raked Icy the machine
gun fire from the tank cars. AS tn
Germans were In new trenches. whir'
they had built as best they could unde
the continual shell fire and as they ha'
no dugouts ami could ind no shelter
they we're subjected to tho murderou
cnnlade from the tank cars.
Mob CouSwsion Prevails.
Despite German discipline and tn
bravery and racial hate which III
Kaiser's troops put into their night
against tho British. AZ man. points mo
confusion prevailed among those In tn
front lines. Some attempted TO sur
render. though surrender seemed impos
hlc against these walking forts.
Others fired desperately and hopelessl
before being moved down and sti
others were paralyzed by the apparltio
which had no precedent In warfare
Trenches were filled with German dea
and those in flight fell like grain bcfor
a reaper where tho 'tInk' cars coul
direct sprays OF lead in their path.
Before the attack the British plan. a
a stan officer explained to the CORE
spondent for the Associated Fress. wa
not to take either M~artinru.ch or courcs
letto YESTERDAY, but so successful WI
The early morning advance that the con
mand was given 70 push on and b
nigh,fali both places were In the pos
session Of the British.