El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-05-01

! az me head is silent. but the men are
! Singing gaily, marching in time to the
! tune, tanned. brawny, hardened vet
eI5Hs, lnough they have been in France
only rev months
says:
"A public school battalion. They
] were in a very hot fight. some weeks
aE0; tney are now having a rest in
At bedtime We see the first sign of
actual warfare. The town has been
SSheued and many houses 2Te in ruins,
puI Ihe inhabitants go about their
BUSINESS as If nothing had happened.
AirpIanes Thick ss Birds.
The sound Of firing increases. air
planes lowering above US, little clouds
OF fleecy white suddenly appear out of
space all around them and drift away
before the wind. It is shrapnel from
the German anti-aircraft guns. ex-
plOding harmlessly in the air So high
up are the planes that not a sound of
the explosion is heard by us airplanes
are all British. Suddenly one of the
alrpianes darts downward, like a stone
US.
rs he hit? I exclaim. The little
lieutenant in front of me merely smiles
and points to the arisplane now glid-
ing gently along The observer in the
byplane waves his hand to US gaily,
the machine seems to miss our car by
only few inches, sweeps clear of the
telephone lines and lands gracefully
al a bird. in field on the right side
of the road.
AUTOMOBILES Abandoned.
We arrive at a village where we
have to leave our cars as it is not safe
70 drive any further in broad daylight
The German lines are not far away and
n car Of the general staff. which might
well be supposed to carry more valu-
Il
would be welcome target Our cars
are placed in hiding and We set on
our walk to the trenches.
The country here is black and bar
rem Everywhere are the signs Of the
devastation Of war. the houses mere
husks. roOfless and battered by hun
dreds Of shells, uninhabited but for a
few English soldiers Just outside the
village we see. an old factory. once
bustlinS with activity, but now mere
ruin of tumble down walls twisted
Orders and slapeless machinery, torn
and scattered by the hands of a
demon.
The Scene of Carnage.
We pass on and climb laboriously
70 place of vantage Like a map.
the country is spread for miles around.
Two miles distant lies lie Bassee, the
scene Of much hard fighting Further
south stands the HOhenzollern redoubt. /
where at this very moment much blood
Is being shed on our right are Hui
luch and Loos. with its famous tower
bridge. now a ruin and no longer Z
shelled by the Germans, to whom it is
useful as a landmark.
Some distance further we delve down !
into our first trench, it being now too
dangerous to walk on the surface.
The walk is monotonous and tire. I
some, an intOlerably slow way of APP
preaching your goal because of the (
continuous ztgzagging. and it is unani- /
mously decided that we take our lunch /
above ground, trusting TO Providence /
to keep us safe.
In Midst of DesOlatiOn.
Climbing out Of the narrow trench /
we sit down in the grass in the midst (
of the desOlation. The field is SCARED |
with shell holes and burrows. and the /
air is reverberating with the thunder /
of the guns and exploding shells. The |
Officers laugh when I appear startled /
by an unusually loud explosion.
1T was only one Of our eighteen |
Founders" one of them says, "but 1 !
win say for them that they make more /
noise than even the heaviest hOwitzers, /
especially when you are in front Of !
them, as we are now. You very soon (
get to know all the guns by their pc
culiar bark, just as you can tell by the /
sound Of a shell whether it is going /
or coming as il is passing overhead"
Strange, Unearthly Noises.
The air is full Of strange unearthly !
noises and now and then particularly !
loud shell makes you bow your head !
involuntarily. but you very soon get |
accustomed to it all At no moment /
did I feel the slightest sensation Of be-
ing i'm danger. not even when a German !
lyddite shell burst close enough to give !