The Alaska daily empire., 1916-07-25
Offensive of the British Is Told by An Eye Witness Who Was Wounded in
 First Assault.
FIRE BALLS SHOT DOWN
New Thing in Destruction Is Shown Germans-New Mode of Attack Is
 a Thriller.

BERLIN. July h. Special An eyewitness account of the Anglo French offensive is given in dispatch es from Lieutenant Dambitsch, one of the editors of the Zeitung Am Mittag. whose company was stationed in Che trenches near tue Somme river
 The lieutenant was wounded dur ing the preparatory bombardment but was there long enough to wit ness the almost indescribable destruc- ton wrought in the front line trench es by the artillery He says that the massiyely-built positions had been regarded as virtually indestructa- ble and impregnable but the event proved that the progress in the de- velopment of offensive tactics since the September offensive had not been realized
 Right at the beginning Of Che ar tillery preparation says the Lieu tenant. "the enemy showed the Ger mans a new thing in the destruction of observation balloons An aviator swooped down on one of these and shot fire balls from above, a burst of flame marking the end of the bal loon.
 "The second days bombardment brought another surprise in the shape of aerial mines of unheard.of calibre which were thrown in incredible numbers The eXpolsion oi the first air torpedo shattered by its tremen- dous detonations the windows of the bomb proofs and threw up a massive pillar of black earth perhaps a hun dred yards This showered the whole neighborhood with roofs. brick and earth. This was a regular Fesuvius eruption
 "The destructive effects of this un- interrupted throwing of the heaviest mines were almost visible immed- lately The entrances Go the two bomb proofs were buried and the in mates had to be removed. '
 X few minutes later an orderly sent with a message to the left Of Ia company returned. reporting that the trench had been completely lev eled Lieutenant Dambitsch, going Co observe. saw as far as the eye could reach crater after crater six feet deep, the earth between being torn up in a wild high chaos of trench timbers and wire entangle- ments.
 "The work Of day and night for nine months" says the chronicler, was destroyed in few minutes. Report after report arrived of bomb proofs demolished by aerial torped- oes burying the inmates. The trench es became rapidly leveled; communi- cation between the sections was eN- iremely difficult
 "The third lines were so heavily shelled that it was impossible to tra verse them. An orderly sent to a Captain was hours under way. The left flank. the company trench, was so obliterated that it was difficult toI trace it.
 ."The only means of progress was to dash from crater to crater fully exposed to the enemy fire while crossing the intervening ridges Fi- nally he arrived after a period of in- tense danger and found the left pla- toon of the company in the same con- dition as the right platoon. A num- Der of men were still buried m the demolished bombpro0fs Their com rades worked for hours eXtrlcating them.
 During this work an intrepid Bat talion surgeon arrived with an oNy' gen apparatus and stood for hours under a heavy artillery fire minister. ing to Che hall-buried and attempt | ing Co revive those asphyXiated