The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-29
COMPLIES SIEGE
MOST TERRIFIC
IN ALL HISTORY
English Advanced Munitions
Along Sunken Road.
Paved 1t With Bricks of Artil-
lery Wrecked Houses.
EVERY HOUSE A GERMAN FORT
Village of 1880 Converted Into
Military Stronghold.
Correspondent Describes Ora
matte Picture of Battle.
Paved 1t With Bricks of Artil.
Iery Wrecked Houses.
EVERY HOUSE A GERMAN FORT
Village of 1900 Converted Into
Military Stronghold.
Correspondent Describes Ora
matte Picture of Battle.
BY HENRY MOOD.

bles Sept 29.-Horses. dashed into
furious gal1op by mad riders dashing
forward over a sunken road with
huge quantities of ammunition; aero
planes. lowering above vulture-like
awaiting the fall of Combles; men,
sweating, fighting their way forward
over shell pocked roads in a terrible
shell fire
These were some of the dramatic
scenes that preceded the capture of
the strongly fortified village that had
blocked the allied advance north of
the Somme. The eventual capture of
Combles became a certainty on Tues
day morning when French cavalry
patrols advancing northeastward and
English cavalry patrols. thrusting
southeastward, met eastward of Com
bles. They thus completely encircled
the village, cutting off the last COM
munications with the German army in
the rear.
Sees Final BOmba rdment.
On the same morning 1 approached
Combles from the west, starting from
Maricourt, the junction point from
which the French and English often
| sive was launched July /, and travers-
ing each successive step in the advance
made in the intervening three months
toward the attainment of this first
. w
within less than mile and a quarter
| of Combles, the town itself was then
undergoing the final bombardment
and assault.
Altho Combles was a mere village
of 1900 inhabitants the Germans had
so fortified every house, especially the
cellars where machine guns were in
stalled, that the allies were forced to
employ siege methods. They COM
pletely encircled the town with their
/ l.. LIT
ing in with every advance of the in
| fantry lines.
From the viewpoint of the enor-
nous quantity of artillery. massed
| against it and also from the incalcu-
| able number of shells rained into it.
Combles can easily boast of having
undergone the most terrific siege in
| the history of the world.
Ground impossible With Shell Holes.
1t was only on reaching the most
| advanced artillery lines before Com
bles that one could grasp nathemat-
ically the methodical progress which
had rendered the allies new tactics of
advancing by heavy artillery absolute
| " irresistible. tho the artillery lines
before Combles consisted of compare
lively light batteries.
| These had been rushed forward dur
ing the night over ground rendered
impossible by shell holes to every
thing but foot soldiers. But while
troops were tugging guns across this
ground. a veritable army of soldiers
had sunk winding roadway several
feet below the surface of the ground,
paving it with bricks from nearby
houses. wrecked by artillery fire. Over
this, when we arrived early the next
morning, munition caissons screened
from the enemy's observation by the
depth of the roadway, drawn by four.
six and even eight horses, were dash
ing along every 1nonanf with in
credible number of shells necessary to
feed these advanced lines of artillery
which could be reached in no other
way
Busy Making Roads
Back from these advanced lines.
fed by galloplng, careening caissons
were thousands more soldiers, method
ically transforming what had been on
the preceding days caisson roads, into
highways capable of sustaining huge
automobile conveys bringing up heav-
Ter munitions for heavier artillery
that had supplanted the lighter guns
now further advanced during the
night.
Farther behind these automobile
fed artillery lines was still a third
army of workmen. steadily construct
Ing railways which were bringing up
artillery so gigantic that not only ii
but its shells can be transported only
on specially constructed railways
These huge pieces were supplanting
these more transportable automo.
> oile-fed pieces already rushed for
ward If Combles fell before a
methodical heavy artillery advance
and enlightenment, it fell equally be-
fore the methodical construction OF
roadways, from the dirt and brick
bedded wagon roads to the full guaged
rock ballasted steel railways This
method marks the allied advance on
, the entire thirty-mile Somme front.
Village Pounded Into Earth"
s Reaching Maurepas. which is about
l we had vivid impression of the ac.
= tual state of affairs in Combles which
was then undergoing the same bonn.
bardment that preceded the capture
D of Maurepss. Maurepas. instead OF
being simply levelled to the ground
villages during the first few weeks OF
the offensive had been literally driver
into the ground by terrific shell
pounding.
>, The village had almost disappeared
from the surface of the earth, leav
:. ing only the naked site. pockmarkec
by shells like the surrounding oper
! country. An officer explained tina
1 this was the result of the allies new
artillery methods, whereby shells ar,
r driven as deep possible into tn.
ground before exploding for the pur
s pose of ousting the Germans. who nov
dig in from fifty to seventy feet
I Combles being several miles in ad
: vance of the French line of observa
n ton sausage ballons. the final obser
L walton resulting in the capture of tn,
village was entrusted to aeroplanes
: Aeroplanes Circled Like VuItures.
In great numbers they circled abov,
= the village at a great height like
n | flock of huge vultures. awaiting onl-
IL, raSr1 hat 70 -.