The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1916-08-15
vERDUN AS SEEN
BY A TELESCOPE
Bursting Shells Make Whole
Valley Like Volcano.
FIRE OF FRENCH Is DEADLY
Perfect System Of Opposing Forces
Makes II Possible to Pour 1000
Shells a Minute Upon Any Target.
Range Finding an Interesting Prob
lem, Mathematics Being Used.


lem, M~athematics Being Used.
There are few portions Of any front
that | have ever seen where n could
gain more than an idea Of a single de
tail OF the operations. Nerdun is an
exception. writes Stanley Washburn in
the London Times. In a certain place
carefully sheltered from view of the
enemy was a dugout. and through the
lOophole OF this peered the long aDg
eye of one OF the highest powered t"le
scopes that il has eve been my p'fvi
lege TO look through. / could not have
imagined that from "a single spot IA
could see so many Of the now famous
points which nave become synonymous
with the defense OF Verdun.
Down In the valley of the Meuse lay
the town itself. whence. every few
minutes. came the distant reyerbera-
ton Of a bursting shell. When one Is
I'm the town itself one sees little. Tn
less a shell falls very near. one never
sees 1T at all. But from our observation
point n can see volcanoes OF dust and
black smoke shoot up here and there
about the town. followed a little later
by the belated sound of the report
drifting up from the valley. Nerdun
itself il apparently hidden from the
direct vision Of the enemy. but ranges
long ago corrected by aeroplanes have
been established these many months
IL Is questionable, however, how
much check the gunners have on the
target at present, since il has become
unhealthy for the German aerOplanes
TO show themselves I'm this vicinity
in the daytime.
The country is rolling I'm all direc-
tons and for the most part barren OF
forest or shelter except the very ques-
tionable protection that small villages
afford. Through our glasses we can
see the shells bursting in and about
the village Of Fleury. behind which
we are told the French mustered for a
counterattack against the Germans on
ffeh ~ and nipped their advance 10y
way Of Douaumont in the bud just at
the moment when the Teutons be-
lieved their way TO Nerdun open before
them. The village is already desolate
from the German shell fire. A little to
the north lies Vaux. and we can Just
see the ruins Of the town. Sc power
full IS the telescope that the piles OF
brick and the remaining walls stand
out I'm clear cut detail.
The plain before us and every por-
ton OF the valley that lies beneath us
l. mawsnNaI - 49, H.. % ls-s-- iii
But for the continuous bursting OF
shells in all directions one might imag-
Inc that the whole landscape had been
long since abandoned by human habi-
tant. A little TO the west of Naux
stands the sullen ridge OF Douaumont
fort. whose name has become famous
throughout the world as the scene of
some of the iercest lighting which this
war has produced.
Birdseye View of Mort Homme.
Down the western slope n can see
the lines OF the German trench. though
the French line is hidden from our
view by the crest OF a ridge that inter
venes. To he north lies the valley OF
the slow flowing Meuse- A bit TO the
west is the Mort Homme. that bloody
slope which cost the lives OF thou
sands.
Turn In any direction and one al
ways sees In the air half q dozen shells
bursting. Now it is a big shrapnel
oyer Fleury, with it's clouds OF puffy.
eotton-like smoke drifting off on the
breeze. while a second later. with a
crash like the explosion OF a volcano.
a shell aimed at Verdun tears up half
an acre on the slope north Of the
town. The Germans are sending I'm
large numbers of their 3SO's today. and
their explosions on the slopes and
crests of the hills resemble the sudden
eruption of a volcano. while for many
minutes afterward the craters steam
and smoke like internal fires.
Under our eyes. though we see them
not. are neatly tucked away | know
not how many of the lurking 75's and
bigger guns. The country is an ideal
one for them TO work in. Every con-
spicuous object now i'm German hands
has long since been definitely located
and the range worked out to q nicely.
Leaving our observation point. we
motor back to the outskirts of the
town where the general shows us one
of his anti aircraft stations. Here are
set up a number Of 75's on special
mountings In rhe center OF the sta
ton, suspended on a small platform, is
A brass bell The moment an enemy
machine Is sighted the bell is sounded.
and no matter from which direction II
may be coming, every gun Is on the
target and the three corrections neces
sary for che first shot have been made
within fifteen seconds. The mathe
MATES are extremely interesting. A
very intellectual young man with a
book OF iogarithms, q pad and a pencil
undertook TO explain to me how the
ranging was done. While he was dra "
ing neat triangles and ~polygons and