Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-09-08
SEES FIERCE FIGHTING
ON TH|RTY-MILE FRONT
Correspondent Tells Of Two Great
est Days Of Battle OF
SOmmc.
SHELLS THICK IN THE AIR
One Dozen :icroplanes Skirmisli and
Vancouver High UP in the Sky, In
Midst of Shrapnel Bursting All
About Them.
ny WILLIAM BAYARD HALE.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY
or THE CROWN PRINCE OF BA-
VARIA ON THE SoMAlE FRONT. Sep
;ember courier to Berlin. September,
L. and cable Via Amsterdam. September
TO day and yesterday have been
the greatest days of the battle of the
Sonmc. and probably in the history OF
war on earth.
Yesterday the general commanding
an army corps was so interested in
the tate of a newspaper correspondent
as to suggest that ! go no further
than a certain observation tree on the
edge OF the battle. To-day, escaping
his eNcellcncy'S solicitude by a forty
mile motor ride to the north, ! sue
cceded in getting 10 the firing line.
II has, therefore. .bccn my fortune to
be an observer the front on the
two most critical days. Perhaps in
history warning men never have staged
a more wonderful spectacle.
AS write tonight. | have in mind
two views OF the battle scene from
points which ] can describe no more
definitely than to say that one is on
poSitc the French and the other is on
posltc the British offensive. | viewed
the whole stretch of battle line from
Pozieres to Biachcz. From a point
|
mile conilaEration. tho most fatal that
ever famed. To-day | have had a
much nearer view OF the seven des-
perate miles between Thicpval and
pelville wood
SHRIEKING SHELLS
TEAR THROUGH AIR
Naturally. many features never can
be forgotten; same cannot be described
busy German battery on my left
80
the ridge that screened it, Occasional
~ AN enemy shell tore it's shriekinc
path through the air above me with
inc rising aud falling note of the whis-
tie of runaway locomotive, coming
up. passing and disappearing I'm lis
MAD career To the right and more
constantly straight ahead, flashed tho
fire of the English.
lhree captive balloons watched on
hIsh ana teleGraphed To earth the story
OF what they saw, and from first to las,
an even dozen acroplancs skirmished.
loueht ana unanswered in the Sky,
amidst the bouquet Of shrannel INC,
bloomed about them There was hi,
little TO the east that lifted itseIf
IN special sadness. wan and wasted
On the sides and summit still stood the
outlines OF trees, bat every branch had
been stripped bare by the hail Of shran-
mel on that hill. silhouettcd against
Ng Tree OF bethany stood multiplied
1000 t'mes. Yet that was a happv
hill. '''
In front of me no tree or shrub long
or lifted its head. Ana over All swept
missiles OF death, seeking their vic.
'ithS. or what went on beneath that
curtain of fire | know. OF course, moth.
fnE except what few weary Germans
ana TWO English prisoners dragged
from the Delville woods told me. and
winch are too piteous and grewso1ne
to put on the wire, and what guessed
from me score Of moaning fellows and
the row silent dying or dead VINO pass
ed on the way back to the field
STORIES TOLD ny THE
WOUNDED REYOND DEI,It:r
cannot tell OF the individual ho,ni.
eide OF the gas and grcnades. thrus,s
OF bayoncts, curses and screams. be-
cause ! know Of these things only al
second hand and because the elacula.
tory narratives of the half-dazed
wounded and scared prisoners whom
| stopped and questioned were beyond
behet IN their testimony of the bitter
ness of tho struggle.
Things We're done by maddencd hui
man beings in the trenches which to
the credit o! humanity, ought never to
be written, at all events, some one
else must write them. Two months ago
We 'dikc' OF INC Iront-line trenches.
lo-day there are no trenches. The
ground has been Flowed, narrowed
ana kncadcd Not that have been
mere TO sec. cod helping me. | never
VIII go nearer than I was to-day But
all about arc plenty OF men just out Of
the interior.
More Than Il fortnight ago ! cabled
that the English offensive had spent
its fury. Prophecy is poor business for
reporter. Whether 1t has now. after
the desperate effort OF the last two
days. spent itself no one on this side
or the lines knows. hut every one be-
iieNeS he knows that whether Il has
spent itself. or is still TO he spent,