The Washington herald., 1916-06-11
Standing on Hill Above
Trench Lines, John L.
Balderston Sees Shells
Bursting Far Beneath with
Factories Going Nearby.
BY JoRN L. BALDER sroN.
Copyright. lgs.J

BY JoRN L. BALDERsroN.
Copyright, lsisJ
General Headquarters, British Armies
in France, May 12.-Our motor left
securely hidden a mile to. the rear
In the ruins of little hamlet, we
walked out the straight road, a paved
national highway, that leads from
Bethune to Lens. Some distance ahead
a great Stag heap lowered. crowned
by ruined machinery that marked the
entrance to one of the many coal
mines in the Black Country of France.
The Germans, as we walked toward
II, were remorselessly shelling the
Fosse de Bethune, as the mine is
called, the shots dropping in the same
spot and sending up huge clouds of
dust and smoke. (Deleted by censor)
Only at the extreme front are the
mines and factories Of this highly de-
veloped Industrial district standing
idle. One OF the strangest sights of
this bizarre war is to stand on a hill
top above the trench lines, as 1 did
north Of Arras. and looking out over
the country between the valley OF the
Somme and the plains OF Flanders,
watch shells and grenades bursting in
the apparently deserted towns and
fields beneath and miles away on
either side smoke pouring from Chin
neys Of factories. (Deleted by CEN
sor.)
Sometimes the Germans shell those
manufacturing plants and mines in the
hands Of the French. When they do,
the workers troop away to safety, return
ing. II there is anything to return to,
when the bomoardment Is over.
shells Fall Near.
We turned OF the road to the left.
avoiding danger from SHELLS aimed at
the pithead. Occasionally other shelss
screamed over our heads, to crash into
the mining towns OF Mazingarbe, Grenay
or Yermelles behind US. We were now
walking over the battlefield of Loos
jumping the trenches which zigzag
everywhere on this almost level plain, the
scene Of a struggle a few months ago
that cost British and Germans more than
10000 killed and wounded.
Not human being could be seen,
though the stan officer by my side
pointed out. far in the distance, observa-
ton towers from which, he said, the
Germans could see US A mile or so to
our left was the site of the tiny village
Of Rutoire, fought over by French ana
Germans and since shelled daily. and now
q heap OF bricks. Beyond that an ugly
Stag heap, which had barely glanced
at. received more attention when l
learned 1t was Fosse s. a pithead which
was and still Is the scene of some of
the bloodiest fighting on the British
front Near Fosse s, a slight elevation
from which smoke and flame leaped as
from a small volcano marked the Hohen-
zollern redoubt. with its trenches Big
Willy and Little Willy" in which
British and Germans have fought un-
ceasingly since last autumn. On our
right we recognized the Double Crassier,
another slagheap which divides the COM
batsnts. The ground we were now tread
ing, between the Crassier and the Hohen-
Zollern, Is that won by the British last
fail. The two immortal but ugly and
commonplace heaps Of refuse are four
miles apart four miles OF SCARED fields
barren even IN peace time, for crops will
not grow in this chalky soil
At First Line Trenches.
We reached the old first line British
trenches, picked our way through IT,
barbed wire as cut by the Scotchmen and
London Territorials OF the new army,
who started there on a wet September
morning, their wild dash which carried
them across the sills beyond Loos and
almost into Lens, charge which, fam
Gus critic has said, for a moment shook
the whole German position on the west
srn front" The old No Mans Land be-
yond was pitted with shell holes, dotted
with graves, Uttered with unexploded
shells Of alf calibres, German and British
while standing about were the wrecks Of
several cannon so thoroughly destroyed
as to be not worth removing. They were
dragged out into the open during the bat
tie for Hill 70, and until the inevitab Bile
end came their dauntless gunners poured
destruction into the German troops who
were struggling with the Scotch battalions
on the gentle ridge beyond Loos. The
German barbed wire Is Just as the British
guns left it a few seconds before the
charge began. Il is torn to pieces, and we
walked through it without the slightest
difficulty and peered down into the Ger
man first line trenches.
We frequently heard footsteps and
voices in the trenches about US, and once
l saw a column OF shrapner helmets de-
filing past Deleted by censor).
Under Close Surveillance.
Not only faraway German, but near
at-hand British eyes observed U.S. and a
major suddenly popped out Of the ground
like Jack-in-the-box The general sent
me to find out who you are and see
your papers" he said. Our officer pro-
duced pink documents furnished him by
general headquarters, and the major nod
ded and invited US, on behalf of the
general commanding the division, to tea
in the trenches We were visiting the
sector held by the Irishmen who sig
nalized the days OF the Dublin revolt by
calamity repulstng a German gas at
tack on the trenches before US and by
singing mocking songs when the Ger
mans displayed notice boards calling on
the Celts to desert because the British
we're shooting down their wives and chill
dren.
We took to communication trench as
We neared the top OF ridge barely no
ticeable, so gentle is the slope, but rep
resenting the dreaded skyline" COM
manded by the rifles Of German snipers,
which the ground we had walked over
Is not Awaiting US some distance ahead,
We found the general and his stan, who
conducted US to the advanced trenches
and explained the battle of Loos and
the present situation on this front There
Is little to be seen from a hrst-llne trench, |
where to show ones head means instant
death, and one can see, through a peri ,
scope. only tangle Of barbed wire, a |
few bodies and some more barbed wire, |
beyond which Is Germany. All was quiet |
at the moment. and we were permitted to |
stick our heads gingerly above the sur
face from an old German communication
trench in the rear, near the village of |
Loos, whence an excellent view of the |
German trench line along the foot of !
Hill 70 and along the ridge to the north
could be obtained. The twin towers of |