Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-01-08

t....j hug" steel fu. hat lumber
"iao. ou cate. llar wheels
>'ynl for:s that can c..'.' shell crater~
'ni project thcm,el,,. yer trenches
They ar" wars latest .iarycl. Nut hon.
ago they changed .. worlds ideas
about trench fighting Incidentally.
they won a big cn-asHcnj for their
makers and masters. the British. This.
according to Lawrence Flick. writing
In the Philadelphia Record.
Ii came about in way highly dra-
matte. England'S men had been getting
ready for Il drive against German
trenches in the West. The prcpara-
tons had lasted many days. Thou
sands Of fresh troops were there. Brit
aims best. Hundreds Of biz guns wer,
In position, cunningly screened from
the view of German airmcu. Tons Of
ammunition were piled high in readi-
ness on the artillery "dunpS.'
Then came the tanks"
They had not been named before
that first day when Tommy Atkins
saw them. There was much laughter
in the ranks when the new engines of
death came trundling up 10 the lines.
They were biz, about twice the size
of the biggest motor truck, and as I'M
calmly aS 80 many mammoth steam
rollers. They were heavily armored.
They had guns pointing from carefully
protected loopholes. They moved along
like lazy caterpillarS. Tommy laughed
and called them tanks"
The 'tanks" were mighty good
joke for Il few days. All sorts of wit
tcisms were hung on them. But
though Tommy "guyCd" the new war
engine. he took mighty good care that
his laughter should not be heard over
in the German trenches. The enemy
had no inklnG of what was being pre-
pared for him.
The German lines, over across No
Mans Land. were as secure as harbed
wire, sandbag parap IT'S and concrete
trenches could make them. Your Ger
man soldier is Il thOrOughgOing fellow.
He knows how To make good trenches
He has learned the art of defending
them well by means of machine guns
craftily disposed. You can smash him
up with big-gun fire. and force him
to take to the shelter of his bomb
proofs. You can blast him out of his
/ Fhnchcs and his duGouts with hand
1nades. You can knife him i.;to sub
~Ilsyss bayonets. fAll this if you
eand ammunition to
spare: Trench lighting. you know, is
bloody business. Trenches are taken
at fearful cost. The steady. slow ad-
vance of the British and French in
the West has been made possible only
by the sacrifice of thousands. Ger
man rifle fire is deadly; German ma
chine-gun fire particularly is wither-
ing and blasting. And the Germans,
all through this war. have made il |
evident that they have plenty of ma
chine guns and machine-gun ammuni- |
ton. even if they are short of other |
neceSsaries.
So il wasn't pleasant task that |
faced the British that gray September
morning. They were ready for the |
push. They had no Illusions about the
reception that awaited them. and no |
misgivingS. They We're grimly ready
and resolved. They were going out To
TO take the German trenches over Won
der, out beyond the reek of Shcll-toru.
corpse-strewn No Mans Land. And
The tanks" were going along.
Now ii is no holiday haunt. taking q
motor trip across No Mans Land
That bit of ground--it may be hun
dred or thousand yards across-has
been shot over for weeks or months.
Shells have fallen there, and exploded.
digging huge craterS in the earth. Ey-
erywhere there are debris. the wreck
age Of man and beast. Tree trunks
II ahoIt, and StumpS jut out There
hay be broken-down and abandoned
gun carriages. too. or smashed motor
lorrieS, relics of Il fight months ago
Then there are uneXplOded shells.
waiting for chance contact to SET
them off. There are lines and lines.
mo1sover, of barbed wire. and there
ma/ be concealed mines, harmless nm ,
til The passage of Il charging COMPANY. ,
and the touch of an electric switch in
the eneDy's trenches transforms them |
nto swift volcanoes. No Mans Land
8 difficult ground for men To travel
IN foot; by motor car it Is almost i'm |
,assable. 4