New Britain herald., 1916-10-24
RUSH INTO BATTLE
 WITH SONG ON LIPS
Germans and Hungarians Bithe
 As They Charge on Rulnanians WEARY OF THE TRENCHES

Defenders Unable to Live Under Mur- derous Fire of Long Range Artillery Which Sends Them skurrying Out of Mountain Pits.
 At the Head of Predeal Pass Ru-
 manian Frontier. With General von
 Falkenhayn's Army, Oct. IS, by Cour-
 fer to Berlin. via London. Oct. 24
 1925 a. m.-In yesterdays battle
 ground Predeal Pass The Associated Press correspondent visited various
 sltions where the men, undisturbed by
 Rumanian fire, kept up fearful bonn
 hardment of the opposing positions in the campaign for the invasion of Ru-
 mania. The men went at their work in almost a holiday spirit for it was with a sense of deep relief that the Germans and Hungarians here, off, cers and men alike, have left be- hind them the trench warfare of other regions and thrown themselves into open field maneuvers against the Ru-
 uanianS.
 1t was scarcely beHevable that after two years of strenuous life at the front lnfantrymen should rush to the assault With songs, yet it is a act to which the universal feeling here ot dealing with a foe who has yet to learn every trick of modern warfare, contributes much. Though the Ger man and Hungarian infantrymen were about to rush into the fire of Rumanian rifles and machine guns they viewed the situation complacent- ly, saying that the worst of open field work was preferable to trench drudg- cry. Officers explained that the change virtually would make the troops fresh forces, owing to the novelty and the greater opportunity for initiative on the part of the men. and also to the fact that after all the troops of the Central Powers are best suited for m rnaneuvering, because of the training they have received along that line.
 An Open Field Action.
 The Predeal battle is one of the few open field actions witnessed in this war by correspondents, who are able to approach within less than 5000 yards of the skirmishing line, with the artillery in the rear. At II o'clock in the morning German ar tjllery opened a desultory fire on the Rumanian trenches on Susaiul noun tain, 5000 feet high, which an hour later reached it's maximu moi fury.
 The fire was then directed mainly
 against the trenches some 500 feet
 below the summit. For a quarter of
 an hour the Rumanians stuck to
 their trenches, the artillery fire then
 showing merely line of individual
 ,a11 oJo
 artillery spotters in the skirmishing
 line that the Rumanians thus far
 seemingly had not been impressed,
 the German artillery increased the
 fire so that a few minutes afterwards
 the smoke from the shells mingled in
 cloud bank The Rumanian infan- try still held on for a time, but fin- ally broke across the slope like a swarm of ants as the German and Hungarian infantry came in view. German artillery followed up the fleeing Rumanians with shrapnel. and the manner in which the fire p11r sued the Rumanians appeared almost uncanny.
 On ridge leading from Susaiul l mountain the Rumanians finally 1 reached their second position A lul1 l ensued. A few minutes before ? m. it was decided to resume opera l tons. German artillery, now a blk,
 supported by some Hungarian bat
 teries, repeated the work of the morn
 ing, and then the infantry rushed ! forward and in a comparatively short ' time the objective was gained.
 Blowing Up Town.
 l The ground being extremely diffi- 1 cult, the Rumanians endeavored to ] forward infantry endorsements
 through the town of Predeal with the 1 result that heavy German and Hun
 garian guns inside of fifteen minutes l blew up half of the town. The Ru- | manian forces were obliged to seek l shelter in the forest above the town, 1 passing through German infantry fire 1 at long range.
 l The Predea1 action was not remark 1 able for severity of artillery fire or
 other action, but great interest centers
 in it for the reason the German and l Hungarian infantry, unaccustomed to mountain fighting was able to cope l with the difficulties of the terrain, al-
 though they were hard to grasp by | those unfamiliar with the nature of
 the Transylvanian Alps. Another point is that the forces actually at 1 tacking are extremely small, owing to 1 the nature of the ground, which
 proves a greater handicap to the l more numerous reserves following 1 them.
 ! The Rumanians on the other hand, 1 showed lack of military knowledge. The efficiency of their troops suffered l because much of the artillery had been taken out of range for fear of being cut off The few guns that re- mained were so placed that they were 1 useless except for defense of roads 1 through the pass, which are unneceS-