Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-06-14
VOLCANOES WON
FOR THE BRITISH
million Pounds Of Explosives
ROuted Germans In Belgium.
FILLED AIR WITH FLAMES

10Y 60 EXIST on the Front, and as a
Result the Map Was Changed Over
Mine Mile Front.
What was possibly the greatest Of
fensive since the war in Europe start
ss6 began the other morning at o'clock
7wzen orders by Field Marshal Sir
E%ouglas Haig, commander of the Brit
sss forces, gave the signal for the de-
ton1ation of 100000 pounds of explo-
szFeS underneath the German positions
On a nine mile front between Ypres
and Armentieres, Belgium.
q correspondent of the London Daily
News said that the British rehearsed
the artillery preparation for the battle
For seven days we had been she'll
ing the enemy's position pitilessly," he
Erote, never letting them rest and
occasionally subjecting one portion Of
the line or another to hurricane bonn
harlment. Twice, indeed, we poured
ooQr fire on the whole front to be at
tackled by way of rehearsal on the
same scale.
Under this treatment the whole
topography of the front has been
changed. Woods have been swept
ont of existence, hill slopes have been
stripped and laid bare, and villages
IKE Wytschaete and Messines have
disappeared"
The correspondent tells the story of
The desultory firing in the early morn
ing hours; then that began which blot
fna out all sound and knowledge of
everything else. How many mines
went up at once / do not know exact
3y. but it was nearly a score. Many
OF these mines were made more than
q year ago and since then have lain
under the Germans feet undiscovered.
In all l believe GOO tons of high explo-
zsives were fred simultaneously.
Nine Streams of Fire.
81 can only vouch for having seen
mine of the great leaping streams Of
orange fame which shot upward from
that part of the front Immediately be-
fore me, each one of the nine a huge
volcano in itself, with as many more
volcanoes going off at the same mo-
rnent beyond them, hidden by their
sheet of fame as it leaped roaring up
ward throwing up dense masses Of dust
and smoke, which stood like great pill
Ears towering into the sky, all illumi-
mated by the fires below.
1T was terrifying as a spectacle,
And what was more terrifying was
That the earth shook like house of
cards. l stood on a solid hill and it
tsnaked like jelly or like some small
house on the edge of railway line
when heavy train thunders by.
Then, even before the echoes of that
zwfnl explosion died and while the
pillars of smoke still lowered and
grew, all our batteries awoke at once.
Imagine the whole sky ringed with
lightning which flickers white and vel
Low, orange, red and green Imagine
thousand great firefies all the colors
Of the rainbow Imagine the sky one
diamond with a million facets being
shaken in a giant hand. Imagine what
van will and still you will get no pic
fnre of it.
British Artillery Triumphs.
dawn was graying the eastern skies
and while the full moon was still sus-
pended high in the heavens. The sue
GesSes, Won along about a ten mile
front from Observatory ridge, south
east of Ypres, to Ploegsteert wood, just
north Of Armentieres, proved another
triumph for British artillery suprem-
sacy.
As the fighting was wholly on Bel
Eian soil, however, the Belgian artil-
sery, stationed some distance north of
the actual line Of attack, lent aid with
"A violent bOmbardment of the German
positions within range Of it's varied
calibered weapons.
Messines ridge is a low lying pro-
anontory extending along the greater
part of the fighting front 1t is an in
significant bit Of ground to look at
frOm below. At it's greatest height it
rises barely seventy meters above sea
evel The surrounding country is so
Aow and fiat, however, that Messines
had an observation value practically
fncalculable.
1t was position which dominated
me northern half of the British line
n the west, and no operations of
large character could be planned with.
out its possession.
Shells Spurted Molten Metal
Shells that spurted molten metal in
'snrging streams of golden rain crashed
IN appalling numbers about the heads
OF the defending soldiers. High explo
s1ve and shrapnel fire was carried out
with such rapidity that the very earth
9swrithed under the force of the attack
Mines that had taken two years to
dig and fill with an overwhelming ex-
paosfve broke into an avalanche of
flaming destruction in the half light of
dawn. This was indeed Ypres day
of retaliation and victory for the
vicious sufferings of two years and
eight months.