New Britain herald., 1917-08-20
HUMAS0N WATCHES
 PLANE SHOT DOWN
(Continued from First Page)

| most interesting and exciting day yet
 AS this is the most typical day of the
 war of any I have yet seen. I will try and describe it exactly as it appeared
 to me.
 We were awakened at a. m. Gin reality 3 and while we eat our
 scanty breakfast of bread and coffee we see the sun rise over the horizon
 into perfectly cloudless sky. The guns, which have been unusually | silent all that week, are now absolute- ly silent and from the hill where our camp is situated all that can be seen resembles a peaceful agricultural dis trict of prosperous and extensive farms. No sound or sight mars the beauty or peacefulness of the scene. At 5:3O we crank our motors and pre- pare to start, and exactly at that mo- ment the first sign of the war also makes itself shown. Ths consists of the raising of fourteen huge captive balloons which are used for observa- tion. All can be. seen on this per feet morning and clearly mark out for us the line of battle. Shortly after six distant specks rise on the far horizon, showing the Boche are also on the alert and are raising their balloons. We are off in blinding choking whirl of dust as usual and reach our loading station at about 6. Then occurs a grand daily mix-up which shows the great lack the French have of system and which makes you wonder how they ever got where they are. Camiohs are led hero and there and changed around count less time getting where they ought to be in an hours time perhaps if 1 HYy1-- wait at another house while one gang of men argues with another as to which will load this or that camion. Finally they get that settled and then start to load. This process is inter- rupted by numerous rests and squab- bles. but eventually the work is com pleted. While the work is going on a church bell chimes in the distance which reminds us for the first time that 1t is Sunday Just as we are ready to depart we notice the Frenchmen pointing to the sky and see 1t Is full of bursting shrapnel. An officer rushes up and advises that IS under an aeroplane bonn bardment and as that is on our route we are ad- vised to delay bit. After awhile we begin to have appreciation for tho foresight and thcughtfulness shown by both sides in this great struggle. The French shrapnel in breaking makes a white smoke, while the Boche is black, which makes 1t easy for the casual observer to follow the fortunes of war. The eastern and northern sky Is now completely dot ted with little white puffs new batch 1 constantly appearing followed by dull, distant boom, the latter being mixed with heavier sound and we know that our allies and bon comrades are on the job- Now a deafening whir- ring sound is heard overhead and looking up we see ten big planes each carrying three men and bearing tho insignia of France rushing toward the l scene of activity. In a very few min utes the black smoke increases while l the white diminishes until before long 1 the former has the heavens to itself as we know that the day belongs to France We then leave, but as we start we. can hear the bombs still dropping and know reprisa1 raid is taking place. All the way in we see the same thing until reaching the town in question. We do not stop so have no way of learning the amount of damage done, although there IS no evidence of anything unusual.
 
 diers who are en repos, the stores are open for business, the church, or what remains of it is. and all is well. We now enter one of the main roads to the front and pass or join con- tinuous stream of people and Ve- hivles.
 In the Whirl of War.
 Every nationality and every Known fn1 SrNh a few English, Morrocans, Africans and Hindu all jumped together. Ca- mions, small trucks. ambulances, every known horse vehicle, some dating back to the Bastile, are there, and Der of touring cars and limiusines, one or which bears the insignia of @ general, whirl or are whirled by, in the mad scramble. We are now getting into the war zone proper and the cultivated fields are left behind. Everything IS covered with wild, thick vegetation. We pass through numerous ruined V1l' lages which plainly show the signs or the Hun occupation. The interior Of those buildings lucky enough to have escaped the shell fire have been sacked or demolished by fire. One wall of a huge building alone remained facing the street and bears in big black let ters the following inscription:
 "Gott Strafe England 1914-15.
 "All the buildings, no matter in what condition of demolishment they are in, bear a sign giving the number of men and horses the shelter can provide Sometimes the two are quar- tered separately, but more often they are put together indiscriminately. In one of these villages we hear the whirring sound of plane and on looking up see a plane bearing plain ly the sign of Made in Germany
 Sees German Plane Fall.
 'The air directly over our heads is now white with shrapnel and sudden