Arizona republican., 1917-05-09
BATTLE IF LOOS |S REPORTED AS
 NIGHT IF TERROR
(From a Staff Correspondent of the
 Associated Press

Vals throughout the night at number of places along the battle front par ticularly in the sector between F'resnOy and Loos and that "Our artillery re- plied,1 dismisses in cOldly official lan guage one of the most marvellous spec tacles of night firing the world has ever seen.
 It was a night made of terror. Great angry clouds scudded across the sky, successfully making all attempts of the full May moon to break through the cumulus barrage Eventually the heavens opened and poured forth tor rent of rain upon the hot cannon and the flames raging along the bloodred line of battle.
 A thunderstorm in it's greatest fury could have broken above this appalling artillery duel, however, and been com pletely swallowed up-its electric flashes lost in the blinding coruscation of the guns, it's thunder peals drowned in the reverberating waves of the crashing Illumination which came from believing cannon and bursting shells with. almost equal violence. Nature withstood the terrific bOmbardment until nearly dawn, then the rain fall ing to bring it to an end, a heavy fog
 shut down and put stop to the clang Orous uproar as suddenly as if some
 
 shouted above the din of battle. There were a few parting shots through the enveloping mist from either side and then absolute silence reigned.
 It was a fascinating spectacle to watch through the night, holding one in a spell of speeches. awe. From one of the high ridges recently occupied by the British miles and miles of the great | ,f bot lo l,n ar most part it was a duel with what the
 soldiers call big stuff" a giant
 test of strength among the heavies p But always above the roar of the big guns could be heard the crack of bursting shrapne and the petulant whine of leaden bullets sent in show = CTS from the shells
 It was beautiful day yesterday but menacing clouds had hidden the set
 ung sun. In the twilight scores of British airplanes were winging their homeward way from far over the Ger man lines, coming to cover from the gathering storm and bringing with them the wonderful stories that make up each days history in the titanic struggle for mastery of the air. In the valleys about Loos, Livein, Lens, Acheville and F'resnoy the fresh ening wind was stirring up great clouds
 of aust. Each high explosive shell
 breaking on the dry ground also sent
 up towering columns of chalk-like
 powder until haze gathered over all
 the lower levels of the immediate bat
 tie zone. In Lens and several other
 villages behind the German lines
 smouldering fires could be marked by
 the smoke Vapors that hung above
 them
 .artillery duel was in full swing long before night set in, but it was not
 until the gathering gloom of darkness
 reflected each separate flaming cannon , mouth that the full intensity of the , long range fighting could be grasped. The cloak of night also brought into action many great batteries lying con- cealed during the tell-tale hours of | daylight and ever and anon as the l night wore on new guns would burst , into violence from altogether unsus- : pected places.
 Some of these were the famous old
 grandmother howitzers, and the ground, ever vibrant with the drum ming rhythm of guns, severed and shook anew from the shock of these / mammoth weapons. The heavy Over- hanging clouds had the effect of in
 tensifying to an almost overwhelming ! degree the nerve -shattering noises of
 the battle. When battery fire'' would
 send four, five, six or more massive l shells simultaneously toward the Ger
 man lines, the onrushing horde was for , all the world like that experienced in an express train as it dashes into a ' tunnel.
 Q After what seemed an interminable \ length of time, the swish of those far i reaching shells ended with great dull : red flame of the horizon. One of these n in, r ammunition dump, and there was al [ explosion that lighted the whole coun- . tryside, resulting in a fire that burned 3 for an hour or more behind big clumI |! of trees which stood like gaunt blacl = skeletons against the glow.
 - The coming of darkness had brough 7. out also one of the most ghastly O s all battle sounds the incessant rattl, f of the machine guns Their staccat, e ripple came along the fighting line, tn windings of which could always b' Y traced by glowing rockets and flame . sent up by the Germans in long, slow
 graceful loops
 'i The resounding noises about one
 however were not all from entent Il guns Modern cannon speak with
 White-hot breath, hostile shells streal It with heavy red glare The noise O -- the cannon is sort of concentrate II smash or hammer knock; shells burs st with a flatter and a more open sound T. The Germans always break thei shrapnel very high in the air, and tn ? leaping flash of the exploding shells ar ' followed by little twinkling stars. V < In watching shell fire, It is partic '. ularly interesting to See a shell brea re some distance away and then, afte
 several seconds. hear the oncomin
 rush and eventually the explosion c Y. the same projectile. The whistlin i' noise of the shell and the noise of 1t ,n burst are far more terrifying than tn sf' sight, reminding one of childhood day T when the thunder held far more frigt A than the lightning.
 I The woods were lighted with gu o flashes and the crack and the crash Y artillery reverbrating in the near dis T. tance but the mating birds seemed CT ,4 tirely oblivious to the world madneS " raging about them. Still deeper
 the wood a jealous old owl woul o,. screech hoarsly now and again.
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