The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1917-02-17
many DROWN in mud CHURNED UP
BY SHELLS ON THE BATTLEFIELDS
Modern Shell Fire Creates Problem Such No Army in History
Ever Had to Contend Wth-Artiey Smashes Trenches to
Mud and PuIp-Great Strategy Has Disappeared and
Tactics Have Become Commonplace.
by ELLIS AsHMEAD-RARTLETT.
(British War Correspondent.)


the second French offensive at Verdun
In December and the successful adj
vance of the British north of the Ancre
there has been very little movement
since then. All the combatants are
preparing for the coming spring.
Could we have put back the clock
for three months am convinced that
the struggle, as far as the western
front is concerned, would have been
over before Christmas. But we had
not the powers of Joshua at Ajalon,
and therefore the final issue has been
DELAYED. 1t was the mud and wet
which alone prevented the allies from
pressing home their successes. In ev-
cry engagement more positions are
won and more prisoners are taken, but
the present state of ground renders op-
erations at all times difficult and very
often impossible. Those who have not
been on the Somme or before Verdun
can have no conception of what the
mud is like.
1t may be argued that there has
been mud in every war, and the great
Napoleon after his experiences in Po-
land described it as the fifth ele-
ment." But no general who ever led
an army either "B. c." or "a. D." ever
had to face the problem such as ex-
lists now. 1t is a new factor which
has not been experienced before. The
terrible mud of the Somme and Yer
dun is created by modern shell fire.
In normal times the roads might be
muddy and the fields heavy, but this
would not stop an army. 1t is the con-
centration of modern shell fire on re-
Stricted areas which brings about
these abnormal conditions.
Torn by Artillery Fire.
Modern artillery fire leaves not a
yard of a 40-acre field untouched. The
shell holes overlap one another, for
each cannot find an independent bed.
They make craters six to twelve feet
deep, according to the caliber Of the
shell. The terrific explosions scatter
the surface soil and bring the under
stratas to the top.
All this ground on which the armies
are now fighting will, according to the
agricultural commission that visited
the front, be utterly useless for cen
turtles after the war. The surface soil
has been so utterly destroyed that no
crops of grass will grow there until
time and nature eventually provide a
fresh deposit.
AS soon as the rain falls these era
tiers become filled with thick mud and
water to depth varying from four to
eight feet. 1t is over ground in this
state that all infantry attacks have
now to be made at this season of the
year.
The artillery smashes the enemy's
trenches to mud and pulp. Your in
fantry are then launched to the at
tack. Then they reach their objective
What do they find? Simply the bat
tered outline of what was once a line
of trenches and hundreds of these gil
ant holes filled with mud and slime
They must lie out in the open or on
the edges of these craters. exposed to
the mercilesS fire from the enemy's
guns, which have the exact range, I'M
til some kind of a fresh trench has
been dug amidst the ruins of the old.
Consequently in all these latter at
lacks 1t has cost very few men to take
position in comparison with what it
costs to hold it afterwards. Many
hundreds of men have been drowned
In these latter advances. For in
stance, 1t cost the French under 1000
men to retake the positions of Douau-
mont and Vaux and the quarries of
Hardenmont, but they suffered twice
as many casualties from shell fire,
deaths by drowning and frostbite be-
fore the positions were firmly CONSOLE
dated. Think of the fate of some OF
the unfortunate infantry. They ad
vance to the attack carrying a deat
weight of over 60 pounds.
Sinks to His Death.
There is a natural inclination t,
dive for cover when the Smelling be
comes heavy. A man drops into tn
nearest hole. He finds himself in fiv
or six feet of mud. He cannot extri
cate himself, and slowly sinks to hi
death as if he were in quicksand.
1t is almost impossible to attemp
to describe the battle of the Somme
the task is hopeless; it's dimension
have become too monstrous, its same
ness is as wearying as "a twice-tol
tale vexing the dull ear of a drows
man." and it's manifold horrors wi
not bear constant reiteration. 1t
divided into various subdivisions q
scientifically organized slaughter. ]
is almost impossible to see or to d.
scribe what happens ON the many sui
divisions of this huge battlefront
But day after day, night after nigh
hour after hour, the grim work Z
gradual attrition goes on.
The whole extent of the front
swept by two vast semicircles Of a
tillery fire. You cannot lose yor
way to this international holocaust, f
you are guided "by cloud Of smol
by day and pillar of fire by night
NEfIoe fro,,o Tho fropt Tho ctr Iythro 70