New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-09
New York, Aug. 8, 1917.

New 1ork, aug. %, ISl''
We are pretty we'll established in our new
sector. 1t is one Of the quietest ones on the
Western front, and our division (three regi-
ments) is surely glad to get here after the
hell they've been in on the Champagne.
This is an awfully picturesque country
wooded gens and lakes and mountains, where
you can build ,"postes" and "abris" right
bang up TO the German line with absolute
safety almost, anyway against Smelling.
Our nearest poste Is on the side Of hill
away from the Huns, and their "obuses' come
over our heads and excavate and smoke up
the valley at our feet. Some of them are
pretty big shells, and it is quite diverting to
hear them whistle, and jump out and see
them explode 100 yards away and about
twenty feet below. 1t is quite sight to
see a shell explode Of you are not concerned
with getting away from it as far as posi-
ble). First, you hear the whistling shrek
of the thing, getting more intense the closer
it comes about that time, IL you are not in
peculiarly situated "abri" like our new
ones, you drop fiat as plank in the nearest
hole in the ground And then, in some I'M
expected spot, you see a column of dirt and
smoke shoot straight up and out Then you
hear a loud noise, varying with the calibre
of the she'll. Small ones make an ordinary
sound like magniied frecracker, while the
big boys make noise with more volume-a
sort of rendng thud, which ends up in q
bang When the smoke clears there's q
neat hole anywhere from three feet across
10 htrt nd
At night there's fash with the bang.
It's great TO be able to go to bed and know
that you won't be yanked out by the neck in
the middle of the night. This is too good
to last, though, but we are sure to be here
fortnight more, anyway.
A Particularly Nasty Poste
Have a bit o. news for you. During our
last attack in our previous sector there was
one particularly nasty "poste" from which
there was $French ambulance section work
ing. They had been at it for "a hours, and
had had two men kiled-been through gas,
and all that; so about in the morning they
began kicking and said they couldn't carry
all the work, with two men killed and a
couple of cars disabled So our chief Of
fered to lend them two cars of ours to help
out, and asked for two chaps who knew the
road Another chap and myself did, and we
went TO it, II was rotten night-dark as
pitch, roads shelled, dead horses, artillery
trains galopng (they have the right of way,
you know, and they don't stop for anything,
especially when they're coming back empty
from the front-they just want to get out Of
range, and II they rake off your hub caps
and tenders ("c'est la guerre," that's alb. We
rolled all night and had to use our gas
masks once-and there were some tear shells
the gas that just makes you cry and cry;
the water runs out of your eyes in streams,
but it does no real harm after you're
through it.
But about a. m, when | rolled back to
the poste de secours, | found real hell on
earth waiting for me. A she'll had gone
right through the roof of the poste and ex-
ploded right in the middle of the doctors,
brancardiers and blesses waiting TO be
transported. There was priest with me
whom had picked up on the way, and we
broke in the door, blocked up with debris.
When we got in we were almost stiied with
the smell of powder and burnt flesh. The
priest flashed light and by its Pickering