New Britain herald., 1917-10-15
'OH, LA LA AS
 SHELLS WHIz BY
Robert C. Vance Writes Of Steel
 Nerves Of French Soldiers

now in France with the American Field Ambulance service, being at- tached to the famous Yale Unit, writ ing under the heading of "Somewhere in France.' September "A, has the following interesting observations to make:
 Yesterday was Sunday and three of us who are assigned to ambulance duty went out to a reserve post to wait for emergency calls to posts be- hind the lines. As we started from our headquarters the famous French 75' guns began their barking. No sooner had they started their terrific din when two or three German ma chimes were seen coming from the German lines. The French anti-air- craft guns opened fire and forced the Boche planes high into the air-al- most out of sight. but the incessant hum of the motors and the steady tack-tack of the machine guns on the French planes could be heard at all times between the intervals of the booming of the heavier French bat teries. The Germans were trying to locate the French guns and tNey were shooting wild. When the Germans re- piled the French guns ceased firing and we went on our way to the post.
 Arriving at the post we found the Frenchmen sitting in the arbi (sand- bag houses) listening to the bursting shells. The German shells seem to be slower than the French shells and make a noise somewhat like freight train when they pass over your head. We heard many of them for the Ger mans were taking their range from their observation balloons and were attempting to locate the masked French batteries.
 '"The Frenohmen seem to have nerves of steel. When shell burst near them they would fall prostrate on the ground and permit the par ticles of shell to pass over them. Their only comment on what seemed to be very narrow escape was: Oh! la la.' The Oh is given in g. high pitched voice and the Ia las are given in a rapid monotone and it al- ways causes laugh among the Frenchmen. This is a stock phrase and is used invariably to denote fear, surprise or indifference.
 Vo IeLld1ucu OH call all nlSnC long, driving at all times without lights. This is necessary because If we had our machines lighted the Ger man gunners could see us and fire at us. It is necessary to drive very slow for there are small munition carts on the road and if they should be hit by a Henry Ford there would be an explosion. In avoiding them one has to rely entirely on eyesight as the noise of your ambulance and the cracking of guns drowns out the noise of the little carts. There are also shell holes in the road and ditches alongside, which adds to the difficulty of driving at night. Driving down Main street in New Britain at 6:15 p. m. would be a pleasure com pared to this work. Sometime dur ing the night I was called out to post near the front line trenches. ! I took a French stretcher bearer with me and started. After many petty troubles 'Frenchie' and I arrived and found that the man we had to carry back to the reserve post had been hit by trench torpedo. The poor fel- low had not word to say except oh, American He seemed happy to be getting out of the mud of the first lines. Another wounded French sol dier sat on the front seat with me. This fellow was very happy indeed for he had had his thumb shot off and that meant that he would be in the hospital for a week or so. These two men I took back to the reserve post and from there back to a large town we'll in the rear. Returning ] accompanied my company and some .+~ hno fn al ch ha11 tered church where we found two ar tillerymen who had been hit. They had arrived at 3:30 the day before and the areoplanes we had seen had located them for the German gum ners That night German '77' was sent over our heads at the post to kill the French gunners. I will not describe the wounds which caused their death, but their faces had con- tented look-they had died for their country.
 After attending the funeral we re- turned to eat meal, but did not en- joy it. Before long had another call to another post. Our orders are to keep moving for if we stop the Ger
 man observation balloons can see us and signal down our location. giving the gunners a chance to do some ef-
 fcctive work. If we go fast 1t IS
 harder to get the range. Halfway
 along the road a French 75' cut
 rose. My little Ford and myself
 jumped simultaneously, but the
 E'~nnchman inside simply murmured
 Oh, la 1a.'
 The danger from the poisonous
 rasses is overcome by the well known
 gas masks which we are all com- 9elled to carry. As soon as there is
 2 gas attack coming all kinds of 1 horns, bells, whistles, etc., sound the { alarm.
 "As the hour for rest approaches
 Ill of the ambulance drivers are ex- ceedingly happy and they go good distance behind the lines for @ much 1 needed sleep. Incidentally it might