Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-01-28

Among the German smell WeIc
proportion Of gas-shell. and the mep'
toilng In gas helmets, covered with
black grease and, oil from the over
heated gums. looked Ike devils con-
, trolling the fires of hell The am
munltion came up In the height OF
the turmoil. brought by gallopinB
horse teams. as lorries would have
been too good n mark for the enemys
fire The wagons swayed and crashed
over the ruins of houses, now lost In
the smoke OF bursting shell, now
tearing along n stretch OF open road
their hslmeted drivers leaning low
over their horses like competitors In n
chariot race. They came to halt by
the guns, and men fell upon the
ltumbing shell in "a heap on the
ground. There was no time for care
ful pilinR.
| suddenly from number pit came
n sound of the rending OF wood. loud
above the din of the guns The over
strained hOwltzer had torn away from
the platform to which II was bolted,
drawing the base plate right thru two
| tiers OF oRkcn beams Fortunately.
the piece itself was undgrnaged, and
every one who could be spared. Off
| GERS and men, fell upon drag ropes
and hauled II out OF the pit on to a
hard rohd near bv. from which "
could be fired. IL was right out In
the open now. but that was unavoid-
able The maintenance OF fire was
OF far greater Importance than any
attempt at concealment. A few
minutes of frantic hauling, and the
gun was adding It's voice once more to
the inferno OF sound that threatened
to break In the ear drums OF It's de-
tachment.
II was picture of forgotten war;
the gun on the open road. the men
kneeling round VI ns the lanyard was
pulled Then the flash and roar. the
run back with trail pounding the
hard surface. the mon rushing In to
haul II up to It's old positions. The
air was full OF aas and splinters. Now
and then man hastily bound a
handkerchief around limb. the
blood that ooSed through II blending
with the buffer-oi that the guns
leaked out to form dark brown
stain that soon spread over every
thing But nobody was very serious
ly hurt, and in the excitement OF
maintaining fire nobody had time TO
pay attention to the slight wounds
sustained.
The attack was repuised before
ever the hsaaultinE Infantry reached
the English trenches. They were
mown down by machine-gun and ar
tillery fire. A group Of French "Sev-
enty -fives" did fearful execution
among a body OF Germans that de-
bouched from wood In close order,
and the dead in this particular sec
tor alone were subsequently counted
In thousands The fire on both sides
siackened down: the battery halved
Its rate of fire; then came down to a
couple ot rounds n minute, and, fin
ally. stopped altogether The guns
were overhauled and such. ammunl-
ton as was left put back In the she'll
and cartridge stores
Sy evening everything was quiet
The wheeler and a few men from No
| detachment found ruined school
whose rsfters were exactly the size
OF the torn planks OF the broken plat
form BY next morning the battery
wore It's normal appearance, and life
was proceeding In the village In the
samc routine as Il had known be-
fore. There were n few more she'll
holes 10 he avoided. and a most un.
pleasant faint smell OF gas that lasted
until downpour of rain a few dass
later washed II away.
That is the story os typical coun-
ter-attack. unsuccessful as most Ger
man attacks are these DAYS. These au-
permen who work the guns under
such conditions, what sort OF chaps
are they. who and what were they
before the war, and how do they get
their engines OF destruction. that look
as though only travelling cranes could