Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-05-05
BIG SHELLS SOUND
LIKE SUBWAY CARS
Correspondent Records impress.
sions of How 1t Feels to
Be Under Fire.
WRITES AS SHELLS BURST
Flashes From Firing of Guns Re.
semblc Heat Lightning
in Summer.
WRITES AS SHELLS BURST
ny HENRY G. WALES.

conjunction with French, arc putting
OF SHOW" within two miles of where
! am writing this. and have carried
my little portable typewriter up here
10 record, under hre. the exact i'm.
prcssions one gets when with the men
II action. Every time our big guns
bark or the French batteries coihss
into action in their carefully concealed
hiding places nearby, the little tyne
writer leaps from this officers mess
table, and whenever big German
shell breaks hercabouts jump q little
myself.
1t is little after Z o'clock in the
evening, and the preliminary artillery
preparation has Just begun. From
random firing. breaking casually along
the whole line, She French and Ameri-t
can guns Just broke into concerted ac,:
ton. They are concentrating on two
points in the cncmy's dcfcnscs, to
smash up his positions. breach lanes
through his barbed wire and brcak
down the morale of such troops as lie
has posted up front. Already the
krupp batteries are beginning to reply.
all OF them bending their efforts on
countcrbattcry work. trying to find the
French and American guns and silenca
them with direct hits.
'Whir-r-r-r-r-r"vsss a big shell
from ali American pIei H.. d be-
hind and to the east OF us. 1t screams
overhead, making exactly the same
noise that subway train roars out
OF the Gratings as it flashes up Broad
way. We now it is not meant for
us. because we heard the gun report.
and can make out the whstlinE GET
ting fainter and fainter as it tears
through space toward German bat
terry.
There is fash far off to the west
OF us ana thcn IA few seconds later
che ''crunip" OF tho bursting shell
echoes back TO us. But four success
aivc flashes from tho other side OF tho
line indicate That Gp hit MAS .Esgis tered.
as the enemy IS still battery firing in
his precise 'onc. two. three -four"
fashion. setting Off his guns i'm turn.
Just behind us another American
battery comes into action with a rush,
the eunlaycrs smashing out volley at
ter rolicy III rapid succession They
arc in rather exposed position, and
arc working their guns mighty fast.
even though they do heat them up. be-
cause they won't he able to continue
Hiring long. for fear Fritsy will spot
them because OF tho lack of protcc-
ton whcro they arc, their flashes
light up the whole terrain like heat
lightning ii summertime
Go cross the road there and down
that path OF duckboards and YOU Will
come TO ladder leadin' up a high
tree. Go on up there and you can see
everythin' fine" the cook advised mo.
did as he advised. Ii was ;isNery
hlSh tree, and the observers position
was IN the oxtreme. top. found a
french sublieutenant UP there swith
night glasses and A portapIcS.teIc-
phone' directing CERTAIN batteries
located several miles to the eastward.
IT'S burning" lie said in IErcnch.
motionins toward two scgmcnts Of
tue front about mile apart, Hhcrs
the bursting shells were concentrated.
VIEWS ENCOURAGEMENT q,
FROM Tor Of TREE
FROM this vantage point could see
quite over low ridge in front of me-
10 the advanced lines. and could also
discern more clearly just where the
frehch and American batteries were
emplaccd. And beyond, Oh the other
side, could see distinctly the flashes
IRON the shouts OF the cnemy's guns
as they popped again and again:
Meantime the artillery nrc had been
increasing in intensity as more and
more batteries came into play. Over
head the six and eight-inch shells were
roaring through the SIX. back and
forth. with an occasional one breaking
III the wood 10 the right. searching for
the American battery there
Suddenly the main concentration o,
Smelling switched from one to the
other Of the two short segments OF
front which had been hammered, AMI
IN moment up went string OF
rockets from the front-line trenches.
SIGNALS INDICATE
GAS SHELLS ARE COMING;
Gas said the French on.ccr. ."rhty
are signaling 10 the rear that Gas
shciis arc coming in, Probably Tho
telephone lines have been cut by tho
cncmy's fire, and they don't trust SOLE
ly to carrier pigeons"
Then the rattle Of machine guns
rolled out. clear and distinct from
every other noise, despite the trcmen-
dous booming OF the big guns. -
But while this had been happening
Il wall OF bursting flame sprangIinto
oeins, marking wcll-deiined position
along a short sector, It was the al
lied barragc OF she'll fire, designed both
to prevent such Germans as had been
raped i'll the salient to be raid ed from
getting back to their support positions
ana also TO bar the enemy from send
ing up re-enforcements to his adj
ranced positions which were in course
Of being raidcd.
The curtain OF fire was maintained
with three-inch shells. chiefly shrabnei.
but with some II. E.-high explosive
mixed in. And the barrage did NOT in
The least interfere with the bombard-
ncnt which had been going on before.
That continued. the bigger guns either
their destructive fire. all.
though with longer range. smashing
up the enemy's positions further to
the rear. or contenting themselves
Continued on Third pagel y -