Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1918-05-03

- Il
when you read of bomb falling Ii
III Paris that it necessarily fell
IN my head, however reckless
he Germans are about dropping
hem and unconcerned as to who
shall be the victims in their me-
farious method of waging war.
The explosion from the big gun
Is not near so terrible or effec.
tive as the aerial bomb and the
weird gun didn't do much dam
age to Paris. The bombs that
Fritz sends over in his big
gotha' type of air-plane are
and some of them do
considerable damage and kill
quite few people. 1t is not
military achievement you know
but only calculated to terrorize
and frighten people who are help
less and defenseless. Well ifl
makes you feel like you
want to fight it is to be reused
out of a good warm bed, dress in
the dark-all lights must be out
and believe me it is some iobl
putting on pair of spiral put
tees tout de suite Cat once) when
that notorious, obstreperous
bunch begin to drop bombs in
side the city. If one is not care
full he will wrap his umpty-steen
yards of olive drab around two
calves instead of one. We al
ways have sufficient time and
waning of their approach to get
in safe shelter but sometimes the
raiders don't get all of the way
and we, loathe to get up out of
beds, wait for developments. The
barrage fire indicates their close
arrival and then it is not long
until they themselves announce
their presence in sort of operhedd
way. The barrage which de-
tends the city has proved very
effective and Fritz always leaves
some of his big planes on French
soil when he makes his nocturnal
visits to the French Capital. OF
course the French ayions go up
in great numbers and they too
make it hot for the visitors. The
raids are not over quite so quick
as you might Imagine and most
of them last for several hours,
the f1iers coming in squadrons,
one squadron following the other.
They are real exciting but it is a
relief to all to hear the al
lclear' when the last one of that
hell-bound bunch has dropped his
last bomb. I have slept through
several of the raids. Two oc'
curred while l was in the hos.
lpital. l slept during the one! but
there was positively nothing do.
ing in the way of sleeping while
the other one was going on,
They haven't come back this
week. Guess they are all par.
ticipating in the big offensive.
l believe this is-the most impor-
liant battle of the war and quite
ia few think it is the last big eff
fort the Germans will put forth.
They are eXerting their whole
strength and making tremendous
sacrifices to gain ground and
then make overtures for peace
before America increases her
Contemplate little army" on
the firing line. They are fight
ling like mad men, marching en-
masse to the very mouths Of the
British cannon. 1t is a terrible
onSlaught-a wholesale slaugh-
ter Will the German people
lever realize what the Kaiser and
his group are feeding them =? All,
they are a part of the military
machines themselves, they have
been paying for the conduct of
this war for forty years by be-
ling taxed to death and they knew
how that money was being ex-
1pended. Theirs is self imposed
war and with some exceptions,
Of course, each one of them is a
veritable little Kaiser and has
dreamed the dream of conquest
and world domination. l some
times think that they should not
only be defeated but exterminat.
ed. This world is too good a
place for a modern Prussian.
am very much imI re ssed with
a letter l received several days
ago from a boy friend in Wash
ington. He is of German de-
scent, his father having been
educated and put through the
mill in Germany and later moved
to the United States and settled
in the West. He said you pos
sib1y know that l was student
in George Washington University