The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-03
GERMAN SOLDIERS FEAR COMING OF
 BRITISH WAR TANKS
Said That Kaiser's Men Have Feeling of Terror When They Have to
 Face Them

Amsterdam, January 1.-(Corre- spondence of the Associated Press) Tank warfare as it strikes the Ger man troops is described by the Cologne Gazette in a story of the lighting around Fontaine Notre Dame during the Cambrai offensive. The writer de- clared that many of the German pri- vate soldiers look upon the tanks with a feeling of terror. He says:
 "The village is still suffering under shell fire; houses and men are mingled in the same ruin; whole roofs have been lifted through the air like feath- CTS; but for the moment the storm has
 gone beyond the unhappy place.
 From a cellar In the main street a Silesian rifleman looks out. He sniffs at first for fear f.gas, then he stuffs his mask in his pocket and looks around, Heavens, what street! Grad. ually the riflemen creep like mice after a hailstorm out of their cellars. Is Tommy Atkins coming back? That is the question, for the battalion has orders to hold the village at all costs. But suppose Tommy comes back with his tanks? The word passes from lip to lip. It has sinister sound, as V hen one In a cloister mentiofis the devil by name. In the big thrust the English used 300 tanks, some said 500. The monsters were said to spit flame, so that no one could approach them, and to crawl over every obstacle. A Silesian rifleman who stood in their way would be crushed like worm un- der steam roller. What could a poor soldier do but scuttle out of the way? It was true the herr lieutenant said that steel bullets would go through the armor of the tank, and that we had only to hurl bombs at it and the tank would stop and catch fire. But suppose it did not stop?
 "In the meantime the infantry battle flamed up all along the line. One of the riflemen at the barricade clim d up on a damaged roof and peered into the distance. Over Bourbon wood to- ward the canal lay a sea of smoke in which the flash of shells could be seen. There were the German reserves swarming forward in light firing lines under the fire Of the guns. An English airmen flew down to a height of about zoo yards and dropped fireball after flreball so that the English artillery could get tieir mark. He was a bold fellow. Hurrah! The German battle planes swooped down like hawks on dove. The Silesians would have clapped their hands for joy but they were holding bombs ready to fire.
 Suddenly there was the cry, The tanks are coming! But where? Where :?
 There, on the hill, don't you see? It
 was quite true. There was a white
 trail of smoke on the slope of Bour-
 lin Hill and just as the dark outline
 of ship emerges from a fog at sea
 here and there dark crawling mon
 ster was visible.
 "Then, indeed, even the most hard
 ened veterans were anxious. Good heavens! These are monstersp Every
 one looked down the street. The tanks would have to come down 1t if they wished to get through the village At the barricade a signal arm went up
 Nobody spoke. Everyone held their
 breath. Tanks in front They are com ing straight toward us, was the next message. Their number was feverishly counted. Six Mustered one soldier; eight, nine twelve stammered am other, with fixed eyes. Look, there arc