Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-19
LONG RANGE GUN BARRAGE
FAILS TO HALT BRITISH
Hags Men Aduance Through Terrific Hail OF High Ielocit,
ShelLs-Nfotley Germans Driren From Vii.
E. . lagos in Big S,Ueep
By PHILIP GIBBS

was begun at dawn. was night OF
white magic following strangely
beautiful sunset. when the sky was filled
with wide wings of flame. and then
when the light faded. with wings oi
white down. until the stars came out
into the place blue of the sky and the
moon rose, flooding all the fields with II
milky radiance. There was no wind and
the air was warm as the trees stood very
still. darkly etched under this star-lit
heaven. over the lines shells were
bursting and guns firing with scarlet
glow, but behind there was peace and
beauty
At 2 o'clock in the morning 1t began
to rain a steady downpour, making the
ground soft and sticky. especially where
II was cut up by shell craters and chalky
trenches, 80 that 1t was not good going
for the tanks crawling forward from
! their covers. nor afterward for the men
| in fighting kit. who had to scramble
over that slimy chalk. where there was
no grip for feet and go forward behind
the creeping barrage of fire to meet their
enemy and his machine guns.
That was unlucky and the mists of
dawn creeping up from the under
growth of wood. floating in the valley
and hanging low behind the rain clouds
]
| numbers Of our planes dartng about
| like swallows, as though distressed by
| this lack Of vision when the battle was
in progress below.
The weather cleared shortly after
dawn. as went over our old battletields
through the stricken city of Peronne and
the villages beyond OH a far journey
through the land of ruin. where gaunt
skeletons of trees are like gallows of
| the skyline and dawn breaks with its
/ light through monstrous shell holes In
houses and walls. and in the first
/ twilight Of the day there is a leprous
| look over all the wild litter of these
| fields.
No Long Preliminaries
We had no long preliminary lombard
ment before this attack. At $50, when
our men rose and went away. 1t was IL
brief hurricane fire followed by moving
| barrage to which our troops kept close
with perfect confidence. Several of them
| told me afterward that 1t was a power
| full wall of shell fire and so accurate
that no shells burst short to do them
! harm.
The enemy retaliation by artillery was
quick and not outrageously heavy. ac-
| cording to official views. though violent
enough IN the opinion of the men who
had to risk it and were wounded by it
! Fortunately, they were beyond its mean
point OF impact. to use gunuer's
| phrase. before the full weight of it fell.
The losses were light in the first as
! sault, if might Judge from the casual
ties in the field dressing station to
which our walking wounded came first.
It was significant of the end of open
warfare for the time being, now that
the enemy is protected by the linden
burg line, that most Of these cases
had been hit by shell splinters and not
by machine gun bullets. as in recent
fighting Certainly I have seldom, II
ever, seen so much fire from long-range
guns as yesterday when these high
velocties were bursting with high clouds
of Colored smoke over a wide line OF
country behind lie Eerguier and Hargi-
court 1t was almost equal to a bar
rage, which is not generally possible
with high velocities.
In the area to which I went. the
splendid men of the Australian corps
who had been fighting almost con-
tinuously since the end of March
when they checked the German advance
Y on Amieus and Immediately took the
offensive at Hamel and Nilers Breton
neux. and after that brilliant actor
began their victorious progress over a
long stretch of country from which they
drove the enemy to Peronne and out o,
IL and far beyond-told me that things
had gone we'll and that they were salts
field with their mornings work
Germans Run to Surrender
The enemy put up hard fight ir
some positions. especially at lie Yer
} guler, which he defended by many ma
chine guns. and at Ascension farm be
yond, and Nilleret. where there wa:
trouble in throwing him out. Thi.
struggle was maintained by groups o.
machine gunners who sold their live:
dearly. But on other parts Of the Aus
tralian front some of the German in
fantry started running toward our
troops as soon as our barrage fire opened
and actually risked its deadly barrier
IN order to surrender to our Australian!
before they reached their trenches,
One battalion of Australians took 1sO
prisoners, and at an early hour these
troops of ours had we'll over 500 under
escort. ! passed patches of them down
the tracks through the battlefield. look
Iinc over their shoulders at the fire be-
hind them from which they were es-
Gaming, and crossing open country in
order to avoid their own high velocities
They were muddy and dirty, and some
slightly wounded, and I noticed that few
wore their big steel helmets, most OF
, the others having discarded them tc
walk more easily in field caps or with
out headgear.
They were haggard and worn-looking
and I had a sense of pity for some oi
} those youngsters among them. who were
l weak and wearing big spectacles anC
O tunics too big for their narrow chests
They We're mixed in physique and class
some tall and strapping fellows walk
ing sturdily, others puny and hobblint
to keep pace; some with clean-cut
healthy faces. others sallow and sickl,
; and long browed and evil-looking.