Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-20
HE EXPERIENCES
REAL WAR TIMES
Local Boy Vividly Describes
Barrages, Feeling Sure the
End of All Had Come

Harrisburg boy who is too mod
est to have his namo mentioned, has
written a most interesting descrip- |
ton of barrages of which we often
hear. but do not quite realize. I'm |
der date of July 90 he writesi
Have received several letters !
from you recently which 1 have not
been able to answer on account of
moving. These are busy days. AT
present we arc located In a town that
has been badly shot up. | have had
in my possession about every piece
of a German uniform and equip
ment that there Is, but 1t Is too bulky
to carry. When / get an opportun-
ity / will send you q Boche helmet.
though not the kind l am looking
for. I want one with a spike on it,
but they are extremely scarce, and
hard to get, for only the Prussian
guards wear them.
you have heard a lot about bar
RACES. I am going to tell you what
1t is like to be hiding in a shell hole
while one passes back and forth over
you. A barrage lis O concentration
of artillery fire along q straight line.
The sweeping barrage is one whichs 4
moves back and forth getting almost
everything In It's path. A rake works !
on the same principle. The shells
drop within Il or 20 yards of each
other and you can readily see that
the shrapnel and high explosives
dropping so close together and on Il
straight line that sweeps back and
forth ought to demolish everything
in it's path. One night we were on
bad position and the Boche heard
us. A rocket went sailing up and
the artillery cut loose. We saw q
line of flashes in front of us per-
haps a hundred yards long. 1t was
too late to get back to the trench for
it was drawing closer already. My
mate and L dropped into the near
est shell hole. said a hasty prayer
and waited for the end. If there ever
was a time when l thought l was
gone, 1t was then. We sat on our
launches $50 as to get all possible
protection from our tin hats) and
talked to keep our minds off the
thing. 1t drew closer and closer and
yet those few seconds were agony
before 1t went over us. 1t finally
did go over us and the concussion
from the shells laid us flat on our
bellies and the earth shook as though
we were drunk and the roar was
absolutely deafening. Our heads
ached and our ears plugged up and
our eyes bulged out, the same sem
station that one has in going under
the river in the train to New York.
Attack Stuns Men
We were stunned and lay with
our mouths open and then it was
gone. Just the second that it was
above us we felt all this and in a
moment it had gone on behind us.
The earth ceased to shake where we
were and the roar, though close at
all times, was less deafening. You
have stood on a station platform a
few yards from the track when a
fast express ruShes blythe cars
make the platform shake, the roar
is loud, 1t comes on, is right on top
of you and gone again in a few sec
onds. Multiply the ground vibration
by ten, and the roar of t1e train, and
you have barrage as 1t comes on,
passes over you and goes on back
somewhere. Three times that bar
rage went back and forth over us
and never bit of shrapnel lit in
our hole. 1t was just plain dumb
luck that we were not blown to bits.
We came out of it dazed, with a
headache and itching ears. That is
all. After it passed over us each
time we would lie there looking at
each other. We were so dazed and
stunned we could not say a word.
My mates mouth was open and his
eyes bulged out and / imagine l
looked the same. Then just as we
were coming out of the half con-
scious state. the barrage would be
coming over us again. After the
first time over, we lost all sense of
fear, we had just a half conscious