Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1917 — MANY DROWN IN MUD CHURNED UP BY SHELLS ON THE BATTLEFIELDS [ARTICLE]

MANY DROWN IN MUD CHURNED UP BY SHELLS ON THE BATTLEFIELDS

Modern Shell Fire Creates Problem Such as No Army in History Ever Had to Contend With—Artillery Smashes Trenches to Mud and Pulp—Great Strategy Has Disappeared and ’ Tactics Have Become Commonplace.

By ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETT.

(British War Y2orrespondent.) New York.—At the end of October last the armies on the western front sank deep into the mud. Except for the second French offensive at erdun in December and the successful advance of the British north of the Ancre there has been very little movement since then. All the combatants are preparing for the coming spring. Could we have put back the clock -for three months f~anr c<?nvincerUhat the struggle, as far as the western front is concerned, would have been over before Christmas. But we had not lhe powers of Joshua at AJalon, and therefore the final issue has been delayed. It was the mud and wet which alone prevented the allies from pressing home their successes. In every engagement more positions are won and more prisoners are taken, but the present state of ground renders operations at all times difficult and very often impossible. Those who have not been on the Somme or before Verdun can have no conception of what the mud is like. . , It may be argued that there has been mud in every war, and the great Napoleon after his experiences in Poland described it as the “fifth element/*- But no general who eyerjgd. an army either “B. C.” or “A. D.” ever had to face the problem such as exists now. It is a new factor which has not been experienced before. The terrible mud of the Somme and Verdun is created by modern shell fire. In normal times the roads might be muddy and the fields heavy, but this would not stop an army. It is the concentration of modern shell fire on restricted areas which brings about these abnormal conditions. Torn by Artillery Fire. Modern artillery fire leaves not a yard of a 40-acre field untouched. The shell holes overlap one another, for -each cannot find an Independent- bed. They make, eraters six to twelve feet deep, according to the caliber of the shell. The terrific explosions scatter the surface soil and bring the under stratas to the top. ,

All this ground on which the armies are now fighting will, according to the agricultural commission that visited the front, be utterly useless for centuries after the war. The surface soil has been so utterly destroyed that no crops of grass will grow there until time and, nature eventually provide a fresh deposit. As soon as the rain falls these craters become filled w’ith thick mud and water to a depth varying from four to eight feet. It is over ground in this state that all Infantry attacks have now to be made at this season of the year. The artillery smashes the enemy’s trenches to mud and pulp. Your infantry are then-launched to the attack. Then they reach their objective. What do they find? Simply the battered outline of what was once a line of trenches and hundreds of these giant holes filled with mud and slime. They must lie out in the open or on the edges of these craters, exposed to the merciless fire from the enemy’s guns, which have the exact range, until some kind of. a. fresh trench has been dug amidst the ruins of the old. Consequently in all these latter attacks It has cost very few men to take a position in comparison with what it costs to hold It afterwards. Many hundreds of men have been drowned in ' these latter advances. For instance, it cost the French under 2,000 men to retake the positions of Douaumont and Vaux and the quarries of Hardenifibnfrbufnffiey" "surtered~twlce „as many casualties from shell fire, deaths by drowning and frostbite before the positions were firmly consolidated. Think of the fate of some of the unfortunate infantry. They advance to the attack carrying a dead weight of over 60 pounds. Sinks to His Death. There is a natural Inclination to ' dive for cover when the shelling becomes heavy. A man drops into the nearest hole. He finds himself in five or six feet of mud. He -cannot extricate himself, and slowly sinks to his death as if he were in quicksand. It is _aljmost Impossible to attempt to describe the battle of the Somnie; the task is hopeless; its dimensions have become too monstrous. Its sameness is as wearying as “a twice-told tale vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man,” and its manifold horrors will not bear constant reiteration. It is divided into various sub-divisipns of scientifically organized slaughter. It is almost impossible to see or to describe what happens on the many subdivisions of this huge battlefront. But day after day, night after night, hour after hour, the grim work of gradual attrition goes on. The whole extent of the front is swept by two vast semicircles of artillery fire. You cannot lose your way to this international holocaust, for you are guided “by a cioud of smoke by day and a pillar of fire W night.” .Miles 'front the front the air ribrates,. whilst the rumbling and roaring never ceases. Some mighty storm seems to ■ 'be hreakinr on Sn iron-eoast-. At night the horizon glows like some Titan’s forge, whilst the sparks that fly from

his giant hammer blows make the most awe-inspiring display of pyrotechnics the world has ever seen. The war alone Is interesting as a study of the psychology of peoples, and how that psychology changes tn .the fierce heat of the- Somme 1 melting pot. Grand strategy has disappeared; altogether tactics have become commonplace. and no mind can now turn victory into .defeat by an Inspired decision *at • the decisive hour. Any tyro of the 1916 class after Tie ~hWr spent a few weeks in the front line knows how to take the iota of pulverized rubbish In his Immediate front just as well as Joffre or Haig or Hindenburg. Victory Depends on Guns. All have learned that victory depends on heavy guns and unlimited ammunition. Germany appreciated the value of heavy guns in th£ field before the war. She was plentifully supplied with 8-inch, 12-lnch and 16-inch howitzers. Other general staffs did not consider it feasible to drag along this monster ordnance with armies. Thus we suffered heavily at the start, especially the French, who relied exclusively on their superb 75 quick firing field gun. For the last two years there has been a giant race In gun prod uctlon. Now the allies have not only overtaken, but have got a long wav ahead of the centra) powers. Our superiority on the Somme was the most noticeable, and this, combined with our air-supremacy, rendered the position of the. Germans, at times, almost intolerable. They were not so short of guns, perhaps, as of ammunition. In August, September and October, three separate general orders were found on the dead or prisoners from different generals commanding groups of the army pointing out the absolute necessity of husbanding the ammunition supply and to take greater care of the material itself. The allies have not thus been handicapped. The Germans are busy augmenting their material arid ammunition so as to compete this spring and summer on more even terms. There are acres of heavy guns along the

Somme front. Imagine what a task it is getting these guns to their positions. The roads leading to the Somme front cannot bear the weight of the traffic. They have disappeared into the mud, and have to be constantly repaired. The French have built miles of light railways. These monster 11-lnch and 12-inch and 16-lnch guns can only be brought up on trains. Some of them are placed in fixed positions. Others have a roving mission and are fired from the rails on anchored trucks by anTngenious arrangement. The roar of the artillery Is so terrific that it produces nervous prostration in many. Get No Respite. The unfortunate Infantry In the trenches get no respite from it night and day. I often have heard men say: “I don’t mind the enemy’s shells so much; what I cannot stand is the noise of our own guns.” r On your way to the front you get blown about frbm Wde to side by the terrific blasts. " 'Sbme”of the big shells which hurtle through the air on the Somme front weigh a ton and a half. They can be thrown 16 miles. Throughout the night and day, without ever a respite, the air Is filled with these steel monsters varying in weight from 15 pounds to over a ton. What chance has the poor infantryman got? A very poor one. Yet, with millions in the field, when you are actually on the battlefield you

hardly see a soul. BehLnd- thß- tinei--there are crowds at work on various jobs. They have to keep ’ abom . . ground and take their chances with the shells. But this monstrous accumulation of heavy guns has turned the habits of men into those of rabbits. The fighters are all below the surface. The huge devastated front is merely a mass of shell holes looking like a .photograph of the moon, craters, smudges, of what were once villages and woods and serried with white or gray lines which mark the trenches. Except when the infantry crawl from their trenches to take over the enemy’s line the battlefield resembles a ruined waste still smoldering from some giant fire, absolutely deserted and lifeless. The science of digging-fn has reached its zenith. There are underground places 30 feet briftriy: surface, many rooms, several exits, hot and cold water, and electric lights. There are tunnels almost as wide as the “Tube” connecting one line of trenches with another. Every device that can give some protection against the shells is being utilized. The Germans have been wording like ants on their defenses this winter. They declare they are so strong that we shall never break through. Our generals think otherwise, and the< French are supremely confident Dig-ging-in can be overdone. Very often the more elaborate the defenses the more easily they are taken by assault For this reason, during those terrible; bombardments which precede an as- 1 sault the infantry have to keep below,, other wise they would be annihilated.' ■ It is only human nature to remains under cover under such conditions.. Thus when the assault comes its wave passes over the top before the defenders can come out. Many are reluctant to leave cover. The brave, alone die at their machine gun posts.; Thus in our last attack, north of the! Ancre and in the two French assaults at Verdun, thousands of prisoners, were taken before they could fire

shot. In one instance two BrlLUthl brigades passed over a position and] occupied the enemy's second line be-i fore the defenders of the first line came, out from their underground labyrinths and commenced to fight. Thus the heaviest losses fell on our Third! brigade, which had to retake the first, line and deal with these elaborate underground works. It is not the actual defenders of ai position who can check the first waves, of an attack. It is the barrage fire which the enemy guns concentrate on our trenches the moment our Infantry are seen to leave cover. It W thiawhich inflicts such heavy losses. The GermansrcaH this a “drum fire,” the waves of shells falling simultaneously in lines like the beats on a giant drum. Their drum Are collapaed last summer and autumn under that of our counterbatteries, or, at least, it was spasmodic and irregular and ill-aimed, because they had lost control of the air and' their heavy artillery was firing "blind.” This winter they have been bringing, up more heavy guns and accumulating; vast supplies of ammunition. They; say their “drum fire” this spring andi summer will crash onr attacks. But' will it?