Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1917 — PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR [ARTICLE]

PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR

AS DESCRIBED BY ALFRED THOMPSON, WHO IS ON BATTLEFIELDS. Saturday, Sept. 8, 1917. We left our old cantonment yesterday about 11 o’clock. I was glad to go, although we had been there so long that we were beginning to get some comforts there and make it more like home. Went toward the front and got to a little field hospital about noon, where he had our lunch; then came on and arrived here about 2 o’clock. We are now at a big hospital almost within spitting distance pf one of the most famous cities of this war, at least the town isn’t more than fifteen minutes walk from here. I never saw such a bunch of military preparations in my life. As we approached the front we passed thousands and thousands of cars, trucks, ambulances, officers’ cars, caissons, etc. Every grove was an automobile park and was filled with them. The road was packed with cars of all sorts. We saw dozens of* aviation fields with machines of all kinds, the little speedy monoplane fighting machines, the big biplane observing and photographing machines and many others.

This is a big hospital with several sections of ambulances stationed here, working at the posts or doing excavation work. I saw one Ford here yesterday that had been struck with shrapnel and there were a dozen holes in it, another car, a Fiat ambulance, had been struck with a shell and was only a tangled mass of twisted steel and splintered wood. Both cars had been struck at a post which was bombarded, but luckily both drivers were in the “abris” caves for shelter, and escaped hurt. At one end of the hospital here is a great pile of plain wooden coffins and there is a gang of men working all the time to augment the pile. Near them -another pile of wooden crosses is seen. It must be a cheerful sight for the wounded to see. I saw a funeral here yesterday. It wasn’t much, just a priest walking ahead carrying a cross, a man following wheeling the coffin on a two wheeled affair, and a man bringing up the rear. They don’t think much of death here, it is too common. The hospital here is well within range of the German guns but they don’t shell it often. They say the Boche used to shell it but now the French have a battery trained on a German hospital and so both desist from firing. I hope one of them don’t forget themselves and start things moving.

When we arrived there was some artillery action going on, and every now and then a shell from a French battery back of us would pass over our heads with a peculiar whining shriek. It is hard to describe the sound of it, but also hard to forget it’after once hearing it. H. G. Wells says it sounds like tearing silk and that is something like it. When I haerd the first one I ducked, Wouldn’t help it, but the men around the hospital didn’t seem to notice it, as I gave up my dodging. It is perfectly useless anyway, as you never hear 'the shell that hits you. The whine doesn’t reach your ears until the shell has long since gone- But it is a peculiar sensation, nevertheless. In the evening they began an artillery preparation for an attack. Back of the hospital is a hill from which you can see the German and French trenches with a pair of glasses. It is forbidden to go up there but everyone goes, so I went aiso. Things were in full blast when I got there. There was a crowd of people there watching and it was worth thirty days in jail to see it. In the valley at the foot of the hill were the French batteries, over the next hill in the valley were the two sets of trenches and on top and behind the next hill were the German batteries. It was an appalling sight that greeted us. Dusk had just set in, and it was stabbed with a continuous row of flashes, and a deafening uproar came up to us on the hill. I cannot understand how a single man could live in the second valley where the trenches were. A dense pall of smoke hung over thjs valley. It was a magnificent and terrible sight and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. The ground and buildings shook with the explosions, which kept up a steady roar for several hours. I finally went to bed to try to sleep, as I expected a call during the night. Slept on a stretcher in the car with all my clothes on, that is, I attempted to sleep but it was impossible. ''A big battery of heavy guns opened up back of us and the big shells whined over our heads every few minutes regularly. The cars would all rattle when these guns let loose. You can have no idea of the frightful beauty of the scene from the hill. I would have liked to watch it for hours but could only stay a few short minutes. I couldn’t realize that two big nations were at death grips in that second valley I was looking down into. The German batteries soon opened up on the French and that added to the uproar, especially as these shells landed in the valley nearest us, just at the foot of the hill. As it grew darker, the sky on the sides of us jjyas lighted up with a continuous flash. They called out most’ of the cars during the night but Dee and I did not get ,a call. One of the boys got sick at the sight of a terribly wounded man and they had to substitute

for him. The man was ripped clear up the back and was dying fast. A priest was bent over him and the poor devil was calling on his mother. Another boy told me he carried a man whose leg had been shot off. They hadn’t time to amputate and fix him up so they just tied up the shreds at the torn end an’d sent him back to a hospital. He must have been suffering agonies but he smiled and asked one of the boys for a comb so he could comb his hair and look nice. Can you beat that? I can’t get over the glimpse I had scene can never be adequately described by anyone, much less me. It seems so horrible that two nations such as France and Germany should be devoting every energy to destroying the other.’ After several hours of that cannonade I can’t understand how there could be a man left alive there, and yet they do survive, some of them. A man just went by carrying a load of crosses for the men who died last night, I suppose. This morning the cannonade has stopped. Only here and there a battery roars out. I finally got to sleep last night late, and have just gotten up and had coffee for breakfast. Am going to bed prtety quick and get some sleep today if I can, as I expect to work tonight Sil night and perhaps tomorrow morning, too. I little imagined a year ago that I would be watching a battle on the western front from a hill top at this time. I hate to think of American troops going into that. You have no idea of the fearfulness of it, you can’t have until you have seen it. I thought I had ah idea before I came what a modern artillery battle was, but I didn’t have. Dee and I have adopted a wnangy looking cur of a dog for a mascot. After he is cleaned up and well fed and had kind treatment I think he will be a good dog. He has been sadly mistreated. It is awfully foggy this morning. I can hardly see anything a little distance off. There is a village about five minutes walk from here that the Germans have simply ruined with shell fire. Wish I had some pictures of it to send you. Well, I must close and wash up and then try and get some sleep. There isn’t much noise now and I think I can sleep. Don’t know how long we will be here, perhaps a few days, perhaps two or three weeks; not more than that I think. - r '’ ; ALFRED THOMPSON.