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Show ENGLISH ARE FIGHTING IS IFJN SIEGE Find Maxim Guns Particularly Particu-larly Well Adapted to Peculiar Operations From Trenches FRENCH MINERS PUT DYNAMITE UNDER FOE Get Rid of Troublesome Machine Gun by Running a Drift, How German Artillery Is Operated LONDON Oct 10 9 10 p m. The off cial press bureau issues the follow ing descriptive account commun cated by an eyewitness with general head quarters which continues and supple ments the narrative published October 9 of the movements of the British force and the French armies in immediate touch with it Comparative calm on our front has continued through the fine and consid erably warmer weather The last six days have been si ghtly misty with clouds hanging low so that cond tions hare not been very good for aerial reconnaissance In regard to the latter it is aston ishing how quickly the habit is ac quired, even by those who are not aviators avia-tors of thinking of the weather in terms of its eu tability for flying There has been a bright moon also which has mil tated against night at tacks On Saturday October 3 practically nothing happened except that each b de shelled the other Toward even ng on bunday there w-as asm lar absence of a t v ty Oppos te one portion of our 1 ne the enen v s bands played pa t ot c a rs and the audiences wh ch fathered gave a chance to our wa t ng ow tzers Not only do the r regimental bands perform occas onallv but with the r proverb al fondness for music the Ger mans have in some places gTamaphones n their trenches Three Duels in Air On Mondav the fifth thero were three separate duels in the air between French and German aviators one of which was v s ble from our trenches Two of the struggles were, so far as could be seen inaec sive but in the third the French airmen were victorious and brought down their oppone ts both of whom were killed by machine gun fire. During the day some of the men of the landwehr were taken pr soners "by us. They were In very poor condition and wept cop ously when captured One On be ng asked what he was crying tor eipla ned that though they had been advised to surrender to the Eng hsh. they believed that they would be shot On that evening our airmen had an unusual amount or attention pa d to them both by the German aviators and their artillery of every descr pt on Find Field of Dead One of our Infantry patrols fl sco ered 160 dead Germans in a wood one a d a half m lea from our front. VVe sen a party out to bury them but it was tired upon and had to withdraw On Tuesday the 6th the enemj s guns were active in the afternoon It is be lleved that the bombardment was due to anger because two of our howitzer she s had been detonated r ght in one of the enemy's trenches vh ch was full of men Three horses were killed by the German Are. , Wednesday the 7th M' uneventful On Thursday, the 8th. the shel in? b the enemy of a local ty on our front which has so far been the scene of their g eat est efforts was again cont nuous Oppo site one or two points the C ermans aye attempted to gain ground bv sapp ng in some places w th the view of se retly pushing forward machine guns in ad vance of their trenches so that they can suddenly sweep with crossfire the space between our 1 ne and thei s and so take any advance of ours in the flanlc Miners Dig Under Foe It is reported that at one point, where the French were much annoyed by the Are of a German machine gun which was otherwise inaccess ble they drove a mine gallery flftj meters (about fifty five yards) long up to and Into the emplace ment and blew up the gun The men who drove the gallery belonged to a corps wh ch was recruited in one of the coal m nlng d stricts of France. The German mach ne gun mo mm on low sledges, are Inconspicuous and e I dently easily moved The fight ng now consists mostly of shelling by the arti lery of both sids and in front a line of fire from the machine guns as an occasional target offers Our Maxims have been doing excellent work and have proved most efficient weapons for the sort of fighting In which we are now engaged The amount of practice that our ofn cers are now getting in the use of th s weapon is proving most valuable in teaching how to maintain it at concert pitch as an instrument and how to de rive the best tactical results from its employment Against us the Germans are not now expend ng so much gun ammunition as they have been, but they continue to fire at insignificant targets They have the hab t of suddenly dropp ng heavy she s w thout warning in locali es or vtl ages fn behind our front line possiblv on the nan e of catching some of our troops in b ouac or b eta They also flre a few o ds at night The art ery has up to now pajed o g eat a pa t in he war that a few so a rema ks de p e of the meth 0 s of its en p o m t by the enemy are ju fled. Tl fi ed a erv armament o sts of rn q firing guns for ho and fie d a ter es of dlvle ons and the are in add t o with each corps th o to six bat er es of 4 3 inch fled 1 o zers and about two batteries of 6 9 in howitzers Vith an arn y there are son e 8 2 inch I eivy howitzers T e accurac of the r fire is apt at fl to cause son e alarm mo e espec a ly as U e p s a e usua y we concea ed an the pes tion and the direct on from w ch the re is proceeding are d ff cu t 0 detect n But accurate as is their oot ng e Ge nan gunners ha e on i who e ad 1 t e luck and during the P st three eeks an astonishing v small 1 tion of t number of she s fired by 1 hem have b en rea ly effect! e Method of Masking Fire Qu te the nost b liking- feature of the r handling of the a til ery la the speed with whicl hey onceutrate the r fire upon any se ected po nt They d spense to a great e tent r th t e me hod of ranging known by us as bracket ng espe cla y when acting on the defensive and d rect their fire by means of squared maps and t e telescope Thus when the target is fo nd its position on the map Is telephone 1 to such batter es as It s desired to employ against hat partlcu lar square In addition to the guns em p oyed to fir on the targets as thev are picked up o hers are to d off to wat h particular roads and to deal with anv of the enemy uing them Both for the locat on of targets and t e communication of the effect of the f re re ance 1" p aced on observations f om ! balloons and aeroplanes and information j suppl ed by special observers and secret ! agents who are sent out ahead or left j behind In the enem s 1 nes to ommun cate by te ephone or s gnal These ob servers have been found in ha s acks i barns and othe bu d ngs we 1 In ad ance of the German lines I Balloons of tl e so called sausage pat ' tern rema n up In the air for long periods i for the purpose of d scoverlng targe & and until our a ator made their lnflu ence fe t by chas ng a 1 host! e aeroplanes on sight, the litter were continually hovering over o t oops in order to reg Ister their posi ons and to note where i the headquarter reserves, gun teams : etc. we e located If suitable targets are discovered the ; airman drops a smoke ball directly over ! it or lets far! some strips of tinsel I which glitter in he sun as they sonly descend to the earth The range to the target apparentl is ascertained by those near the guns by means of a large tele meter or other range finder which is kept trained on the aeroplane so that when the signal Is made the distance to the target vertica ly be ow is at once ob talned A few ounds are then f red and the result ts signa ed bak b the avia tor according to some prearranged code. |
