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Show GERMAN 'PILLBOXES' EASY FOnpMMIES' Method of British Is Reduced Re-duced Almost to a Mathematical Mathe-matical Science. ATTACK IS DESCRIBED Scenes of Heroism and Death Pictured During a Successful Assault. BEHIND HKITISU l.lNLvS FRANCIi. Nov. 3". (ColTcepon(irni- 01 the Associated Press, i The bv.-lness ol attacking the tlerman "rillhoxcs" liat been reduced almofl to a mathematical science by the British army. "Pillnovos" which aix not "done in" by Ihe bis sun in the pmliininary bombaulment arf rushed by the infantry and a pronade it droptied through one of t.hc loopholes. An attack on a liltlc section of Germat. line a lew days afro lllustra.lcd the anti-pillbox anti-pillbox technique. Th attack was mad under desperate weather conditions-. A cold w ind cut throush the men's drenched clothing and heavy raindrops sums their numbed faces. The line of craters and shell hole' which the advanced British troops held was thlKh deep In wa.ler and mud. -whlls secli'His of the hastily raised sand-bag parapet kept slipping down as the sodden earth jr.n e wav. The waiting men xverfi almost deafened bv the overhead blast of l lie artillery drumfire. The orders of the officers could hardlv lie hear,! a few feet a wav and had to be shouted down from crater to crater alons the irregular lino Big Moment Arrives.' The men had been rea-:y for a lonp time, but in these modern battle.' all depends de-pends upon the kuiis. ar.U erytlitiis must wait for them to linlsi: oft tbsf work. At last the moment came, whistlei blew falnllv, inarticulate voices sounded and the tire curtain lifted so that the earth of the lirst objectives lay quiescent and smoking, no longer spouting in biaJi, flame-shot iilutnee toward the sky. There, was no instant leaping from the trench. Men clambered cunibrously up the slipperv starts of tiie craters, falllnK: on hands and knees in the mud. Here and there a soldier helped a falling comrade com-rade to leKain his balance. Voices cursed, laushe or complained: non-commissioned officers herded on their sections and the attack was launched, night and left the plowed and eratered surfac e of the barren bar-ren earth seemed to disgorge men who moved slowly, some at wide intervals, some grouped together circling the edge of some quagnine. Fight Like Demons. Noises were all confused and indistinct; indis-tinct; enemy shells hurst overhead, but their report was drowned by the thunder of tire British Imrragc. Somewhere upwind up-wind smoke bombs had been lighted and the wind carried down a protecting veil of mist and the acrid scent of chemicals. An occasional man fell face downward in the mud; others, not so badly lilt, rollea Into the deceptive cover of water-lllled, craters to flounder there till stretchei-bearers stretchei-bearers could recover them. Unwounded men who had been engulfed bv mudholes to the thighs appealed to comrades to pull them clear, but the wind bore their voices away and the ranks plodded on unheeding to the assault. Gradually tile men struggled up the crest of the rise, panting and out of breath. Concrete "pillbox" gnu emplacements emplace-ments bulged shattered and exposed among the craters. One "pillbox" atop the crest was still in action. From its mound of earth came the familiar rat-rat-tat. and the air" seemed full of tha whiplash of bullets. Someone shouted and geslictdalcd. Attack Victorious. The men broke into a shambling run A hand grenade hurst in the. mud a yard or two short of the embrasure; then, like a paclc of hounds, men crowded forward to the quarry. A section circled the rear and rllle firing broke out at close quarters. quar-ters. Hullels were aimed a.t the slits, and flic bullets that went true ricocheted inside the "pillbox" In search of Iheir target. Suddenly a. wild figure in khuki appeared gesticulating on the domed loncrele top.- knelt down and threw something through the embrasure. A moment and the narrow slip spouted flame and smoke wreathed the group. Then all was cpiiel. Throe minutes later Iwo wounded Itril-Ish Itril-Ish soldiers were keeping wa tch over I lie three remaining live memberR of the captured cap-tured garrison. The wae of attack had passed on over the defenses and lhc "pillbox" "pill-box" had fallen. |