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Show DESCRIBES HUNS' LAST OFFENSIVE Correspondent Reveals How "Beaten" Troops Turned Tide Against Foe. SIDELIGHTS ON fARCH 'SHOW Allied Troops Believed Retreat Was "Part of Some Blooming Strategy, 'Cos the Chaps Next Dooi Couldn't Hold On." By PERCY M. SARL. (United Press Staff Correspondent) London. "Woo-oosh ! Bang!" . I looked out of my tent on the morning morn-ing of March 21, 191S, imagining that some aerial humorist was bombing us. But it was a long-range, ten-inch, high-velocity high-velocity gun, and a couple more in quick succession, the second shell land-big land-big about fifty yards from me,' showed that it was no stray round. I realized that the great German offensive had started. The night before I had joined the Fortieth division artillery, which was lying in "close reserve," just smith of Arras. I was hoping for a recuperative recupera-tive period on what was reckoned a fairly "quiet" front. "Sland by your horses!" brought us all onto the lines. Fortunately, the Boche was shooting by the map and not from observation, or we should have taken little further interest In the "March show." As It was, he dropped about sixty rounds right In the midst of us without doing much damage. The enemy had broken through at I'.elleeourt and was coming ! on fust. Blazing Away at Foe. "The divisional artillery will come Into action at so-and-so 'map spotting.' spot-ting.' " anil we were off. But when we got there well, the cupboard wasn't exactly bare, because Just before we reached our objective we came across an IN-pounder section squatting In the open and blazing away over open sights at the oncoming hordes of Bodies. We dropped back and found, a less conspicuous place from which to declare de-clare war. Then we had one solid week's hades, such as General Sherman Sher-man never thought: of, or he would have used stronger language about "war." The Germans brought their f field guns on so rapidly, and In such numbers, that we were shelled from pillar to post. Our infantry hung on doggedly, and were wiped out, battalion battal-ion after battalion. Each batch of reserves re-serves found their predecessors' positions posi-tions untenable and were compelled to try to hold a line a bit farther back. Always in the open, for there was no time to dig oneself in; and when one hillside became too hot for comfort we shifted, either to flank or slightly to the rear. I never saw soldiers so cheerful or determined. Dog-tired", they hung on; and while the great game of "tactics" went on, the whole line having to conform to some unknown un-known situation many miles to a think, the Third army grumblingiy wondered what it was falling back for. "All Part of Strategy." If 'the pessimists who conceded a German victory last March could have seen those "beaten'-' soldiers retreating, retreat-ing, they might have taken heart, because be-cause it never occurred to the troop.i themselves that they were being beaten. beat-en. The retreat, to them, was all part of "some blooming strategy , 'cos the chaps next door couldn't hold on." Back through Mory, Ervillers, St Leper, Gommecourt, Courcelles an'i Bucquoy fell my part of the line, mi,' then we stopped them. March 80 sat, about the end of the nightmare as fai as we were concerned, and the Fortl etli divisional artillery pulled off a regular "boy stood on the burning deck" stunt. My own brigade, (he One Hundred and Seventy-eighth brigade royal field artillery, composed of London Lon-don citizen soldiers mostly came into action in the open, under hrr 'lire directed by hostile airplanes and smashed up an attack of three battalions bat-talions which had been on the front held by a company of the British guards. One battery was practically wiied out, gun after gun being knocked out by concentrations of enemy artillery. artil-lery. I was thankful to find myself when the "Cease fire" order came through. . There were many weary weeks of routine warfare and night alarms. It was between Bolsleux-au-Mont and Boiry-St. Martin, about 400 yards from, the place where that first ten-Inch shell landed on March 21, we stopped the Boche. There we refitted and planned mid prepared for the final triumphal advance ad-vance of the allies in t lie .-tmilng summer sum-mer and ML |