Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 22

With the greatly increased number of heavy guns it became possible to develop the famous curtain of barrage fire, also known as drum fire, with this type of ordnance, as well as with shrapnel.

It is with this form of attack that the Allies blasted their way slowly but steadily through the strongest networks of trenches which the Germans were able to build.

Along a given section of the front, or rather just behind it, the guns were placed singly or in pairs, widely scattered, some close to the line and some well back from it, all concealed as far as possible from enemy aviators. There were also many dummy batteries, so that if the enemy air scout saw a gun or group of guns, he had no way of telling whether they were real or imitation.

In such an instance before the actual advance of the troops the fire of all these guns is concentrated along parallel lines to the enemy trenches, first, second and sometimes third. Each gun has its work mapped out for it in advance on a map covered with tiny squares. The actual point may be well beyond view of the gunners. The sh.e.l.l is landed in its appointed square solely on mathematical calculation. The commander of each gun knows, for instance, that he must fire into this, that or the other square for so many minutes or hours, and exactly at a given minute change his fire to another source.

RAIN OF Sh.e.l.lS LIKE STREAMS OF WATER.

In effect on the enemy a continuous rain of sh.e.l.ls, comparable to streams of water from hundreds of hoses is poured in a line right down the trench. At the same time a parallel line of fire is concentrated at a given distance back of the enemy's first trench and in front of the second, or in it. This means that the troops in the first line must not only take their bombardment without hope of retreat or escape, but that it is impossible to get reinforcements to them through the second curtain.

When it is calculated that the first line has been destroyed or demoralized, the troops leap from their trenches and advance strictly according to schedule over the ground between the opposing trenches.

Their arrival at the enemy's first trench is timed to the second, and just as they are on the verge of plunging into their own curtain of fire this latter is gradually thrown forward, forming a screen between the newly captured trench and the enemy's second line. This means two curtains of fire through which the enemy would have to advance to counter-attack.

Time is given to rout out what remains of the enemy from the first line dugouts, and then the troops advance again. In the meantime the curtain of fire has preceded them as before, moving up to the line of drum fire which has been playing on the second line of trenches or just in front of it. If any of the enemy have attempted to flee before the attack from the first line they are caught between these two barrages which are gradually brought together.

When the first and second lines of fire have been brought together they are poured with redoubled fury into the second line of the enemy trenches, and then moved forward again just as the advancing troops reach this line.

DEPENDING ON LOCAL CONDITIONS.

The performance is made continuous so far as possible under the conditions peculiar to the given section in which the attack is being made. Sometimes it is possible to advance over three, four or five trenches in a single attack. At others it is as much as can be accomplished to capture one, which must be consolidated before further advance is made. It depends on the strength of the trenches, the nature of the ground, the distance apart that they are, and, of course, the amount of artillery fire which the enemy is able to concentrate in return.

When a sufficient advance has been made, it also becomes necessary to suspend operations for a time while the guns behind the lines are moved forward to new positions.

This is always the period of the counter-attack in force by the enemy, who seizes the opportunity when a certain proportion of the artillery is unable to fire because it is being moved. And it is during this period that the infantry have to do their hardest fighting, which consists, not in making the advance over no-man's land to the enemy trench, but in holding that trench afterward when the bringing up of their own artillery behind them to more advanced positions robs them of some of the support of the drum fire.

Still another factor of delay at this period is the time required by the air scouts to find the rearranged positions of the enemy guns after the advance, for these must be taken care of also before a new advance can be made.

An explanation of this form of attack shows why news dispatches have told first of an advance of the British, followed by a period of quiet, during which an attack by the French in some other section of the line was in progress. Then suddenly the scene of action switched back to the British lines again while the French were consolidating their new positions preparatory to pus.h.i.+ng the general advance a step farther.

GERMAN EQUIVOCATION.

It also explains just what has happened when the Germans state that the "enemy penetrated our first trenches in a small sector, but his attack broke down before our second line." When the next attack is ready, of course, the former second German line is referred to as the "first," and so, on paper, as far as the uninitiated are concerned, the German publicity office is able to build up a continuous series of enemy attacks which "break down," and somehow never, never "penetrate our invincible line." Actually an advance of this nature is extremely slow, but it is sure, and it is made at the expense of tons upon tons of ammunition rather than at the expense of lives, for ammunition can be made faster than soldiers.

Even the old battering ram of feudal times with which the ancestors of Kaiser William used to knock down the castles of the baron robbers has been approximated by his warring tribes. With the retreat of the German troops from Flanders the Allied forces found crude battering rams such as have been shown in the stirring "movies" when the ancient warriors stormed the gates of the city.

One of such devices was in the form of an upright frame made of heavy timbers. An immense log was suspended from the cross-piece by a heavy chain. An iron band circled one end of the log which was used for battering purposes and at the opposite end were handles, used by the operators in their nefarious work. The ram was used to batter in the doors of houses which had been locked or barricaded against the German soldiers. In their most destructive moods, it is charged that they used these devices to destroy the standing walls of houses and cottages after they had been gutted by fire. The Germans would not permit even so much as a wall to stand which might be used by the poor peasant in rehabilitating himself and building a new home.

NEW METHOD OF WARFARE.

The new method of warfare, with men working in trenches and dugouts and millions of sh.e.l.ls breaking over head, while missiles rain all about, necessitated the development of some device to protect the heads of the fighters. Therefore the steel helmet.

It has been shown that, due to trench warfare, about seventy-five per cent of the wounded on the western front had been hit with shrapnel or pieces of sh.e.l.l traveling at a low velocity and therefore had torn wounds and in many cases smashed bones. About three per cent of the wounds were in the head and about fifteen per cent in the face or neck.

This led to the adoption by the French of a steel helmet called after its inventor, Adrian. The helmets were first used in May, 1915. That their use is justified is shown by statistics. Among fifty-five cases of head wounds, forty-two happened to soldiers without helmets.

Twenty-three of these had fractured skulls, while the remaining nineteen had bad scalp wounds. Of the thirteen who wore helmets, not one had a skull fracture. Five had slight wounds only, while none of those who had worn a helmet died. Quite a number of those who had not did.

In the Academy of Medicine Dr. Roussey brought up the point that due to the helmet the number of cases of sudden death from wounds in the head had been so decreased that the number of wounded with head injuries treated in the hospitals had materially increased.

The French helmet proved such a success that Belgium, Serbia, Russia and Roumania equipped their troops with the same model. The French helmet has a bursting bomb as insignia on its front and is light blue or khaki color, depending on whether it is worn by the metropolitan, the French home army or the French colonial army.

THE BELGIAN HELMET.

The Belgian helmet is khaki-colored, with the Belgian lion on the front; the Italian, greenish blue, with no insignia; the Serbian, khaki-colored, with the Serbian coat of arms; the Russian, khaki-colored, with the Russian coat of arms, and the Roumanian, blue-gray, with the Roumanian coat of arms.

The French have made more than 12,000,000 helmets, using about 12,000 tons of steel. In other words, a ton of steel will make 1,000 helmets.

The British also equipped their troops with a steel helmet, which has no ridge running from front to rear, as has the Adrian, no decorations, and a rather wide brim, which runs all the way round. It is of a khaki color.

The Germans issued to a certain number of their men, generally those most exposed in trench fighting, a steel helmet considerably heavier than any of the allied helmets. It has a much higher crown, and comes down more over the eyes and the sides and back of the head.

All these helmets are supported by means of a leather skull cap inside, which fitting closely to the head, distributes the weight over the whole of the skull, instead of simply around the edge of it, as is the case with ordinary headgear.

Of course, these helmets will not protect against high velocity projectiles. However, as they do protect the wearer from low velocity projectiles, and as these are, because of infection, often as fatal as severe wounds, it can easily be seen how much good has been accomplished.

A French writer in La Nature shows that 332 out of 479 abnormal wounds were caused by shrapnel and pieces of sh.e.l.l having a low velocity.

In 13 out of 15 cases of lung wounds, the projectiles did not have velocity enough to completely traverse the body and come out.

In 71 cases of joint wounds, 66 were due to low velocity shrapnel and only 5 to high velocity bullets. Practically every one of these wounds could have been prevented by breast and body pieces and knee and elbow caps of armor.

LOW VELOCITY MOST EFFECTIVE.

As for every man who afterward dies from a wound made by a high velocity bullet there are about ten who die from wounds made by the low velocity shrapnel and sh.e.l.l fragments, the importance is seen of protection against these low velocity wounds if it can be had.

The wearing of armor means the lessening of the mobility of the soldier.

In the open field lessening of mobility means a decrease in efficiency, which cannot be tolerated. However, in trench warfare the mobility of the individual does not count for so much, as even during an attack he does not have to go far, and generally does it at a walk in the rear of the barrage fire of his own artillery.

Efficiency in warfare, as indicated by the keeping of such records, has set the brains of the world at work, and armor is used to a limited degree for the protection of men in greatly exposed fronts or open positions.

The j.a.panese in modern times were first to resort to the forerunner of armor. They used s.h.i.+elds of steel and in the siege of Port Arthur such s.h.i.+elds were strapped to the front of the body. The Germans in the charges have frequently used double s.h.i.+elds, advancing in groups of four behind a steel protector carried by two men, leaving the other two free to fire at the enemy through port holes in the armor s.h.i.+elds.

None of the armors has, however, proved its resistance to the high velocity bullets which the powerful field guns rain against it.

Experiments are being made continuously along these lines, and Guy Otis Brewster, of New Jersey, has developed a bullet-proof jacket and headgear which it is said approximates perfection.

In the presence of ordinance officers from the Picatinny a.r.s.enal he invited an expert military marksman to fire at him from a distance of 60 yards. A Springfield rifle was used, with regulation ammunition. The steel bullet had a velocity of 2740 feet a second. Only one shot was fired, but it failed to penetrate the armor.

COMPOSITION A SECRET.

The composition of the latter is a secret, beyond the fact that it consists in part of steel. Jacket and headgear weigh 30 pounds; but the material is so flexible that the soldier wearing such an outfit can kneel, lie down, rise and run, charge from the trenches, use the bayonet, or throw hand grenades, without impediment to his movements.

It has been denied that dum-dum bullets, placed under ban by all civilized nations, have been used by the Germans, but there is no doubt that explosive bullets have been used. The report of the Belgian Commission, which investigated the horrors when the Germans first invaded King Albert's country, contains testimony which proves conclusively that such missiles were used. These bullets were, in effect, small sh.e.l.ls containing an explosive chemical which was set off by contact. Photographs taken of wounds show the effect which these bullets produced.