GUNS AT WORK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2449, 30 April 1915, Page 6

GUNS AT WORK

THE EFFECTS OF BOMBARDMENT. The following description of the effects of the British bombardment of the German positions in the Belgian village of Messines, near Ypres, is contained in a recent report from the official "Eye Witness" attached' to the headquarters of the.-British Army in. Flanders' 'The day was . bright and clear, and owing to the prominent position of tho village t'io result of the bombardment could be plaiuly seen. As each shell burst, the village, with its old square church tower and red roofs, was blotted out' in a cloud of smoke and red dust caused by the shattering of bricks and tiles. The effect of high explosive detonating among buildings is 1 tremendous, and does not depend upon the damage caused by the actual splinters of the shell, which is comparatively small, but upon the fact that every brick and stone, in fact, all solid objects with a considerable radius, become • death-dealing missiles, which are hurled for hundreds of yards in every direction. The astphishing strength of many .of the old medieval buildings 111 this country, such as the Templars' Tower at Nieuport and t'he church tower of Messiues, is evinced by the fact that they have resisted bombardment by modern .artillery. The latter is, of course, in a more or less ruinous condition, as a result of tho German bombardment four mouths ago; great blocks of masonry have been blown off it, the belfry has been shot awnv, the interior is completely burnt out, but the iframework, though irregular in outline and full of gaping holes, still stands defiant amid the surrounding ruins. The church contained a :Verv fine oak scrcen, in tho centre of winch was a life-size plaster crucifix. AVhen tho British evacuated the place on Octobor 31, the German shells had set'alight to the woodwork, which was completely burnt, and .everything in the church destroyed, with the sole exception of thp-crucifix, which was jigt tow^ed.''