“MASS OF LIGHTNING.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3983, 16 July 1915, Page 6

“MASS OF LIGHTNING.”

FUSILIER’S VIVID PEN PICTURE OF A NIGHT ATTACK.

In a letter sent from “somewhere in France" a private in the 4th Royal Fusiliers gives a striking pen-picture of an artillery attack at night.

“On our left is a terrible bombardment,” lie writes. “The German guns are sending over shells of all calibre. The sky is one mass of lightning caused by this terrible machinery. The noise is just like a hurricane and a continual explosion. What with the guns and rilles it is an infernonobody knows how any human being could exist in such a place. “On a. rise there is a small wood, and the'Allies’ guns are spitting forth death to anythere there. Trees and earth are going high in the air, and the Germans are still sending their men on, no matter if it costs ttiein thousands of casualties.

“It is a wonderful sight to watch through a small crack in the sandbags. It is one mass of lightning explosions, and a continual whiz of shells Hying through the air. “What with these and trench mortars and bombs and rilles, one who has never seen or heard it can never imagine what a soldier puts up with. But, for all that, we are still in good spirits, and light with a good heart. I am going to try and have a sleep for an hoar or so. It is mysterious how wo do sleep with this row going on.”