AN HISTORIC HILL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 748, 24 February 1915, Page 7

AN HISTORIC HILL.

A Times correspondent in Champagne writes: — "East of Eerry-au-bac, on the left bank of the river Aisne, you can see a small*bare hill. It looks insignificant, yet Height 108 will become famous. To its flank men have clung for many weeks, grimly tenacious, as though the whole fate of the world depended upon their hold. "A French gunner daily repeats William Tell's exploit with the apple. He removes the pine branches whujh cover an enemy's gun from an inquisitive aeroplane just as the shopkeeper pulls down his curtains for another day's business. A telephone buzzes. Some numbers are shouted out. The gun commander removes his pipe from his mouth and repeats the order. Witb a roar, the shell is away, and, the gun recoils with a shock which shakes the ground. When the civilians have recovered the gunners are still sucking their pipes and grinning at the surprise of the visitors, while the shell has burst exactly where it was meant to go. "After passing through a maze of underground galleries, we reach a room that is lined with straw and roofed with mosß. Below us is the valley of the river Aisne. The river had strayed from.its setting. It floods the meadows and forms a string of miniature lakes along the roads and fields. Towards the middle of the landscapu is Berry-au-faac, which for months has been continuously bombarded. "Where once rose up the smoke of happy hearths now hangs the.smoke of shells and the flash of rose-coloured flame, while a ball of greenish smoke marks where the shells pound into the ruins. The fire iB coming frjm the enemy's batteries at a camp where Caesar once wintered on the Aisne. U "The staff decides to have a word with those batteries. An officer stoops to the telephone, and the reply goes speeding over the valley. The telepone becomes more active, and the French shells more frequent, until finally the German guns are silent, and the French artillery has again established its superiority.—Sydney Sun.