BRITISH ARTILLERY FIRE.

Nelson Evening Mail, 26 September 1916, Page 4

BRITISH ARTILLERY FIRE.

TKP'} devastating effect* ~f Uio British shell tire on the So nunc front are emphasised by Mr Philip Gibbs in a recent despat •!). He state-: that in spite of all his indur-try in digging, the enemy 'has not been able to make any system of trenche.-; and dug-outs to withstand the British shell-fire. As soon as he gets on with a trench the British gnus register upon it and lay it flat. Hi-- only proteotion is in artillery retaliation, and however great its obstructive power it tannot give cover to the German infantry crouching in shallow ditches, and having to come up through- communication trenches ploughed 'by high -explosives. Thev belong to battalions hurriedly gathered from other 7Darts of the line and flung in to stop the gap. They are the victims of. the general disorganisation of the divisions and -tho staffs which have suffered most heavily from repeated attacks. Behind them., no doubt, the German Headquarters Staff is as cool and deliberate as ever, not allowing' itself to he flurried by these reverses, organising new lines of defence, in case of need, shifting its guns, playing tho old iblood-and-iron game with cold, scientific brains that are not affected by the losses or the agonies of men, except as they have an influence upon the operations. ' For they are highly-trained scientists of war, these German staff officers, and iu defeat, as once in victory, they will 'be as cold and as hard as steel. Therefore it.is idle to hope for a sudden and sensational collapse of the German war-machine, or to argue from local wea-kinesses and symptoms of a oad staff work a general disorder. Nevertheless, there are many signs that the enemy is "beginning to feel a severe strain upon his defensive, strength and that his men are being put to an ordeal which not- even all .their discipline and their courage can make endurable. For men of a certain kind of science are apt to forget that thero are other things in human nature .besides the chemistry of flesh and blood, and that, not even the finest soldiers can be made to .fight well if their spirit is 'broken 'by repeated losses.