A VIVID STORY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1916, Page 12

A VIVID STORY.

FROM DEDEAGATCH, An'oSTeeFpwEo was "spotting" for the guns of a warship engaged in the Dedeagatch bombardment on Trafalgar Day, sends the following vivid story in a personal letter home:— "At about I,IS or so, we loosed oft at the big barracks to the west of Dedeagatch, and somewhat anxiously awaited their reply. The intelligence report had given us reason to Relieve that there would be 00,000 men and 360 guns, or the greater part of them, against us. Our first shot brought them tearing out of the barracks, and we eased up a bit and let them get clear. Then banged and battered away at about 2300 yards, making enormous holes and smashing in great areas of walls. TTnless someone was killed inside the buildings, *1 think we did not hurt anyone. We were only out for destruction and dimage, not slaughter, as the thrifty Bulgar hates his property being knocked /about, but cares very little if his neighbor—or even himself —is laid out,

A NICE BLAZE. "When we realised that there was no one to hurt, it just 'became a bonfire or Trafalgar Day fireworks—it being the one hundred and tenth anniversary, We set all manner (JE things on fire—'common' is effective, but lyddite is better; the only things that defied us utterly were 'haystacks! We burned a vast mountain of coa>, many railway vans and trucks, ships and two oil stores. But the best blazes were warehouses behind the caique harbor and an immense factory stuffed with highly inflammable goods. It was six storeys, ten windows square, and had two annexes, each of four storeys—one six windows long and one of eight windows long—and both annexes were double. With a roaring wind to help us, and no lire brigade to spoil the fun, it was a most gorgeous flare-up, and the flames cast a shadow six sea-miles away—nearly twelve kilometres! The trucks and vans burnt merrily, the fire jumping along from one to another and even eating away to windward, and the storehouses burnt solidly and well, section after section catching. They had great glass skylights, which were shattered by the shells and ventilated the fire nicely. The harbormaster's office must have had something dry inside, as it burnt splendidly. The great thing about it was that nobody tried to put the fires out, and, if one got smoky, a shell brightened things up a bit and improved the ventilation, so X don't suppose I shall ever see a finer blaze than Dedcagatch. The sparks from the big factory set fires goiffg to leeward, and these developed well. The coal heap fire, unfortunately, could not spread to anything, but it blazed and glowe'd in the wind."