"THE CURTAIN OF DEATH"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2971, 8 January 1917, Page 9

"THE CURTAIN OF DEATH"

A VISIT TO FORT DOUAUMONT A THRILLING EXPERIENCE I have been inside tho fort of Douaumont (writes Mr. Wytlio Williams in a dispatch to'; the "New York Times" under date of-.Nov bcr 12). 13y special grace of. a higher power than the German artillery I am able to write an account of what happened on my trip. For I went in and came out through and under • the famous rideau do fer or iron curtain, as barrier tin? is popularly named. With me was John Bass, special correspondent of the Chicago. "Daily News." AYe the the sole, civilians who have been there, not only since the fort was retaken by the French, but since the battle of Verdun first began. AYe were accompanied by Captainde K. and two soldiers. Therefore, as Wi! are tlio only correspondents who have had a personal introduction to the rideau de for —the highest and most effective form of modern artillery—l desire to say at the beginning of this story that I hope I shalr never meet it again. My comrade, Mr. Bass, is almost the dean of American war correspondents; his record covers 25 years and nine wars. He .told me that he considered this experience the climax of his career, and that anything • else in tho war would seem a feeble auti-climax. Inasmuch as he makes the same "never again" declaration, '.['am happy that such an experience came to mo in my first war—a. war I'did. not scok, but that found me hero at its beginning. Too Late to.Turn Back. Continuing his narrative, Mr. Williams says: "It is simply a story of personal adventure, but one of the greatest adventures that ever came to anyone. Its news valuo is that it shows better than by any other means 1 know what, terrible difficulties the French troops wont through to'make their recent gains, and under what awful hardships they 'are holding. Neither Bass nor I desires any credit for nervo in doing what \we did. AVe both wished ourselves-well out of it a thousand times. AVhen we were 300 yards from the fort, both utterly unnerved, wo begged Our captain to return. After agreeing to all our requests through a, long'night, ho then shook his head. It was too late. AVe were caught. Douaumont was nearer than any underground shelter, in the rear. Wo had either to go on or die whero we were. So we went to Douaumont because there ivas no other place to go...'".'At 8.30 p.m. General Dubois took as by automobile to the outskirts of A r erdun, and wo started our sis miles climb. It had been raining throughout dinner, but now it was clear, and the moon was shining brightly. AYe began to make our way through open fields, ignoring tho trenches until after we passed tho ■ heights of ' Fort St. Michel. There at night time we were in comparative safety, and at that hour the German shelling was light. Near us, on the left, was a French battery • so close that we could see the great flashes of flame as the guns were tired. The deep rumble of distant guus echoing through the valley, the sharp barks of near guns, the detonations of French shells passing overhead; all combined to give a semblance of Fourth i of July night. With our arrival on I the heights, of St. Michel ■ our real troubles began. Our first objective was' La Maison Blanche, a little white hut on the., famous ridge known as Froide Terre. Soon after, we entered.the trenches shells began to whistle about iis, and the mud became knee-deep.-- Simultaneously all excess of spirit vanished, and our party settled down to the deadly serious 'business of getting there. Out in tho open we had had moonlight, but tho trenches were dark. So wo floundered and stumbled and fell and stumbled on again. Several times wo crouched low and waited for the German batteries to begin hunting tho French batteries. Shells that fell short of these targets came uncomfortably close. AA r o wero just about to climb out of a trench; in fact, we wero clawing into its muddy side's.and striking our spiked boots into the footholes, and in.the act of lifting our waterlogged bodies, when tho scream of a shell souuded almost-in our ears. AVe dropped like rocks to the bottom of tho trench, and lay there with our arms over our heads. The shell exploded with a terrific roar about 25 feet outside. Between, it and the trench was a largo tree stump, which took the force of the metal and explosive hurled in our direction. Had" wo been a quarter of a minute later and outsido the trench we should probably all have been killed." ■ ■ Doatf Men Everywhere. "We continued, on. Then I turned back 'quickly,-my nerves really shaken for the first time. -Lying just beside me, a few feet below in tho mud, was tho body of a man—a German soldier. Hie head lay in ft pool of water; his glassy-eyes stared at tho moon,; ono hand 'stuck- rigidly up. He seemed pointing directly at me. I forced myself to turn and go on, then stumbled and fell over two other dead men huddled over the edge of a shell crater. From, then ou'we. constantly passed bodies—dozens of them, both French and German. In tho moonlight wo could distinguish tho colour of ,their uniforms. Sometimes there wero only fragments of bodies—bauds and face* sticking out of the nuid. _ Bass kicW a German helmet out of his way, and a head rolled out of it. It was a melange of bodies all tho way to Douaumont. . "Tho shells were-zipping much closer than before. As we heard screams announcing their arrival we would jump down into the holes and lie there close together. Once I found myself crouching for protection in the lee of a dead man. Once I sat down to rest, and roso quickly, as I felt something not mud beneath me. All over tho place was other rubbish of the battlefieldrifles, bayonets, cartr-idgo belts, ;ma boots, lilicd and empty. Often tho rifles were stuck upright in tho mud. These were tho signal posts by which we found our way, placed thoro by those who lint! made the journey before. Hurricane of Shells. "Suddenly we all stopped dead. A low fall rose from the waste of shell boles on our loft; then another. Our captain answered, and the ghostly voice tiecarno definite: 'We are wounded from Douaumont, and have lost our way. We arc trying to find La Maison Blanche.' In a few moments we could m.'iko out their .forms in tho shifting light. Our captain stuck a rifle upright in tho mud, then called, asking if they could see it. A voice replied that they could, lie then told them to strike (Hit for it, and afterwards turn, directly at a right angle, and they would find the other signposts leading to safety,and the rear. "Suddenly, at a shorter distance than wo'could havo thrown a stone, a shell exploded directly in front of us. AYo hurled ourselves faco downwards in Mo crater mid waited. Another scream, and a terrific explosion slightly nearer. A third liit f hn ground loss than lil't.v'.viirds away, rii'nehclpd from line mniiiul of mud to another, finally exploding fi hundred yards behind ns. A succession. of shells then spouted geysers' of' mud all along tho ridge. Wo unanimously decided I hat we had h'ad.j.noiigh.a.nd! orawlgd bncU as best.

we could to Adelbei't Abri (so named during the Gorman occupation, after a son of the Kaiser). Deep underground we found a cavern 6ft. wide by 20ft. long, in which wo were just able to stand upright." Description of the Fart. At length the party reached Douauniont, which is thus described: —''The eutranco to Douaiimont is a holo in the, ground very like that at Adelberi Abri. 1 fell through it, and on the bench inside, sobbing with exhaustion. My first remark, whon I was sufficiently recovered to make one, was ad-; dressed to a soldier standing near: 'Is this really Douanniont? And when he assured ino that it was, I turned to Bass, sitting , on the bench beside me. AA r e smiled and shook hands. There is nothing left of Dou-1 aumont except what is below ground. Above ground is just a low mound ofmud resembling the surrounding landscape. But through tho mud in every direction point machine-guns, testifying that Douaumont belongs to Franco. There are also excavation loopholes commanding the country for miles nbout. The present fort consists of huge stone-vaulted caverns which wero the ammunition rooms of the original structure. They average 50 feet below ground, and extend hundreds of yards In ■ several directions. There is free access throughout. But there arc still many German dead under the debris.'• Wlien Bass and I entered the fort it was just 6 o'clock. The corridor into which we fell contained several dozen soldiers. They gaped at us. Our captain explained our presence to an under-officer. -There'was a murmur of surprise. 'Civilians in Douaumont!!', someone said , , and his next remark can best be translated by, 'What do you know abouo tfhat?' In fact, when the under-officer led tho way down the corridor to the commandant's room we received a round of applause. . . . The commandant showed us over tho fort. AVe followed him through many corridors into many rooms. The Germans had done handsomely by themselves , while occupying Douaumont, but they went out so hurriedly that they took nothing with them, and were even unable to destroy. So we saw a complete hospital and operating room, great stores of provisions, and enormous water supply, and thousands upon thousands of hand grenades and rounds of ammunition. Owing to'the extreme difficulty oft bringing supplies the Douaumont garrison are comfortably living on German 'fare and 1 shooting German bullets. Captured machine-guns are placed to rake every corridor, end to end. in case of a successful counter-attack. AVe asked tho commandant concerning this possibility, and he explained that the French harrier tiro on tho German side of Douaumont had up to date been far moro dreadful than that which we encountered getting in. Then he looked a<"tim at his watch and told us it was time to go. He led us to the entrance, and wo looked out. It was dawn. ' Before us, toward Verdun, was an angry ocean of yellow mud, with waves 15 to 20 feet high, and as many yards long. That was what wo had come through, and that was what wo faced. As wn stood there three explosions in rapid succession s-nnshed the mud wave nearest us into flvin<' spray. AVe crouched back under the aliolter. 'If you can make 400 yards i" 20 minutes you arc safe, 1 the commandant ■ told us, tlipn tripped our bunds and left us. AVe leaped out. AVo camo literally out of the jii-ws of death, out through the mouth of hell."