DEVIL OF DESTRUCTION

Evening Star, Issue 16195, 17 August 1916, Page 3

DEVIL OF DESTRUCTION

THE WAR'S GREAT WASTE.

COVERING A RETIRING ARMY'S TRACKS • :—*-*- :

By CHARLES W. SIMPSON in 'Land and Water.'

A gloomy, unwashed man in a- dirty uniform sat On a luggage trolly, note book in hand. He looked up as tho engine whistled, and the long, heavily-freighted-tram, with its load of ammunition, began to move out of the station. The t>ucks and waggons jerked noisily as tho couplings tightened; a roaring cloud of suam shot forth in front of the engine, «nd spread, slowly fading, across the vails. The gloomy man scribbled something in his note book and got up uneasily; he was the officer in command of the suppiy dopot. When lie raised his hand there was another whistle; a fresh engine left the sidings and was coupled to another row of trucks on tho main lino. As each train left the officer stared a iter it for a few moments until it had par*lv disappeared in the damp, heavy fog that lay thickly across the line and necessitated L ho use of the great arc lights in the goods yard ; then he turned and lookjd toward? the crowded sidings. Tedious work this slow precession of trains—each one seeming to diminish by so littlo the mass of waggons awaiting their departure; but if it were slow, there •was method in the slowness, and gradually tho sidings beeamo less congested. Drivers and firemen went about their work apathetically, in no way disturbed by the confusion that unavoidably ensued in handling this huge mass of rolling stock. Mostly civilians, they were merely rpjlying out their habitual duties, and were insusceptible to the strain and stress of war.

P£ 'toughed and cleared his throat. ■ ?' ou <l . -Y our sa- n g of incenmanes mby midnight— not anv sooner, mind. 1,11 then, so lon-r." The OC. walked hack to his trolley on the platform. . .

The Northern Army was. changing its base. After three days' severe fighting, productive of no definite result, it had retired on tho junction during the night and its leader had resolved on a. desuerate course. Seven miles up the line was a broad river in flood; across it the remains of an u-on girder bridge stood out ot the water, twisted and bent by the iovce. of a great explosion. Tliis, bridge had been destroyed airly in tho war, and the junction, with its supply depot, captured by the very army whoso safety was now threatened. To move the supplies up line |>y rail was now impossible, and should the enemy wm back what ho had lost his serving army would gain a new lease of life, and would be able to very seriously harass the rearguard of the Northern Army, and possibly to inflict severe losses or even defeat. At all costs the supplies iiad to l-* removed or destroyed and the enemy starved out. The position of the iforthorn Army was critical, because it had only succeeded in holding its opponents m check and fighting a drawn battle; another desperate onslaught from the enemy, and the junction might be lost, fco the leader decided on the destruction ot the. supplies and a retirement across the river. "°

All through tho first night troops had marched past the depot on their way to ihe river, where the pontonniers were'laving bridges for their crossing. It was now evening; no troops remained on the junction side of the river except the cavalry, screening the army's movements.'The. second night of the retreat was drawing on, and the work of destruction at the junction was nearly complete. Just an hour before midnight the last train steamed out of tho station loaded to its utmost capacity with provisions and stores, the man with the spanner was given the order to let loose his hordes of wreckers • already clouds of smoke rolled up thickly into tho night from the fired buildings'; straw stacks burst into sudden flame, casting showers of sparks over the surrounding pi] e 6_ sac k s of flour thafc ]iad been abandoned and masses of frozen meat. Everything combustible was soon in a blaze; crash followed crash as the buildings collapsed, sending forth immense bursts of tire and smoke; a. strong wind tanned tho conflagration to furv, and blew wisps of burning straw tliToueh the darkness. There was a loud crackling now, a sound of hissing and tearing, as the destroyer worked apace. The men, who had accomplished thentask, now made all haste to follow tj, e ,i»fnends to safety. A light engine," followed by trucks, moved up the "line; on the trucks were swarms of grimy figrres huddled together, some with their less dangling over the edgo of tho trollies others lying asleep on tho floor-boards. J heir hands were sore and blistered; ad were parched with thirst a~.d weak from exertion.

There was little rest for anyone at the Ftipply depot, from the officer in command in the, platelayers and fatigue gang.}. All the stores of food', forage, and ammunition were to bo rushed out of the junction and conveyed to a point—not expressly mentioned—somewhere up the main line. the rows of already laden trucks, huge piles of flour sacks were stored under shelters roofed with iron sheeting in the goods yard: stacks of hay and straw, covered with tarpaulin, bulked up in the mist; and beyond them were ramparts of crates and cases of every description—lons of frozen meat and tinned stuffs; rations enough to keep an army in the held for weeks. It was a giant's task to move this mountain of supplies, and tho energy with which -'t was hem? attempted indicated a crisis calling for supreme,effort.

The O.C. left his seat on the trolly for tho fiftieth tim 9, walked down the "platform, and stopped at the door of tho station master's office. In response to his call a slim youth with a small black moustache, that grew very ..close under his nose, and avoided his upper lip altogether, came briskly to the doorway—it was clear that he was not a railway official. In fhirt sleeves, a pencil stuck behind one far, and papers bulging from his pockets, he was still an unmistakable junior sub., of callously cheerful demeanor, in spite of the dark rings under his eyes.

" Tisfc off the ammunition as done with," said the senior officer " and now." he added savagely, " we've got to clear out the grub." "Right, sir!" answered the sub. brightly. "Tho swine won't find much left here if we go on at this rate, will they?" he chuckled with glee. "Poor, hungry devils, swotting their hides off to get here in time, and then—or" (casting about for some felicitous .phrase) "an empty rage—bird flown." Ho chuckled again.

As they glanced back thev saw a red, wavering glow in the southern skyline. Few among then: thought of the thousands of exhausted and hungry men out in the night—they, too, might have seen the glow m the sky and have guessed what it meant: the death of their hopes, the loss of that for which thev had fought so desperately and suffered "so much. True, the enemy was miles away, bnsv with his dead and. wounded after the three-days' battle; f:;i. hunger would not let him wait lon-.. .; oven then he might have been ad>. to wrest, if possible, some remnant. . . prize from tho burning. Ihrougii ,i:.: small hours of the morning, wnile the work of destruction was proceeding at the junction, a steady stream of soldiers, guns, .and waggons tiled across the river. A mile below tho wrecked girder bridge two others had been con-' structed on pontoons; they were placed close together—one on canvas boat* for the infantry; the other, a more solid affair on wooden pontoons, for the artillery and transport. In the pale dawn-light, seen through the belts of mist that rose from tne water and from either bank, the troops had an almost spectral appearance as they marched over the bridges, with no sound but their steady tread and tho resonant rumbling of wheels as tho guns and transport crossed on the pontoons. Regiments of infantry filed in seemingly endless procession from bank to bank ;* many of the men, slightly wounded, with head or limbs m bandages. Some of the gun shields were dinted—wounded men sat clinging together on the limbers. The batteries were lollowcd by convoys of grey waggons, motor transport, and' ambulance cars, Tho army had marched from the scene or the three-days' conflict lest an undecided battle should be turned into defeat and disaster; it had laid waste its paths and covered its tracks, and all that could not bo taken away was destroyed. By midday half the army was across the river. And all the while, behind them, train after train had rolled up from the southward, until on both lines something like two miles of engines, trucks, and waggons extended along some hundreds of yards from the river bank. Then towards evening, alter tho last of the troops, save a few squadrons of cavalry, had crossed over tho river, began an amazing work of destruction.

" Let me see the lists." said the other, unmoved by the spirit of pleasantry:

"we must look sharp. What comes next? Ah, yes; thirty truck-loads of barley and forty, of wheatj besides the stock in the vard " ,

As the two men stood in the doorway t>f the office, a third, who was pacing rapidly up the platform, approached them. He pulled up sharply, and, taking a quick glance round the station, shrugged his shoulders with an air half of indecision and half of impatience. He turned to the O.C.

"Look here, old chap: can yon finish the job in eight hours? My men want to get to work on the line." The newcomer was very hot. and l very dusty; his tunic and shirt were open, showing his chest glistening with sweatdrops. In one hand he carried a. large adjustable spanner; his face and arms were smeared with black train oil.

"Well, you can see what progress we've made," replied the officer : " those sidings were crowded this rnornig—and look at 'em now." Ho waved his hand towards the goods yard.

" H'm. yes but it's time we ripped up those rails," said the other, eyeing a maze of shining metals, cleared of trucks and waggons. "My gangs have been at work fourteen hours; we've burnt thousands of sleepers, with rails stacked on fop. Gad! how they blazed, and thev're still redhot."

"The rearguard struck camp this morning, and are now on tho march in the wake of the army. I was given until midnight to clear all the supnlies; you can smash and burn the whole place then, you devil of destruction—mako a bonfire as hot as hell, and then save vour hides." The destroyer smiled, nibbing his chin thoughtfully. "Ah! it.ll bo a r fine sight," said be; "a dencA of a fino sight." "Pine flight!" retorted the O.C. 'You've got no sentiment, man. .Blasted wrecker! Now then," ho shouted to a driver as the nest train began to roll out of the junctionj "full speed ahead—give her as much steam as she'll take."

Ihe girder bridge had spanned the river at a point, some little distanco below the pontoons, where the banks were high and steep, and where the drop into tho river below was precipitous. Towards the wrecked bndgo two trains began to move on the two parallel lines of rail; at first slowly then faster, until they leaped the bridgehead and crashed down through the shattered ironwork into the swirlino- water below. There was a roaring detonation as some of the ammunition exploded throwing up a bursting cloud of mud' water, and splinters. Two more trains were already coming on—tliis timo from a rather greater they, too plunged down thunderously into tho flood —now thick with debris. Then two more —faster; and 60 on, two bv two, until the river was choked and glutted with, wreckage. The drivers stuck to their engines until they had got the trains moving steadily and, then, jerking the throttlelevers down, they sprang from the footplates and left the trains to clatter forward to destruction. Gradually tho piled wreckage began to show above "the water • grim, distorted shapes of bent iron that seemed to gesticulate forlornly. Crates and boxes carao loose, and spun down on the flood; and the wreck and waste continued until every train had disappeared over the brink. At dusk the drivers and stragglers crossed the light bridge, while the pontonniers hurriedly dismantled the larger pontoon after a few squadrons of cavalry had crossed. A small charge demolished the lighter structure, and the work was complete.

Then he left the office In company with the engineer, and tho two men watched 'the scene from just outsido the station.

A dreaiy scene; one of tho.se • sights which, though not actually concerned with human misery, give an acute impression of the horror and desolation of war, and of that ghastly element in war —waste.

Looking down the line tho country was half obliterated by the grey fog. Groups of men were moving among what at first ritrht appeared to be great piles of rubbish—«, closer inspection showing that they were composed of rails and sleepers stacked together. Blots of dull red hero and there showed that the piles wero still smouldering, and at times the charred wood broke away with a faint, muffled sound, or the hot metals cracked. A scaroely-heard rumbling indicated that fires wero yet burning in the centre of tho piles. Further away columns of smoke, flecked by shooting flames, Tose from other bonfires.

Picks rang on the broken railroad, where lines of men wero working with rhvthmic strokes. Fox miles round the earth was trodden by the hoofs of horses and the tfeet of marching men, crimped by the wheels of guns and waggons; hedges and gateways demolished, and grass borders stamped into mud. On the far ridges the clearing mist mired with tho smoke of camp fires left by the retiring rearguard. "We've done pretty well, don't you think? Not tho jolliest sort of placo to lead a starving array over, is it?" The speaker buttoned hir, tunio and put the spanner in ha pocket. "Tho dreariest spot I ever wish, to see," replied tho other. _ " Come; I must get back to my job—it's more irksome than yours. I wish I could set a. match to my show and burn it up," ho went on, in a mood of partly assumed exasperation. "Better, fun than sending off all thee© —— trains." ■ ,

Tho retiring army had covered its tracks by ruthless waste—but waste that meant salvation.

" Ho, ho!", said the engineer, " how about sentiment now? WeL j I'd burn it if I had my way; but yours is no doubt the better method—only slow, devilish Blow. And I must say I want to light tboso straw stacks. Somo reward for mv Labor tiaaa ; and, oh Lord I won't they