WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16309, 16 August 1916, Page 4

WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

ANGLO-FRENCH OFFENSIVE.

TERRIFIC HAVOC OF GUNS.

CHAOS IN ENEMY TRENCHES

GERMAN OFFICERS STORY.

A graphic account of the terrible destruction wrought, by the Anglo-French artillery in the offensive in the Somme region came to hand by yesterday's mail. It is written by a German officer, Lieutenant Damhitsch, one of the editors of the Zeitung am Mittag. whose company was stationed in the trenches near the Somme River.

The lieutenant was wounded in the pre- | paratory bombardment, but was there long enough to see the almost indescribable destruction wrought in the front line trenches by the artillery- Writing under date July 7, he says the massively built positions had been regarded as virtually indestructible and impregnable, but the event proved that the progress in the development of offensive tactics since the September offensive had not been realised. " Right at the beginning of the artillery preparation," say's the lient-enant. "the enemy showed the Germans a new thing in the destruction of observation balloons. An aviator swooped down on one of these and shot fire balls from above, a burst of flame marking the end of the balloon. Bomb-Proofs Blown Aloft. " The second day's bombardment, June 26, brought another surprise in the shape of aerial mines of unheard-of calibres. which were thrown in incredible numbers. The explosion of the first air torpedo shattered by its tremendous detonation the windows of the bomb-proofs and threw up a massive pillar of black earth, perhaps a hundred yards. This showered the whole neighbourhood with roofs, bricks, and eslrth. This was a regular Vesuvius eruption. " The destructive effects of this uninterrupted throwing of the heaviest mines were almost immediately visible. The entrances to the bomb-proofs were buried, and the inmates had to be removed." A few minutes later an orderly, sent with a message to the left of a company, returned, reporting that the trench had been completely levelled. Lieutenant Dambitsch, going to observe, saw as far as -the eye could reach crater after crater six feet deep, the earth between being torn up in a wild, high chaos of trench timbers and wire entanglements. Months of Work Gone. " The work of day and night for nine months," says the chronicler, "was destroyed in a few minutes- Report after report arrived of bomb-proofs demolished by aerial torpedoes, burying the inmates. The trenches became rapidly levelled, communication between the sections being very difficult. The third lines were so heavily shelled that it was impossible to traverse them- '' An orderly sent to a captain was hours under way. On the left flank the company trench was so obliterated that it was difficult to trace it. The only means of progress was to dash from crater to crate* fully exposed to the enemy fire while crossing the intervening ridges. Finally he arrived after a period of intense danger and found the left platoon of the company in the same condition as the right platoon. A number of men were still buried in the demolished bomb-proofs. Their comrades worked for hours extricating them. Every Yard ol Ground Pounded. " During this work an intrepid battalion surgeon arrived with an oxygen apparatus and stood for hours under a heavy artillery fire ministering to the half-buried and attempting to revive those asphyxiated. " The bombardment continued without cessation, aerial torpedoes' being hurled from ranges such as were never before known for mine throwers. The French artillery pounded every yard -of ground with an intense fire of big shells-" The lieutenant describes how welcome reinforcements were sent that night, "quite as much to assist in digging out those buried as to contribute to the defence." He was leading them to positions among the demoralised trenches, when he and his orderly were wounded by an exploding torpedo. They were sent to the hospital, thus missing the infantry attacks-