CANADIANS IN WORST INFERNO SINCE WAR BEGAN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14048, 19 July 1916, Page 6

CANADIANS IN WORST INFERNO SINCE WAR BEGAN.

EVERY" DEVICE OF WAR EMPLOYED. FRONT LINE REDUCED TO MASS OF EARTH AND DEBRIS. LONDON, June 5. It is understood that General Mercer waa wounded through a shell bursting near him m a dug-out, which was demolished. The general was buried ior some time. Despile a fearful and prolonged lire, this section of the battalion stuck there, losing heavily every minute, while every vestige of military defence completely melted away m the tornado of explosive. General Mercer was rescued by those who remained. The last stretcner party which carried off several wounded privates and non-coni.-missioned officers eventually succeeded ill recovering General Mercer. An officer reaching London early this morning, who has been at tho front since last year, says that never, not even m the second battle of Ypres, have the Canadians had such experience. "Is there anybody at homo or m England who thinks the Germans are short of ammunition? 1 have seen this tale going thb rounds of the papers on both sid't-j of the water, and it is the n.ost complete nonsense ever written. If tho Canadian front had been a .-powder lactory on tiro there couid not have been a bigger. hell while the Germans made their first bombardment. AND EXPECTED,IT. ' "Wo had expected it for some time, There are various indications long before such a- big storm really bursts, it was . pretty well pn Friday morning when the enemy guns opened m earnest. What an opening; —there was everything m the way of explosive playing all sorts of devilish tricks with''our'' defences. Plump came an enormous shell into a section of tha trench wliere there was a cross-way. ' Everything here would be churned up into nothing. Scarcely a single man m that section would escape without some wound. Some poor chaps were blown clean away. Nobody had much time to look around them'; we could only wait pur turn if it was to 'come. Just stuck where we were. ff 7 'We did not know;'bow things were going on m the rear;' That is one of the most harassing matters at such a tim?, and it is as well that one's thoughts are pretty well occupied with what is going on around you. I expect the German guns 1 M-ere miles away, but the noise was deafening. "Th.a Infernal artillery on Friday morning, went on nearly three hours and there was not one bit *of our frontline, I hear, which had not its trenches almost blotted, out. In my section our losses wera grievous. Half a dozen men would be buried together. We had to leave our front line if any pi i>s were to remain alive-. . During the''night artillery fire went on almost as intensely. Ybu could see it plugging away, for a breadth of many miles and it never left .off, though, m one section away, to our left it was hotter than anywhere else. Ot course the Germans sent forward men to occupy, the ground we ha_. been obliged to relinquish. "xhen ' on Saturday morning we brought up fresh 'men who moved forward. How they got on Ido not know, For I was moved down to the base with a host of others Avho ha.d been holding the line against the preliminary bombardment. I expect the coun-ter-attacks will last some time, and probably the 1 Germans will come mi with artillery as fierce as ever. When I leTt, the story was that our men were gradually getting back on the old land by slow degrees." .