THE SAHARA OF SHELLS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14287, 2 May 1917, Page 8

THE SAHARA OF SHELLS.

LAND OF A 'THOUSAND SHUDDERS

WHY GERMANS HAD. TO RETREAT

FROM SOMME FRONT.

(By William Philip Simms. — Received by Mail.) ,

With the British Armies Afield, March 9th. — With two other newspapermen and an Anzac staff colonel I have just . explored the new Sahara, that hideous section of country abandoned by the ; Germans lest their troops go mad. A ! i The British gave it the name of *• Sahara. Crown Prince Rupprecht's , men called it by another — .the grave- ' yard. But I should give it another ji still— The Field ,pf a Thousand Shudders; the Place Where Nightmares are Made. I. , Take your map of France and find ' Bapaume. To the west and south'. of : that place lies the new Sahara. "If 'your map is a lav-ne one, you will firid.it covered with *h^ names of hamlets, vil- i lages, and towns- — but to-day all th,ese are gone. No trace of them is left, and as one stands m the middle^ of this blighted country .no sprig of grass, no sign of a tree, no- weed, flower, or shrub greets the vision as- far as eye can see. There is only a greenish black soilj 1 freshly churned up* and be-cratered by ■ explosives ranging m depth from five to sixty or more feet. IN DANGEIR OF QUAGMIRES. Of course, one cannot ride through this country. Nor, for that matter, can <wie walk. One can only slip and slide and stagger along, ever m danger 6f falling into funnel-shaped quagmires from wliich escape is impossible without aid. I know pf two correspondents who came near losrtng their lives m just Such places, more perilous far than the flread quicksands;' H orses and* mules. j>n account of their weight and 'the-dif-jficultyjpf helping them, once m the toils of . tlie ooze>., usually are .drawn on down ; to their death. "Look out for the bayonet," is iv common cry of warning .. as- yoiiw stumble through the mud, for hundreds and •thousands of .rifles are;, burjed -jin .the ground 'and frequently only tlie' rusting blades off their 'bayonets : are sticking out. ... ■-, The great* waste of war is everywhere evident. Wrought and twisted rifle barrels, splintered stocks, v unexplored shells of all calibres, hand grenades, trench mortar bombs, atrial torpedoes, brass shell, cases,, abandoned stores of Jive shells, knapsacks, articles of clothing and ■■• what not 'litter thef surface of the new Saharra. v . ; , ■..-...;■ . a. IN COMMUNICATION 'TOENCHFISJ The Germans gave the- .country here the name of i'.'rThe : ,G*rqiyfeyard/.' ... But the Field of a Thousand Shudders lies further on: Up i: toward* the bloody Butts of Warlencourt, Ligriy-Thilley anid thereabouts, .one reaches hell's own acres.. . oThp.0 Thp. water covering the. slime m .the crater beds has become ' gruesoriiely red,, exactly like Mood, fop some,- uncanny : reason,,. and, to tlie noisome I . smeil df miles of muclyis^ added an; unniistal?;Intuition..waulj 4 |' te;ll .you .the, cause c-f it. even were flot' the 'bodies dying, about .plainly to be.'seen. . "fhey are on mounds or at the botMm,.of;,shieil holes, m fragments, or so entire as resemble merely a very tired arid l, irnuddy soldier gone to sleep regardless of time, or place. , \ /-■ .' ..^ (-> Here ran the, 'Qermato-,vJ*in,es' duVirig* December and- January following rHhe battle of. the Somme. ■ There . wereV UOi commuiiication trenches leadiiig back-^---the British; smashed them 'as; fast asf'dijg, —and to. get .into. or. out of jthft .fpr.emost positions .the.soldiei^ had to traverse the open.grouiid,at nighj'., .**..','■■ i.. "-. \ ■■: ;■ . '-.; -Wlheri. a»,.;German felh.in .the; opeh he lay where he- fell. '„*. .Whe" be "fell ihtbe ti-enches he Was buried- m the side 6f the trench— providing the walls were fiim enough; if not his body 'was thrown: outsids. -..;... . . !-.' .--.,,

-.-:■■ CREEPY FEiEiLINGS; - .'-"j In the.- pitch black darkness many a! German soldier fell into the awful fun-nel-shaped death-traps m the mud to 4 be left to. suffocate m the terrible mixture, probably already holding bodies of-'pre-;vious victims. By day -dead faces staged' a.t the Kaiser's men from every side.i and at night ; de.ad ihands,., sticking out °?-: the mud,,,. tapped and threw those* who had to venture .-in* the .', open. Ironnerved troops , 'feJit creepy. . Pacestwitched, nerves failed, and prisoners •say, some, soldiers Went mad. Tins new Sahara is the work of 4 *- the' ; Bn:tish Artillery. , • ---.A. '.'.'. A. '

People asked why. the.. Germans retilled.; Do you -wonder, /.why'-.. they .-left l"---•Her^: you haye, an inkliiig-Pbut' only-W mkling^—of what the. British -guns are dqipg— -making new. Saharas alonjr the German fro.nt.V „•„. - ■<.• r; ' ? „*...,