My eyes do not leave the spot, where, in a few moments, human beings
will be hurled in the air and disappear. They are our enemies, but one
experiences that undefinable feeling that one is conscious of when
looking at the guillotine about to fall before you. What silence!
* * * * *
Suddenly an enormous gust of earth leaps into the air--- One gapes
with stupor--a heavy detonation--the earth is transformed into a vast
volcano and black soil and stones are shot continually up!
Everything in the vicinity becomes animated and three large trees begin
to incline slowly in different directions with sinister crackings----
At the same moment I see very distinctly a German soldier thrown high
into space, his hands tightly clutching his rifle. He turns over slowly
and then his gun goes off, having, without doubt, unconsciously pulled
the trigger.
Then it is this column of earth which falls showering and covering us
with a rain of stones and pebbles, thumping the ground loudly----
And then comes the waking of battle; the stupor is over and a heavy
fusillade breaks out along the whole line; machine-guns sputter, and
the artillery fire becomes violent----
We are so close to the enemy trench that we hear the cries of the dying
and wounded. The mine exploded at a well-selected spot and the losses
must be heavy.
These cries are soon transformed into heart-rending wails which portray
the resulting terror and anguish, cries of men who have been startled
out of their sleep to die.
[Illustration: Lieutenant Ducoux with the Magpie "Anatole" in
Malancourt-wood.]
Bullets whistle loudly and clip the earth around us--the leaves, the new
and pretty leaves of the wood, flutter and fall in our midst like in
the sad days of autumn----
* * * * *
Quiet comes again. A big German officer has the nerve to leap on the
parapet of the trench very close to us, and shout:
"Well done, Seventh Engineers!"
His attitude seemed to imply: "You are in no danger now." He then jumps
back quickly into his trench.