THE GREAT BATTLE BEGINS
_France, July 1st._
Below me, in the dimple beyond the hill on which I sit, is a small
French town. Straight behind the town is the morning sun, only an hour
risen. Between the sun and the town, and, therefore, only just to be
made out through the haze of sunlight on the mists, are two lines--a
nearer and a farther--of gently sloping hill-tops. On those hills is
being fought one of the greatest battles in history. It is British
troops who are fighting it, and French. The Canadians are in their lines
in the salient. The Australians and New Zealanders--it has now been
officially stated--are at Armentières.
A few minutes ago, at half-past six by summer-time, the British
bombardment, which has continued heavily for six days, suddenly came in
with a crash, as an orchestra might enter on its grand finale. Last
night, some of us who were out here watched the British shells playing
up and down the distant skyline, running over it from end to end as a
player might run the fingers of one hand lightly over the piano keys.
There were three or four flashes every second, here or there in that
horizon; night and day for six days that had continued. Within the last
few minutes, starting with two or three big heart bangs from a battery
near us, the noise suddenly expanded into a constant detonation. It was
exactly as though the player began, on an instant, to use all the keys
at once.
We now ought to be able to see, from where we sit with our telescopes,
the bursts of our shells on those distant ridges. But I cannot swear
that I see a single one. The sound of the bombarding is like the sound
of some titanic iron tank which a giant has set rolling rapidly down an
endless hill. We can hear the soft whine of scores of shells hurrying
all together through the air. Every five minutes or so a certain
howitzer, tucked into some hiding-place, vents its periodical growl, and
we can hear the huge projectile climbing slowly, up his steep gradient
with a hiss like that of water from a fire-hose. There is some other
heavy shell which passes us also, somewhere in the middle of his flight.
We cannot distinguish the report of the gun, and we do not hear the
shell burst; but at regular intervals we can quite distinctly hear the
monster making his way leisurely across our front.
We can distinguish in the uproar the occasional distant crash of a heavy
shell-burst. But not one burst can I see. The sun upon the mist makes
the distant hill crests just a vague blue screen against the sky.
There is one point on those hills where the two lines of trenches ought
to be clearly visible to us. With a good glass on a clear day you should
be able to distinguish anything as big as a man at that distance--much
more a line of men. Within less than an hour, at half-past seven, the
infantry will leave our trenches over twenty miles of front and launch a
great attack. The country town below us is Albert--behind the centre of
the British attack. One can see the tall, battered church tower rising
against the mist, with the gilt figure of the Virgin hanging at right
angles from the top like the arm of a bracket. On the hills beyond can
just be made out the woods of Fricourt behind the German line. They are
in the background behind Albert church tower. The white ruins of
Fricourt may be the blur in the background south of them. We shall be
attacking Fricourt to-day.
The Germans have not a single "sausage" in the air that I can see. The
sausage is the very descriptive name for the observation balloon. We
have twenty-one of them up, specking the sky as clearly as a
bacteriologist's slide is specked with microbes.
The Germans used to have a whole fleet of them looking down over us. But
a week ago our aeroplanes bombed all along the line, and eight of them,
more or less, went down in flames within a single afternoon.
7.10 a.m.--Six of our aeroplanes are flying over, very high, in a
wedge-shaped flight like that of birds. Single British aeroplanes have
been coming and going since the bombardment started. I have not seen any
German plane. The distant landscape is becoming fainter. The flashes of
our guns can be seen at intervals all over the slopes immediately below
us, and their blast is clearly shown by the film of smoke and dust which
hurries into the air. The haze makes a complete screen between us and
the battle.
7.15 a.m.--Our fire has become noticeably hotter. Some of us thought it
had relaxed slightly after the first ten minutes. I doubt if it really
did--probably we were growing accustomed to the sound. There is no doubt
about its increase now. We can hear the _crump_, _crump, crump_ of
heavy explosives almost incessantly. I fancy our heavy trench mortars
must have joined in.
7.20 a.m.--Another sound has suddenly joined in the uproar. It is the
rapid detonation of our lighter trench mortars.[1] I have never heard
anything like this before--the detonation of these crowds of mortars is
as rapid as if it were the rattle of musketry. Indeed, if it were not
for the heavy detonation one would put it down for rifle fire. Only
eight minutes now, and the infantry goes over the parapet along the
whole line.
[1] Note.--What I took for the sound of trench mortars was almost
certainly that of the British field guns. These heavy Somme bombardments
were then a novelty, and the idea that field guns could be firing like
musketry did not enter one's head. What I took for the sound of heavy
trench mortars was also, certainly, that of German shells.
7.27 a.m.--The heaviness of the bombardment has slightly decreased. A
large number of guns must be altering range on to the German back lines
in order to allow our infantry to make their attack. The hills are
gradually becoming clearer as the sun gets higher, but the haze will be
far too thick for us to see them go over.
7.29 a.m.--One minute to go. I have not seen a single German shell burst
yet. They may be firing on our trenches; they are not on our batteries.
7.32 a.m.--Ever so distant, but quite distinctly, under the thunder of
the bombardment I can hear the sound of far-off rifle firing.
So they are into it--and there are Germans still left in those trenches.
7.35 a.m.--Through the bombardment I can hear the chatter of a
machine-gun. And there is a new thunder added, quite distinguishable
from the previous sounds. It is only the last minute or so that one has
noticed it--a low, ceaseless pulsation.
It is the drumming of the German artillery upon our charging infantry.
Behind that blue screen they must be in the thick of it. God be with our
men!