Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIX. An Excursion to the Front at Lille
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
AN EXCURSION TO THE FRONT AT LILLE 313
in our direction. But when he swung slowly round and turned
his back on us, we were able for the moment to move more
freely. However, the circles he described were small, and it
was all that we could do to hurry from the battery to the obser-
vation post and vice versa before he swung round again and
we ran the risk of detection.
The gun crew were therefore taking it easy. Beside one of
the guns the men were eating their breakfast, beside another
a man was reading aloud from a newspaper. I took a couple
of pictures of them to their great delight.
We then took the opportunity, when the airman’s back
was turned, to hurry back across the meadow to our car under
the shelter of the trees. It was still too early to go home, and
we thought we might make another trip in the direction of
the firing line to the north-westward ; accordingly we turned
back to the outskirts of Lille and took the road to St. André,
Verlinghem and Quesnoy. At St. André, where a local com-
mand was quartered, we halted awhile, the Duke asking the
General how far we might proceed in that direction. He
thought Quesnoy and a little way beyond it might be quite
safe. With a little luck, we might even see the Austrian
30.5-cm. mortars in action.
We drove off in the direction indicated and passed several
large supply columns proceeding to the front to provide the
troops with fresh food and ammunition. Patrols showed us
the way to one of the Austrian batteries. The road was very
mediocre ; its centre was stone-paved and at each side was a
belt about three metres wide without any sign of paving and
now converted into a sea of mud. The traffic was lively, and
it was impossible to drive fast. Presently we reached the am-
munition column of the mortar battery. The fighting battery
with its tw^o pieces of ordnance was ahead of the column,
which had halted, occupying the right half of the road, so
we left the car and proceeded on foot.
The road lay a good metre higher than the ground to the
right. From the left, or south-west, the enemy shells kept
dropping quite close to us. Constantly fresh little white tufts
of cloud kept forming in the sky and out of them flashed a
spurt of flame. This was a signal that the zone of fire was
spreading towards us, and we bent down instinctively to take
such cover as the road and battery-lorries afforded. We were
right under fire and might be hit at any moment. The Deckung
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
