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A DAY AT ECLISFONTAINE 87
between. Then, for half a minute or longer, one hears a
whining, singing, hissing whistle overhead, and one looks up
involuntarily. The projectile is, however, only discernible if
one stands right behind the mortar as nearly as possible in the
extension of the line of fire. The four shells accompany one
another through the air and sing the same whining song in
the same high pitch. The sound arises through the air rushing
to fill the vacuum behind the advancing body, and through
the friction. Sometimes it seems to die away, but is heard
again presently quite plainly, this being no doubt due to air
currents.
Time after time the four " growlers " emptied their heavy
shells over the French positions opposite, and each one was
meant to cause the death of heaven knows how many human
beings. Their main task was to drive the defenders out of
Varennes, which is situated six kilometres south-south-west of
Eclisfontaine.
After the artillery had been pounding away all day, I asked
an oihcer what the cost had been. He made a rapid calcula-
tion for thirty-two batteries of different types and estimated
the average cost of each round at fifty marks and the number
of rounds at twelve thousand, which would make an expense
of six hundred thousand marks for a single day, and yet this
was only for a short portion of the long German western front.
Others, however, considered the estimate too high both as
regards average cost and number of shots fired. In any case
the artillery swallows up incredible sums in a war such as
this, in which it plays a greater and more powerful part than
ever before.
A little troop of soldiers without rifles come walking slowly
across the fields and reach the main road between the observa-
tion station of the General in Command and the telephone
house, and they must therefore march past us. It turns out
to be a convoy of slightly wounded. This first lot is succeeded
throughout the day by others. As a rule it is the left forearm
and especially the hand that has been pierced by a bullet, the
arm being carried in a sling. Here and there a man had an
unimportant flesh wound in the shoulders, or his head had
been grazed by a bullet. Two or three of the men looked pale,
but they were all in good spirits. Their first field dressing
had been applied on the field of battle. They were now on the
way to a principal dressing station to be sorted out. Thence
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