noon
The great number of wrecked motor cars strewn along the road proved rather conclusively that the horse has not yet outlived its usefulness in modern warfare . The officers , including the generals , had willingly dispensed with such a dangerous mode of locomotion after the first fatal experiences , for the staring fiery eyes of the motor betrayed its whereabouts by night , and the clouds of dust betrayed it by day . The moment an auto came puffing along , the enemy 's shots began to fall to the right and left of it , and it was only natural , therefore , that the horse came into its own again , both because the rider was not bound to the main road and because he did not offer such a conspicuous target for the enemy 's shots . Towards noon the Japanese batteries entrenched before Hilgard began bombarding the 28th Regiment with shrapnel . Colonel Katterfeld therefore ordered half his men to seek protection under the stands . The howling and crashing of the bursting shrapnel of course had its effect on those troops who were here under fire for the first time . But the shrapnel bullets rained on the wooden roofs without being able to penetrate them , and after half an hour this fact imbued the men in their retreats with a certain feeling of security .