I witnessed the first bombardment of the German trenches and works. It was a wonderful sight. The effects were terrifying. It is not possible that any work of defense, however strong, ran resist such an avalanche of fire and steel. How many men must be buried in the ruins! The German reply is that the most stubborn resistance was counted upon, for the enemy may be short of men, but only in the few lines not lacking munitions. However, I can affirm that he offered feeble resistance to our first shelling. His guns barely fired one shot for ten from the allies. That was characteristic of the section where I was. Did the enemy wish to prevent us from finding the positions of his batteries or what Old the impassive attitude concealed no difference to us. 