History of the World War : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
"The machines came right on, ignoring the hospital with the German
wounded, indicating they had full knowledge of their objective, until
they were over a wing of the Red Cross hospital that contained the
operating room on the ground floor. In the operating room a man was on
the table for a most difficult surgical feat. Around him were gathered
the staff of the hospital and its brilliant surgeons. Lieutenant Sage of
New York had just given him the anesthetic when one of the airplanes let
the bomb drop. It was a big fellow. It must have been all of 250 pounds
of high explosive.
"It hurtled downward, carrying the two floors before it. Through the gap
thus made wounded men, the beds in which they lay, convalescents, and
all on the floors came crashing down to the ground. The bomb's force
extended itself to wreck the operating room, where the man on the table,
Lieutenant Sage, and all in the room were killed. In all there were
thirty-seven lives lost, including three Red Cross nurses.
"The building caught fire. The concussion had blown the stairs down, so
that escape from the upper floors seemed impossible. But the
convalescents and the soldiers, who had run to the scene of the bombing,
let the very ill ones out of the windows, and escape was made in that
way.
"And then, to cap the climax, the German airplanes returned over the
spot of their ghastly triumph and fired on the rescuers with machine
guns. God will never forgive the Huns for that act alone. Nor will our
comrades ever forget it."
The statement of Colonel Andrews was corroborated by a number of other
officers.
To protect artillery against counter-fire of all kinds, both sides from
the beginning used the art of camouflage. This was resorted to
particularly against scouting airplanes. At first the branches of trees
and similar natural cover were used to deceive the airmen. Later the
guns themselves were painted with protective colorations, and screens of
burlap were used instead of branches. The camoufleur, as the camouflage
artist was called, speedily extended his activities to screens over
highways, preventing airmen from seeing troops in motion, to the
protective coloration of lookout posts, and of other necessary factors
along the fighting front. Camouflage also found great usefulness in the
protective coloration of battleships and merchant vessels. Scientific
study went hand in hand with the art, the object being to confuse the
enemy and to offer targets as small as possible to the enemy gunners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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