Four Weeks in the Trenches | Page 6

appeared on the horizon again. This time we
immediately opened fire. It disappeared, but apparently had seen
enough, for very soon our position was shelled. By this time, however,
shrapnel had almost ceased to be a source of concern to us and we
scarcely paid any attention to it. Human nerves quickly get accustomed
to the most unusual conditions and circumstances and I noticed that
quite a number of men actually fell asleep from sheer exhaustion in the
trenches, in spite of the roaring of the cannon about us and the
whizzing of shrapnel over our heads.
I, too, soon got accustomed to the deadly missiles,--in fact, I had
already started to make observations of their peculiarities. My ear,
accustomed to differentiate sounds of all kinds, had some time ago,
while we still advanced, noted a remarkable discrepancy in the peculiar
whine produced by the different shells in their rapid flight through the
air as they passed over our heads, some sounding shrill, with a rising
tendency, and the others rather dull, with a falling cadence. A short
observation revealed the fact that the passing of a dull-sounding shell
was invariably preceded by a flash from one of our own cannon in the
rear on the hill, which conclusively proved it to be an Austrian shell. It
must be understood that as we were advancing between the positions of
the Austrian and Russian artillery, both kinds of shells were passing
over our heads. As we advanced the difference between shrill and dull
shell grew less and less perceptible, until I could hardly tell them apart.
Upon nearing the hill the difference increased again more and more
until on the hill itself it was very marked. After our trench was finished
I crawled to the top of the hill until I could make out the flash of the
Russian guns on the opposite heights and by timing flash and actual
passing of the shell, found to my astonishment that now the Russian
missiles had become dull, while on the other hand, the shrill shell was
invariably heralded by a flash from one of our guns, now far in the rear.
What had happened was this: Every shell describes in its course a
parabolic line, with the first half of the curve ascending and the second
one descending. Apparently in the first half of its curve, that is, its

course while ascending, the shell produced a dull whine accompanied
by a falling cadence, which changes to a rising shrill as soon as the
acme has been reached and the curve points downward again. The
acme for both kinds of shells naturally was exactly the half distance
between the Russian and Austrian artillery and this was the point where
I had noticed that the difference was the least marked. A few days later,
in talking over my observation with an artillery officer, I was told the
fact was known that the shells sounded different going up than when
coming down, but this knowledge was not used for practical purposes.
When I told him that I could actually determine by the sound the exact
place where a shell coming from the opposing batteries was reaching its
acme, he thought that this would be of great value in a case where the
position of the opposing battery was hidden and thus could be located.
He apparently spoke to his commander about me, for a few days later I
was sent on a reconnoitering tour, with the object of marking on the
map the exact spot where I thought the hostile shells were reaching
their acme, and it was later on reported to me that I had succeeded in
giving to our batteries the almost exact range of the Russian guns. I
have gone into this matter at some length, because it is the only
instance where my musical ear was of value during my service.
To return to my narrative, the losses which my battalion suffered that
day seemed extraordinarily small when compared with the accuracy of
the Russian artillery's aim and the number of missiles they fired. I
counted seventy-four shrapnel that burst in a circle of half a mile
around us in about two hours, and yet we had no more than about
eighteen casualties. The most difficult part was to lie still and
motionless while death was being dealt all about us and it was then and
there that I had my first experience of seeing death next to me. A
soldier of my platoon, while digging in the trench, suddenly leaned
back, began to cough like an old man, a little blood broke from his lips,
and he crumpled together in a heap and lay quite still. I could not
realize that this was the end, for his eyes were wide open