I have been on battlefields after
action had finished and observed positions where two batteries had
shot at each other, both being in "direct fire" position. The French
pieces can fire at a rate of twenty-five shots a minute and in such
duels seem to be able to fire accurately with nearly twice the
rapidity of the Germans.

The most unpleasant experience that I ever underwent occurred one day
when I was directly in front of and under a French battery and it
suddenly and unexpectedly fired about forty rounds in thirty seconds
over my head. These discharges produced a great psychological effect
and were much more disconcerting than any arrival of enemy's shells.

I have never observed any "short burst," or shells bursting in guns. I
should judge that this accident happens very rarely, with the French,
at least.

At the beginning of the war, the French carried shells and shrapnel in
about equal numbers. The shells explode with the time-fuse exactly as
do shrapnel. From several sources I was told that they were loaded
with the new explosive which had been introduced only about three
months before the beginning of hostilities. As the war progresses the
French tend to use more and more of these explosive shells, which are
used against infantry in the same way as are shrapnel. The only
difference seems to be that they are made to burst a little lower.
Their effect is very terrible. A heavy bursting charge is employed,
and although the fragments are small they fly with such force that
they make fatal wounds and even cut into the wood of rifle stocks. I
observed the body of one German whose back had been pierced with about
forty small particles of a shell which had burst close to him. These
particles were as evenly spread as the charge of a shotgun. German
wounded and captured Germans have told me that this French shell-fire
was so hellish that no man escaped except by a miracle. The French
infantry have a great affection for their "75," and their confidence
is always very greatly increased by its presence. Their spirits
immediately rise when they hear it behind them. The French field
artillery seem to have no favorite range but readily fire at any
range. On the one hand a gun is sometimes taken into the trenches, and
on the other hand I once observed a battery begin firing at 5300
meters and go to 5600 meters. One frequently sees French batteries of
two and three guns and groups of eight or nine guns, lost guns not
having