On the right the outline is defined of a company that
is reaching the ravine by Trench 97--an old German work in ruins. We
cross our wire by openings. Still no one fires on us. Some awkward
ones who have made false steps are getting up again. We form up on
the farther side of the entanglements and then set ourselves to
topple down the slope rather faster--there is an instinctive
acceleration in the movement. Several bullets arrive at last among
us. Bertrand shouts to us to reserve our bombs and wait till the
last moment.
But the sound of his voice is carried away. Abruptly, across all the
width of the opposite slope, lurid flames burst forth that strike
the air with terrible detonations. In line from left to right fires
emerge from the sky and explosions from the ground. It is a
frightful curtain which divides us from the world, which divides us
from the past and from the future. We stop, fixed to the ground,
stupefied by the sudden host that thunders from every side; then a
simultaneous effort uplifts our mass again and throws it swiftly
forward. We stumble and impede each other in the great waves of
smoke. With harsh crashes and whirlwinds of pulverized earth,
towards the profundity into which we hurl ourselves pell-mell, we
see craters opened here and there, side by side, and merging in each
other. Then one knows no longer where the discharges fall. Volleys
are let loose so monstrously resounding that one feels himself
annihilated by the mere sound of the downpoured thunder of these
great constellations of destruction that form in the sky.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311