aviation hangars, etc., from information that had previously
been obtained by the Flash and Sound Ranging sections. The heavy
artillery did great damage far in the rear. The medium artillery, not
having the range of the heavy guns, did not reach so far back with its
fire, but demoralized things generally wherever its shells hit. It
also had for its purpose the breaking up of any attack that might be
planned as a counter offensive. The light artillery is of smaller
caliber and fires more rapidly. This did wonderful execution and was a
great help in winning the war.

It was exactly 6 o'clock when the demoralizing barrage stopped, and it
was followed by a protecting barrage. There is quite a difference
between a demoralizing barrage and a protecting barrage. A
demoralizing barrage is just what its name signifies, a demoralizing
rain of shells upon the enemy. A protecting barrage is for the purpose
of protecting the infantry as it charges into the enemy's lines and it
is raised slowly as the infantry advances so as to keep over the heads
of the marching soldiers. As soon as the protecting barrage was fired
in this drive, the first waves of infantry went over the top.

Most people have a misconception of what going over the top is. The
prevailing idea is that a great mass of troops rush over the top and
into the German trenches. What really occurs is this: The men climb
out of the trenches at an ordinary pace in a thin line from six to ten
feet apart. This is followed in a few seconds by another thin line
about the same distance apart, and then another, and so on until there
are thousands of men advancing over No Man's Land, but they are
scattered over a large area. The object in scattering them is to
reduce losses in case an enemy shell falls among them. I have seen a
shell fall among men advancing this way without hitting any of them,
and I have also seen several fall from a single shell. Another reason
for these thin waves is the fact that when advancing in this formation
the men offer a poorer target to the machine guns of the enemy, while
in mass formation, a machine gun could mow down in a short time a
whole company.

Just ahead of the waves of infantry in this drive, wiggled the tanks.
These cumbersome, awkward, ugly but efficient machines were of great
help to the foot soldiers. They not only made a path through the
barbed wire entanglements that the artillery had not destroyed, but
they hunted out and destroyed G