Barrage

“ Negotiations were on foot for carrying out this system when the British engineers arrived in Egypt. They soon resolved that it would be very much better if the original scheme of using the barrage could be carried out, and after a careful examination of the work they were satisfied that this could be done. The barrage rests entirely on the alluvial bed of the Nile. Nothing more solid than strata of sand and mud is to be found for more than 200 ft. ”

“ Again, a well-thought-out barrage has a very decisive effect in enabling the assaulting Infantry to rest and reorganize at intermediate objectives selected by the staff as suitable places for pauses in the operations.
A normal barrage will also assist the attacking troops in maintaining direction under adverse weather conditions and in the confusion and smoke of a battle. In an attack which involves an advance of several thousand yards to particular objectives, this function of the barrage is most important. ”

“ The appearance of the structure is so light and graceful that the spectator finds it hard to conceive of the difficulty and the greatness of the work itself. Architecturally, the barrage is very beautiful, with a noble front and a grand effect, produced by a line of castellated turrets, which mark the site of the sluice gates. ”

“ Far distant, shimmering in a silvery haze and stretching away into the dimness of the horizon, lies the boundless desert, now being rapidly reclaimed, consequent upon the great barrage experiments for the supplying of the many winding canals with the fertile waters of the parent river. And of these still growing distributors of life, these bearers of commerce, the numbers are almost beyond belief. ”

“ 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 [45] mass of troops rush over the top and into the German trenches. ”

“ At the near edge of the village a number of New Brunswickers, including their colonel, overtook and mingled with the second line of the 22d. Our barrage was lifted clear of Courcelette by this time and set like a spouting wall of fire and earth along the far side of it; but the shells of the enemy continued to pitch into it, heaving bricks and rafters and the soil of little gardens into the vibrating twilight. ”

“ The barrage ahead of them was terrific—the most appalling fence of shells that has ever been placed before advancing troops in this war. All our men describe it as wonderful. "Beautiful" is the word they use, because they know what it means in safety to them. ”

“ The Artillery barrage dominates the battle, and the landscape. The field is speedily covered with a cloak of dust, and smoke and spume, making impossible any detailed observation, at the time, of the course of the battle as a whole. ”

“ Our artillery was to lay a barrage on the first line of presumed German trenches at the same moment. A barrage is simply a moving wall of shell fire, which precedes the troops, who advance beneath the trajectory of the shells. We were to keep within fifty yards of our barrage in diamond formation. This barrage was indicated by men on the right and left flanks of our battalion frontage, which was a lateral distance of 335 yards.
Our battalion furnished four waves, each wave having its own mission to accomplish—the whole battalion having one final objective. ”

“ Then the barrage will begin to advance at exactly 5.00 o’clock. Unless we have a definite line of departure some parts of our front line may work their way to the front and be caught under our own barrage and you can see what would happen. In case any men do work forward during the night on reconnaissance they must get back a little before 4.30 so as not to get caught under the barrage.”
Lieutenant Barry: “I appreciate all the Director has said. But we have to keep up a reconnaissance during the night to keep in contact with the enemy. ”

“ During the increase of the waters, how could a current of five miles an hour, be crossed by sailing vessels against the wind blowing from the east and south?
[214]
Against this formidable obstacle to the crossing which cannot be avoided, an expedient not less surprising, and still more impracticable, has been devised; the barrage is set aside, the employment of it being too hazardous, and the Nile is to be crossed by a bridge Canal. But can we form an idea of a Canal 8 met. deep crossing a river like the Nile above the barrage? ”

“ Assiut stands near the west bank of the Nile across which, just below the town, is a barrage, completed in 1902, consisting of an open weir, 2733 ft. long, and over 100 bays or sluices, each 161/2 ft. wide, which can be opened or closed at will. ”

“ When he flashed across the river at Mezy, with some eight hundred feet to spare, he turned and waved a light-hearted O.K. to Larkin, and began to look for some landing place free of shell craters.
It was not unlike looking for land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Barrage after barrage had marked the earth with the deep scarred pocks of war. He must push on toward the rear with the last inch that could be wrung from that motor and then land straight ahead, leaving the outcome to Lady Luck. ”

“ When the enemy shells intensively, if he means business, his barrage is closely followed by his infantry. When the barrage lifts, therefore, it is of vital importance to man the fire-step immediately. It is not easy to turn a large number of men quickly out of [50] deep dug-outs which may thus prove only a Fool's Paradise. In one of the raids made near the sea, our infantry, following closely up to the barrage, caught the enemy taking refuge in dug-outs, and had no difficulty in capturing or accounting for the whole garrison of the raided trench. ”

“ The continual barrage on our lines of communication makes it very difficult for us to ration and relieve our troops, to supply water, ammunition, and building material, to evacuate wounded, and causes heavy losses. ”

“ This [229] shower is usually so dense that three to four shells per minute fall on every twenty yards of frontage. It is so intense a fire that no enemy, however courageous, could remain exposed to it. It falls on one line for three or four minutes, while the Infantry lie down flat. Suddenly, the barrage "lifts" or advances 100 yards. At a signal from the platoon or company commander the whole line rises and rushes at top speed to catch up to the barrage, again to throw itself flat upon the ground. ”

“ Each time the barrage lifts forward—which it does according to a scheme previously worked out to the minute and the yard—the attacking lines must instantly move up behind it, as close as possible to the shelter of the appalling curtain of flame and death which it lets down before them. The progress of the wave being thus so strictly scheduled, it must often leave small enemy posts in its rear, or dug-outs sheltering furtive bands of machine-gunners. ”

“ BARRAGE.—That which shelters or protects, often in an offensive sense, i.e., loud music forms a barrage against the activity of a bore; a barrage of young brothers and sisters interfere with the object of a visit; and an orchard is said to be barraged by a large dog or an active owner. ”

“ The impassable barrage comes a hundred feet below the point where the left-hand torrent precipitates itself at right-angles into the current of the right-hand one, and the two lines of whirlpools converge in a “V” and form one big walloping sockdolager. Him there would still be room to run by if he were “whouf-ing” there alone; but his satellites won’t have it. Their accursed team-work is such that the spreading “V” [Pg 213] above catches everything that comes down stream and feeds it into the maw of the big whirlpool as into a hopper. ”

“ The Belgian coast barrage being in the nature of a surprise was probably more useful as a deterrent to submarine activity in 1916 than in 1917. In both years a strong patrol of monitors, destroyers, minesweepers, drifters for net repairs, and other vessels was maintained in position to the westward of the barrage to prevent interference with the nets by enemy vessels and to keep them effective. ”

“ When the British introduced the "creeping barrage" of artillery pounding, which moved a little ahead of the infantry and curtained them from machine-gun and rifle fire, the need for rapid communication was greater than ever. Exultant attackers would rush forward in advance of the programmed speed and be mown by their own barrage. ”

“ The task of constructing this great work was committed to Mougel Bey, a French engineer of ability, who designed and The Nile Barrage. constructed the great barrage across the two branches of the Nile at the apex of the delta, about 12 m. north of Cairo (fig. 2) . It was built to consist of two bridges—one over the eastern or Damietta branch of the river having 71 arches, the other, over the Rosetta branch, having 61 arches, each arch being of 5 metres or 16.4 ft. ”

“ The construction of the barrage was much delayed by the difficulty in procuring mooring buoys, and it was not completed until the late summer of 1917. Even then it was not an effective barrier owing to the tidal effects, as submarines were able to pass over it during strong tides, or to dive under the nets as an alternative; it was not practicable to use nets more than 60 feet deep, whilst the depth of water in places exceeded 120 feet. ”

“ Forty wholly removable, regulating weirs were constructed in the Seine several years ago. When wholly closed up in summer, they maintain the required depth of water for steamboat navigation. When wholly open in floods, they cause no stoppage in the river surface. A remarkable barrage mobile has been in action for several years at a place called Port à l’Anglais, above Paris, and above the junction of the Seine and the Marne. When all is open there is not a ripple on the river flowing by. ”

“ At flood times the discharges of all the canals are, of course, enormously increased. It will be recognized at once, therefore, that, as in the summer months the whole flow of the Nile is arrested and thrown into the aforesaid canals, the old barrage will always remain the most important work connected with the irrigation of Egypt. It was constructed under great difficulties by French engineers, subject to the passing whims of their Oriental chiefs. ”

“ Dans la Flandre Orientale, les maîtresses-rigoles, dont plusieurs sont déjà creusées et d’autres en cours d’exécution, se développeront sur toute la longueur du cours du fleuve, tantôt sur la rive droite, tantôt sur la rive gauche. Des barrages de retenue mettent les rigoles en commu - nication à leurs extrémités amont et aval, avec les biefs supérieur et inférieur à ceux qu’elles longent. Elles peuvent servir ainsi : i° De rigoles d’évacuation par l’ouverture des barrages d’amont et d’aval et concourir avec le fleuve à l’écoulement du débit total de la vallée ”

“ The harbor swarmed with evil-smelling junks and sampans. War-ships of France, England, Germany, and Russia, compact as watches, of dirtied colors but extreme cleanliness and threatening design, rode in the harbor, and rose above the huddling junks as unfeelingly as robber castles stand above villages on the Rhine. Far up the harbor, by the dry-docks, a mud-colored raft, pointed at both ends, supported two squat, mud-colored turrets and a giddy flag, much too big for it, that was just beginning to be known and feared in the far East. ”

“ This marsh extends between two guard towers, and is nine hundred yards long. It cannot be crossed at night, for the warders withdraw and lock on the prison side the swinging bridges of the numerous canals. These canals are seven feet deep and fourteen wide, and the banks are soft peat. It would be dangerous to try to swim them. You must procure a long plank or beam, and carry it from trench to trench. You can get such a plank, which two men can carry easily, at the new tool-shed which the convicts are building against the outer wall of the prison to the right of the lower gate. ”

“ You go to the wharf—a peculiar odor of coal, manure, dampness, and of beef strikes you; thousands of objects of all sorts—wood, meat, gabions, flour, iron, and so forth—lie in heaps about the wharf; soldiers of various regiments, with knapsacks and muskets, without knapsacks and without muskets, throng thither, smoke, quarrel, drag weights aboard the steamer which lies smoking beside the quay; unattached two-oared boats, filled with all sorts of people,—soldiers, sailors, merchants, women,—land at and leave the wharf. ”

“ On looking back, below me is spread out the narrow, winding valley, between its two mountains, widening at that point into an extensive bar, through which, on account of the many dams, canals, and other obstructions, the tortured river seems to have infinite difficulty in forcing its way. There is also the collection of tents, and the miners engaged in cooking, and collected in small groups about their camp-fires, for it is a cool morning. There stand the wrecks of our aqueduct and canal; the bare half channel of the river, and the surface of the bar scarred and pitted over. ”

“ In case of war they are garrisoned with a handful of men who are supplied with sufficient quantities of water and provisions to stand a siege, and from them a guard can be kept over the canal and its banks, while their position—the summit, as a rule, of mounds—prevents the water being turned on to their foundations. The whole of the Dads valley is sprinkled with these towers, which add a by no means unpicturesque feature to their scenery. ”