The Hell-Trench of the Piave 



How an attacking German force was electro- 

 cuted as it rushed a second line of trenches 



By E. T. Bronsdon 



How eight thousand Germans were electrocuted near the Piave River. They rushed a trench 

 filled with scrap-iron charged to high voltage by power plants from two adjacent towns 



delaying the 



t SINGli PHASE 



anium mm phase 



WHEN the Italians stopped, a few 

 weeks ago, with their backs to 

 the Piave River, in northern 

 Italy, with the intent of 

 Austro-German advance 

 as much as possible, an in- 

 cident occurred which il- 

 lustrates the scientific re- 

 sourcefulness of the Ital- 

 ians and also shows how 

 much of a factor the unex- 

 pected can become, even 

 in this warfare of to-day. 



It was certain that no 

 long stand could be made 

 on that side of the river; 

 the Teuton preponderance 

 in men and guns was too 

 great. Any expedient 

 which might gain hours, 

 however, was worth con- 

 sidering. 



An Italian engineer by 



SCRAP IRON 



TRAHSfORMCR ^^ 



ims\ mis\ pM] 



TRANSFORMfU jcMP IRON 



Cormections the Italians may 

 have used. Instead of the 

 single-phase and three-phase 

 circuits above shown, direct cur- 

 rent may have been available 



the name of 

 Mertilli was responsible for the plan. 



Before the final German thrust was de- 

 livered, Mertilli caused the second-line 

 trench to be evacuated over a front of 

 eight miles, except by workmen. 



In this second trench 

 he placed some discarded 

 machine guns, plates of 

 corrugated dugout armor, 

 and even some veteran 

 field pieces, which seldom 

 made an appearance in 

 the trenches. The whole 

 floor of the trench was 

 lined irregularly with 

 pieces of metal of different 

 kinds, so that no matter 

 where a man might step 

 he WL,s likely to touch one 

 of the pieces. Then serv- 

 ice electric cables were 

 stretched to the trench, 

 across the Piave, from two 

 of the small towns just on the other side. 

 These carried the heaviest charge of 



ooo 



