This Month's Installment
The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.
The sun is already at midday. Faster, harder followed the rattling, clattering,---161---blow upon blow. On the hilltops over there, it booms and thunders. Out of the valley, the howling rises up and plants itself firmly at the face of the forest; ever more distinctly does it sing, whiz, flash over to him; in the clear air, numerous hazy white clouds of exploded shrapnel appear; the thunder of the cannons is become roaring.There - an-other direct hit! Flickering, the flames leap out of the middle of a large farm; one hears already their crackling and roaring. Houses, farms, villages disappear under blazing fires.Now it is time. He has waited until the last. It is all prepared; a sign, and the track is blown up!There is for him, as the noise diminishes a little, as the rattling and clattering let up. Should the forces on one side be depleted, the ammunition in this endless back and forth be scarce? Should a decision be made? The lines shift; no longer do they move in a straight course towards the train station; more they glide sideways to the ridges that offer good fortifications.He does not give the order... perhaps he can yet still save and risk, and would it be but half of the poor wounded, who had to languish and go to ruin, he now tore up the rails and forced open the provision wagon. It had lasted perhaps an hour; he didn't know. What is the time now, their coming and their escaping! But the development on the battlefields has clearly gone southwards to the small ridges that lay farther away from the train station.
Commentary
There are quite a lot of instances in this section where I think I translated the words correctly but simply didn't understand the sense of what's going on.
