South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-12-15

scndeIe une.
LONDON, Dec 10. - Everything
has been prepared to meet the winter
campaign which is before u.s." writes
a member Of the staff of Field Mar
shaI Sir John French, commander of
the British troops on the continent in
another "eye witness narrative which
has been made public by the govern
ment press bureau today.
THE number Of our commanding
trenches have been increased, drainage
systems have been Installed, provisions
have been made for heating apparatus
10 keep the nsen warm. and in short,
everything possible to make living
conditions more comfortable in the
trenches has been arranged. The or
tganization OF our supply and trans
port service has been brought 10 u
much higher state OF efficiency"
The narrative, which is dated Dec.
10. covers the days of Dec. 6, Z, 8 and
Q. 1t states that the weather has be-
come warmer in West Flanders and
northern France, accompanied by
more rain and that the guns have
silenced a number OF German guns.
The account follows:
Strike German Guns.
From the sixth TO the ninth the
operations were Of the same character
az those OF the previous three weeks.
ON the sixth. on our right, our how
tiers obtained direct hits on two
German gun emplacementS. Other
guns shelled some OF the enemy's
trenches with good results, relieving
this portion Of our front The actlV-
ity of our infantry in sniping, aided
by the fire of our artillery and the in
genuity Of our sappers In deviSing
new methods, is making the enemy
VERY uneasy. The nights are cOntln-
ually broken by SpasmOdic OutburStS
Cf musketry from the German trench
es and the frequent firing of star or
illuminating shells. These precau-
tionary measures are not altogether
unjustifed for in many places che
trenches OF the Germans and the IN
dianS are only few yards apart
"On the center one of our batteries
fired on a German working party
(sappers). and caused considerable
losses.
Civilians in plain clothes are frs-
Quently observed in the hostile trench
IS pointing out our positions.
a German aviator dropped six
bombs on HaZebrOuCk, but did little
damage.
Heavy Rain Falls.
Dec. Heavy rain fell. The Ger
mans on this day fired rifle grenades
against our center trenches for the
frst time. but our artillery stopped
this innovation. ON our right nothing
important
Dec S.-Our artillery put two Ger
man field guns out OF action and also
set fire To a railway station burning
some rolling stock An observation
chimney of the enemy was destroyed.
Dec. 9.-More rain fell. The Ger
mans in the trenches opposite our left
could be heard cheering. We pre-
sumed that the German official YER
sion OF the battle of Lodz was being
read TO them. The weather during
the past four days has been fOgsy.
and much warmer. Our aviatOrs sue
ceeded in making valuable recon
noiters, and despite the absence OF
active operations we have made fur
,her progress.
Concerning living conditions IN the
trenches the eye witness tells OF sol
diers listening Co gramOphoue con-
rerts eight miles away through tel
.phonc The writer deVotes about
p GOO words explaining why more in
formation cannot be given To Is not
20 keep the public in ignorance. he
saws but 10 prevent the Germans from
getting gratis any information which
would otherwise cost them much
money and trouble.