The Holly chieftain., 1914-10-30
BERTHS IN TRENCHES
FOR BRITISH SOL lDiERS


London. England.-A descriptive ac.'
count of recent developments In
France. sent by an eye witness at-
tached to the British general head
quarters. has been given out In Lon
don and 10 In part ~ follows:
"On the firing line the men sleep
and obtain shelter in dugouts they
have followed or cut under the side
Of the trenches. These refugees are
raised slightly above the bottom OF
the trench, 10 as to remain dry in
wet weather. The floor Of the trench
also is sloped for purposes of drain
age.
Are Appropriately Named.
Some Of the trenches are provided
with overhead cover, which gives pro-
lection from the weather as we'll as
from shrapnel balls and splinters of
shells. Considerable ingenuity has
been exercised by the men In naming
these shelters Among the favorte
designations are the Hotel Cecil the
Ritz hotel the Billet Doux hotel and
the Rue Dormir.'
"On the road barricades also are to
be found boards bearing this notice:
This way to the Prussians.'
obstacles of every kind abound
and at night each side can hear the
enemy driving pickets for entangle-
ments, digging trous-de-loup. or work.
ing forward by sapping. In some
places, obstacles have been construct
ed by both sides SO close together
that some wag suggested that each
side provide working parties to per-
form this fatiguing duty alternately,
inasmuch as the work OF the enemy
is almost indistinguishable from ours
and serves the same purpose.
Quarries Make Spacious Halls.
"Qnarries and caves. to which allu-
sion already has been made. provide
ample accommodation for whole bat
talions and most comfortable are the
shelters which have been constructed
in them. The northern slopes Of the
Aisne valley fortunately are very
steep and this to great extent pro-
tects us from the enemys shells.
many Of which pass harmlessly over
our heads to burst in the meadows
along the river bank.
Bomb Dropped on Ammunition.
'It already has been mentioned
that, according to Information OBJ
tanned from the enemy, 10 Germans
were killed by bomb dropped upon
the ammunition wagon of cavalry
column. 1t was thought at the time
that this might have been the work of
one of our airmen, who reported that
he had dropped hand grenade on
this convoy and had then got BIRDS
eye view OF the finest display of fire.
works he had ever seen.
From corroborative evidence 1t ap-
pears that this was the case; that the
grenade thrown by him probably was
the cause of the destruction Of a
small convoy carrying field gun and
howitzer ammunition, which now has
been found total wreck. Along tho
road lie IA motor lorries, their iron
skeletons twisted and broken. Every
thing infiammable has been burned. as
have the stripped trees-some with
split trunks-on both sides Of the
road.
Only Clothing Of Drivers Left.
."Of the drivers nothing remains ex-
cept tattered boots and charred scraps
of clothing, while the ground. within
radius Of so yards of the wagons il
Uttered with pieces Of iron. split brass
cartridge cases, which have exploded,
and some fixed gun ammunition with
live shells.
"If 1t were possible to reconstruct
this incident. II 1t was, in fact,
brought about as supposed, the gren-
ade from the aeroplane must have
detonated OIL the leading lorry on one
side of the road and caused the car.
tridges carried by 1t to explode. Three
vehicles Immediately in the rear must
then have been set on fire with Q
similar result
"If this appalling destruction was
due to one hand grenade 1t is an H.
lustratfon of the potentialities OF q
small amount of high explosive de-
tonated in the right spot, while the
nature of the place where the disaster
occurred--a narrow forest road be-
tween high trees-is testimony to
the skill of the airman.
1T is only fair to add that some
French newspapers claim this damage
to the enemy was caused by the ao-
ton Of detachment OF their dra-
goons."