Bisbee daily review., 1914-10-25

been with the British eXpeditiOnary force during the lighting He writes: g
 "l have just spent a night in a Brit ish trench on the River Aisne. when ninety men turned the attack of a thousand Germans into a rout As 'hey turned and fled for the cover from which they had advanced, the British machine guns turned loose on them fro mthe side and made the Ger man casualties not less than a hun dred. as we could see the next morn fng There were over fifty more bodies Ietween the trenches than there had . been the night before, and many of the less seriously wounded had un-l dopbtedly gnt away
 There were wounded out there too
 men who had heen lying for four days within fifty yards of their lines, | It had been Impossible to rescue them | even at night. One man who had l been wounGed in the stomach and had fallen into Q swoou form weakness,
 reused and walked back to his own
 reaches
 "He was almost starved. but nearly
 well. Going without food and water had saved his life, and his wound had
 healed Not @ shot was fired at him.
 "This attack was merely one of
 dozens of similar night affairs which
 took place almost nightly at many
 points along the whole British line of
 twenty miles on the Aisne. They con-
 time the British lost very little ground
 unupG for a month and during that
 though the cost in lives was over 10,- co. As the Germans were usually the ], aggressors, their losses must have
 been between 10000 and 5O00O, and ] may have been more.
 3 "It was only by a series of acci- dental circumstances that l was able - to ge, so close For two weeks ! had { been trying to get to the firing line f without getting within more than four , or five miles of it. During this period }. had frequently been under cannon
 fire and had watched both the French F and British gunners at work but had E not heen able to slip up close. 8 This time I tried part of the line S that | had not previously attempted O and crossed the great plateau to the
 south of the Eisne by a small road tha' ,- finally brought me to a point jus n above a small village almost directl! D opposite and overlooking the Aisne If and still held by the Germans. IT "Shrapnel broke directly over th
 nd lst1 ?. not nearer than 200 yards and to- " high 10 be effective. On the woode ,i descent from the plateau to the Aisn n. passed under and rather near to }f battery of big guns, which sent thei ,t shells sLieking over my head int in the German lines.
 a "I stopped for a few minutes t r. watch them. After each was fired ,s shriHed in my ears until the soun ,s died away to a whisper A momen re uftarward l could see the smoke ri: Id ing where it had struck, and then th e. sound of bursting reached me. 4s looked like it had struck, and .sgB fin looked like pretty accurate gun fir, IS. as the attempt was undoubtedly
 drive German battery out of a slel - der neck of woods about five mile
 away. while the fields on both side
 showed how perfectly the gunner
 were getting their mark
 r "On the Aisne itself it was quit
 peaceful. Shells were passing owe
 it. bat none falling on the peasant
 who were working in the fields an s there were few soldiers about Som
 stopped and spoke to me. but ] kne
 l was safe from them The averag
 Tommy nexer questioned me.
 fact I walked along the side of n- hayrick on which soldiers were brinl be ing foeG forward and by keeping clos 'ff to it covered most of the distance Il 'h the narrow valley to the advanced pl a sition held by the British.
 on "The nearer ! got to the actual ba 'o- te line the less difficulty l seemed nd encounter and finally ] turned off tn us narrow lane was following and o' 'n- across an open field to what looked Iw the distance like a rabbit warren sX the dugout shelters with which tn ls British soldiers have protected then dy selves.
 of Near German Lines
 There is something almost quail eu about the spectacle | approached rt late in the afternoon. and 1t was quit nt still. Even the canuonading Ina ,h- ceased ] walked across the field witt
 out even drawing a rifle shot If m- had known ] was within 200 yards ( d- the German outposts would not hay .ts yenmed there of course, but tl en Germans evidently did not shoot { as me because l was in civilian clothin of Just below me was a little haml' m- beside the watero0urse, and thel ch even children were playing in tl as street On that account l did nc for suppose was anywhere near the lin No I noticed there was hardly a roof i .ut tact in the village, aud that two bull to ings, one stable. had been blown md pieces
 "But ] had seen so many towns ls- that condition that it did not mes ue anything in particular to me When loi had crossed the field soldiers lyir pc. there in little dugouts in uneven TOW