Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1915-01-04
TRENCH LIFE IN
TIMES OF FLOOD
IS SOULRACKING
Entire Companies Are Often Flooded Out
of Their Well Built Trenches, Which
Soon CrumbIe Away to Mud Of Consist
ency of Thick Paint.
CORRESPONDENT GIVES SEVERAL
INTERESTING TRENCH STORIES
With Rains and Floods Trenches Have
Literally 0ozed A~way-Some Run Like
Rivers: Regiment Left Three Men in
Back: Almost Buried Alive.

SoSN 'hiSS Nv
tCorre~po. nee of the Associated Press
London. Jan. 1.-The following account
ot the life at the front j. from n CORE
spondent who volunteered for service ~
the beginning Of the war, and has since
been promoted to the rank Of officer:
During the latter part Of November the
army III the trenches was well night perish
ing with cold: since early December il has
been the victim Of persistent rain and
flood. Night after night, euoic companies
are flooded out of their trenches, while q
Encouragement Of the forces has made il
impossible I'd give the men their former
weekly three days Of rest IN the villages
behind the lines. All the advanced forces
Will remain IL their trenches now for cigh-
teen day.; then they hope to have a brief
ire.ief.
~t l. difficult to give an idea Of what
ram means IN the trenches. The lines un-
der frosty conditions seem such IN order
~, permanent. and town-likc series NJ
cubby- holes that when they all start To-
melt away and cave IN under the influence
OF thaw and rain. II l. a. II one were try
mg to travel through 4 pitch lark London
III ruins. Officers who were g%lorying ~
tine new due-out- equipped with III the
trench coimort> suddenly found them
selves buried IN a mass Ut collapsed earth
OF the consistency and quality Of thick
paint
''The latest gossip here y that the IN
dian division and the Germans were 20
close 10 each other a day or two AGO that
they used the same parapct for their
trenches and took turns firing through
their mutual loophole~. That Of course j.
a little exaggerated, but serve. to illustrate
the manner III which the two armies keep
continually getting closer ami closer. Hand
grenade and homemade bombs fashioned
out u biscuit tins can be- used advan-
l~tageou~Iy 1T many points.
''Generally, however, the front trenches
are about two hundred yards apart in this
section. That gives the sharp,hootcr>
plenty ~ chance ~ get III their tine work.
md \ i~ dangerous 70 push ones head
above a trench even 10 sight i rifle MANY
Dt the -harp-hootcr- are using pcri-cupr~
much like those Of the submarine. and with
these they can sight and shoot accurately
without coming anywhere near the top Vt
the trench. The opposing ~narp~hootcr~.
al course. delight III efforts to hit the tube
1T the peri~copc. and frequently succeed.
'>lncc the rams and floods came. the
communication trenches nave largely oozed
away. Some III them are like rivers. 9th
rr~ are knee deep with pasty mud Of cx-
actly the same consistency a. baker,
dough. a regiment which passed through
one such trench q day or two ago left three
men behind and had ~ send \ rclief party
back ~ dig them ont. Under such cir
cumStancc~, the labor Of bringing up am
munition and ratiou> from the rear u ter
rife. and the men assigned to this labor
reach their destination IN y state of utter
fatigue; nevertheless they have III take
their turn at sentry duty later in the night.
"The enemy i very business like and
misses no chance IL shoot any man who
r~po~e~ himself. Today. for instance. an
English soldier was up IN a willow tree
lfhAAiuE NiAHf~. - ~nNl Hh~-tW MIN. ana
hc >portivcly ~~ignallcd n miss: left A
second shot came. aud he signalled a
miss. right The enemy p%rufitcd ~ hi
advice, and the third shot passed straight
through his head. There ar the s~trictcst
orders against men exposing themselves:
but some of the careless one, are Surpri--
mgly ~disregardtul Of their safety. 4
private who wa> dragging \ sack If coal
walked slowly along the top of a communi-
eating trench for a considerable distance
IN full view of the enemy. merely because
the bottom of the french was muddy and
travelling down there IN safety would have
been ~ much more labriuu- than nn IN,
firm ground above. 4 hail of bullets
missed him. but he even stopped IL light
his pipe behind mn eighteen inch willow be-
fore he deliberately climbed back down
into the trench with his load.
"The whole army j. very tired o. willow
trees and p~oplars. Ii would be a relief to