Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-02
.ARMY's LIFE IN TRENCHES
MARRIED BY HEAVY RAINS
Correspondent Writes How Whole
Companies Arc Driven Out
by Floods.
CHANCE FOR sHARpsHooTERs
Soldiers Grow Careless OF Enemy's
Fire-Willow Trees Deceive in
Dark--Startled by German Star
Rockets.

|
LONDON. December Gothic follow
Ing account OF life at tho front is from
correspondent who volunteered for
service ut the beginning of the war and
! has since been promoted to the rank
OF officer:
During the latter part Of November
the army in the trenches was well-niKh
| Dcrishing with cold: since early. De-
! ccmber II has been the victim OF per-
sistcnt rain and flood.
Might after night. whole companies
are flooded out OF their trenches. while
rearrangement OF the forces has made
ii impossible to give the men their
former weekly three days of rest In
the villages behind the lines. All the
| advanced forces Will remain In their
trenches now for eighteen days; then
they hope to have q brief relief
III Is difficult to give an idea OF
what rain means in the trenches. The
| lines. under frosty conditions. seem
such an orderly. permanent and town
| like series of cubbyholes that when
they all start to melt away and cave
in under the influence OF thaw and
rain it is ~ IL one were trying TO
travel through Il pitchdark London in
| ruins"
Officers who were glorying in nne
new duEouts. equipped with all tho
trench comforts suddenly found them
! selves buried in mass of collapsed
earth of the consistency and quality
of thick paint.
The latest gossip here tx that the
| Indian division and the Germans were
| so close to each other a day or two ago
that they used the same parapet for
their trenches and took turns at firing
through their mutual loopholes. That,
| of course. Is a little exaggerated, but
serves to illustrate the manner I'm
which the two armies keep continually
getting closer and closer. Hand
grenades aud homemade bombs. fash
toned out OF biscuit tins. can be used
advantagcously at many points.
Chance for Shnrpshootern.
Generally. however. the front
trenches are about 200 yards apart in
this section. That gives the sharp
| shooters plenty of chance to get in
their fine work. and It Is dangerous to
push ones head above n trench even
to sight rifle Many OF the sharp
shooters are using pcrscopcs much
like those OF the submarine. and with
these they can sight and shoot ac-
curatcly without coming anywhere near
the top of the trench The opposing
sharpshooters. of course. delight in ef-
| forts TO hit the tube OF the periscope
and frequently succeed.
'.Since the rains and floods came the
communication trenches have largely
oozed away. Some Of them are like
rivers: others are knee deep with
pasty mud OF exactly the same con-
I sistency OF bakers dough. A regiment
which passed through one such trench
"A day or two ago left three men behind
and had TO send a relief party back To
dig them out.
Under such circumstances the labor
I OF bringing up ammunition and ra-
Z iS
men assigned TO this labor reach their
destination In a state OF utter fatigue:
nevertheless. they have to take their
: turn at sentry duty later in the night.
The enemy In very business like and
| misses no chance TO shoot any man
who exposes himself. To day, for In
stance. an English soldier was up In
willow tree cutting switches. shot
! passed him and he sportively sigma led
! "a miss: left 4 second shot came and
he siSnaled a miss: right The enemy
profitcd by his advice and the third
| shot passed straight through his head.
There arc the strictest orders against
men exposing themselves: but some OF
the careless ones arc surprisingly dis
rcGardful of their safety. Yesterday
private who was dragging sack OF
| coal walked slowly along the top or
Il communicating trench for consid-
cradle distance in full view of the en-
| envy. merely because the bottom OF the
! trench was muddy. and travelling down
| there in safety would have been so
| much more laborious than on the firm
soil above. y hail Of bullets missed
/ him, but he even stopped TO light his
pipe behind an eighteen-inch willow
| before he deliberately climber back
down into the trench with his load.
Tired of FrrcS md Stumps.
The whole army is very tired of
willow trees and poplars. 1t would be
relief to know that we would never
+; have to see them again. Willow
stumps are particularly annoying be-
cause in the dark they look exactly
! like crouching soldier, with perhaps
stray limb resembling a ievelcd gun.
| was out scouting two nights ago
| and went farther ahead than I had
Intended. had no rifle with me.
! About forty yards from the enemy's
| trench suddenly saw what thought
| was a German crouching down with
| lcveled gun. My heart stopped, and I
! hastily siSnaled for the rifle OF Il
| man behind me, only to find It not
; loaded. Then i looked straight again,
and found the German was only q
willow stump
ION my way back, crawling cautious
! ly through turnip feld--one must
move cautiously, for these turnips
crackle most alarmingly under foot
suddenly up went one Of their star
/ rockets. which make the ncighborhood
/ light as day for a mile around. /
dropped down. To my horror. l dis
. covered that my face was close along
side German corpse. that had lain
their since their last unsuccessful In
/ fantry attack six weeks ago. Another
| and another rocket went up, and it
was many minutes before I could get
! away from that grisly object. 1
I brought back his helmet and rifle as
/ souvenirs.
There is n great supply of news in
! nf IN I
! to say, is unreliable To-day, for in
| stance. we heard OF a great naval VIC
tory for the English. Il great Galician
victory for the Russians. and for the
| twentieth time. that the Kaiser is sick
! unto DEATH"