New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-21

Ispcri. Correspoadsnce TO The Tribune J
North Of France name Of town cen
sored), Jan. ll.-Modern war IL noI
all made of heroes and sutferinGs FOR
the simple soldier II often becomes a
dreary, monotonous business, punctuat-
ed only now and then by dramatic incl
dents. The opponents artillery hre
and the bayonet charges arc the most
stirring items on the soldiers pro-
rramme The first one gets used 10,
and the movement of throwing the
body, face down, on the ground, WIN
the knapsack drawn we'll over the
shoulders to protect the head and back
becomes instructive and automatic with
the fcreeching Of the shell. In the
trenches little is feared from artillery
fire.
Bayonet charges and general PUSHES
across the open are much less numer-
Gus than the average newspaper from
belligerent countries would have us pc
lieve, and, il in the course OF months
campaign, man takes part in three
or four Of these really terrifying trays,
even in the most exposed spots, such as
the regions OF Ypres, Rheims, Verdun
or in Alsace, he is considered as hav-
ing accomplished more than IS usually
the lot of the average trooper.
The writer met nea- Arras a. typical!
French regiment. This body Of nearly
1900 men, taking part in the oper-
ations since early in August from Bel
GUM to the Marine and back again to
the northern frontier, has led the aver
age life of active campaigning, and the
programme, leaving aside the marching
and counter-marching, has varied but
little. During the retreat south II was
case of intrenching and then going
back, ten. fifteen and sometimes twenty
miles a day. Returning northward, the
men intrench and push forward a maxi
mum of 800 yards in twentyfour hours,
and sometimes a l00-yard gain for the
day brings congratulations from the
chicfs, also a few medals. For days,
sometimes weeks, not a foot Of ground
is secured along twenty or thirty miles
Of front.
Troops Leave Camp Silently.
Toward 6 o'clock in the evening, af-
ter dark, a company leaves the camp
about four miles back of the firing
lines, and at an easy gait, but IN
silence, pipes and cigarettes out on &C
count of overhead scouts, soon reaches
the village nearest the lines. The vii
lage may be intact or in ruins, may
still be inhabited by a few stubborn
peasants, but in some farm, church or
school, and often in sunken cellars, the
colonel of the regiment has his head
quarters. As the company arrives the
captain reports 10 the colonel, receives
his orders, and the men are of 10 the
trenches.
This particular regiment has changed
colonies four times, the first three
having been killed, picked out by Ger
man sharpshooters; and as this mas
been the lot of hundreds of regimental
leaders, il is now understood that the
colonel's headquarters must always be
somewhere between camp and hring
lines. The German sharpshooters are
too anxious to earn the 20 to 30 marks
prizes allowed them for every officer
brought down.
Immediately outside the village, and
often running right into the main
street. the first sunken corridor is
reached, and the men file in one by one.
This is not a trench, simply deep
ditch, running 1t right angles with
the trenches and connecting with an
other corridor parallel with the main
trenches, but still forty or fifty feet
behind them. These corridors are sim
ply connecting links between head
quarters or camp and the firing lines.
and are never occupied. They suffice
TO ward off rife fire while the men
are moving to or from the trenches.
From the parallel corridor the main
trenches are reached through zig-zag-
ing open galleries, much like giant
saw teeth. From this Il Will readily
be seen the minute precautions which
both sides are taking to protect lives
and the tremendous labor involved over
a battle front of more than three hun
dred miles.
When it is figured that such trenches
can be seen from Antwerp TO the Marine
and from Ypres to Alsace, hardly a
single square mile being left un-
touched, some idea of the upheaval in
Belgium and France will be gained:
The Germans have done a great deal
of their excavating with machinery,
especially in Belgium, but in France
the men have used pick and shovel over
hundreds Of miles, multiplied by a
score as the formations advanced or
retreated.
In the main trenches, besides the