New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-27
VAST CEMETERY BRITISH
CALL THEIR BATTLEFIELD
Germans Lie Dead in Rows, Says Official Eye
witness"-Three Englishmen Left Out
Of Forty at One Post

London, Feb. 26.-"All the ground
near the front line is lloughed up with
shells and furrowed with the remains
Of old trenches and graves. The whole
place is a vast cemetery, in which our
trenches and those of the enemy wind
in every direction" This statement is
made by the British official "eyewit-
ness" at the front in a description
given out here tonight Of the recent
battles southeast of Ypres and of the
country in which the armies are fight
ing.
an a sheltered spot" he continues,
there is little graveyard where some
of our own dead have been buried.
Their graves have been carefully
marked ahd a rough square Of bricks
has been placed around them. In front
of the trenches German bodies still lie
thick.
AT one point of the brick fields re-
Gently some thirty men tried to rush
our line. At their head was q young
German officer, who came on gallantly,
waving his sword. He almost reached
the barbed wire, and then fell dead.
He lies there yet, with his sword in his
hand and all his thirty men about him.
Dead Lying in Rows.
at is the same all along the front in
this quarter. Everywhere still, gray
figures can be seen lying, sometimes
several rows together and sometimes
singly or in twos or threes.
This description might serve with a
few minor alterations for many Of the
localities along our front where the
fighting has centred around some wood,
q village or line Of trenches. II is as
IL L. h. h., lie 10
blast before which every object,
whether a work of nature or of man,
has crumbled into ruins or become
twisted and deformed, and even the
very ground itself looks as if it had
been shaken by violent convulsion Of
nature"
To the south Of the Ypres- Confines
Canal, says the eyewitness" the
ground, although there are some in
closures, is comparatively open. To the
north of it, however, there are many
woods, and these have become a tangle
Of fallen trees, interpreted with shell
craters. To add to the hardships of
such fighting the troops have been at
lacking on ground in which the men
sink up TO their knees in mud.
Charge Over Muddy Field.
'DeSplte all tneSe QrdWDacks, con-
tinues the observer. counter attacks
have been carried out with such reso-
luton that in nearly all cases the orig
inal line has been regained. On the
night of February 10, as our troops
were advancing to drive the enemy out
Of one of these trenches, his guns sud
denly opened a tremendous fire. Our
men were in the open at some distance
from the Germans at the time and,
being thus taken at disadvantage,
their chance of success looked small.
Without a moments hesitation, how
ever, the attacking line broke into
double quick, and, pounding through
the mud burst into the German trench.
"A counter attack on the 18th also
was a most dashing piece of work.
Trenches occupied by the enemy had
been subjected 10 such a heavy fire
that they would not await our onset.
As our men charged forward cheering
tn, Germans were observed 10 be leav-
ing the trenches and hurrying 70 the
rear.
Three Men Hold Trench.
an one trench. which became in the
course Of the sighting more or less