The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-03
LIFE IN TRENChES|N ! NORTH OF FRANCE Men Cook Their Meals and
 Wash the Dishes
BRICK PAV EM E N T
Used Material From Ruined Houses Nearby = Germans Slip Men Through Lines to Fire on
 Troops From Behind

London, January 2.-(Speciall- l-Life in the trench is not so bad after all, it would seem, from the following account by white officer of a Sikh regiment:
 'The last nine days we have been in the firing line. There one exists in strong narrow. deep trenches. The top of the trench is loop-holed for firing and below --inside-is banquette, or step, on which the men stand when they are shooting. Behind this and a little lower. comes the bottom of the trench, up and down which one walks about and where one is five and half feet or moro under ground.
 ''1n our last trenches we labored in- cessantly and got the whole of the bot tom of our trench paved with bricks from ruined houses in the rear of the posi- tion. The men had little caves. or dug outs, in the frort fall of the trench, in which to lie down, and in the rear wall little fireplaces for cooking and drying their clothes.
 Leading away from the firing line are what we call communication trenches up which come our rations from the rear, and our water. We are well fed and cook our own meals and wash up our own plates, such as they are,
 For drink they supply us with the wine of the country or rum, but I con- fine my own potations to quantities of tea or cocoa, which we get in plenty. From the ruined houses behind one can collect all sorts of treasures-knives, forks, stew pots. wood, coal and all sorts of things that make life bearable.
 Officers Occupy Similar Quarters
 '"rhe officers dug-out is just Inn provement tic mems if he chooses to have it made so. I had a shelter put over the top of my last one, and two sacks hanging from it to keep out the rain. fireplace in front. and the two hlanket- and a waterproof sheet that we take with us in the trenches, plus my coat and waterproof. kept me warm and dry. In fact there we were well off
 Tn the place where I joined the regi- ment things were different. There was no dry banquette for the men to fire from and nothing had been done to pave the bottom of the trench, so one walked up and down in the mud and never had dry or warm feet. It rained continually, and we had no fires. My dug-out leaked and at night I used to get out in the trench from time to time. and mark time in the mud to try to get warm.
 "A few men all along our line are al- ways on the lookout and fire from time to time to keep the enemy down. The rest remain in their dug-outs In readiness in case of attack, and cook, eat and sleep. The Germans play the same game, SO night and day this sniping goes on necessarily; and now and then a man gets hit--but we have been very lucky and have lost very few men indeed. From time to time the enemys guns open fire usually at regular hours of the day--and keep it up for about half an hour
 ''One even learns to know what is 2om- ing. There Is the shrapnel with it's quick passage through the air. the loud bang as it explodes overhead, and the sharp whistle of the shrapnel bullets through the air There is the distant stately boom of the big gun of the Black Maria type, followed by the long drawn-out whis.iing sound of the heavy shell numbering through the air-slowly. as one would imagine from the sound-hke some huge humble bee complaining of the task of having to travel so far and ending in loud crump as it bursts on the grolnd. throwing up clouds of mud and black smoke.
 ''These shells give one plenty of warn ing by their sound, and one soon gets to know where they are going. The rifle fire from in front sounds like the sharp crack ol Whlp, ana alWays thefe IS tue heavier bang of our own men firing in reply. Our guns fire on and off, and make wonderfully good practice. They drop heavy shells from far behind us on to the German trenches, and now and then give them a dose of shrapnel. And through all this noise one soon learns to live and sleep--just as you do at home.
 Drop SeditiOus Literature
 Amongst the Germans most noble ef- forts is that of dropping seditious liter