Bisbee daily review., 1915-05-06
.FRENGH STRIVING TO
 DRIVE THE GERMANS
 FROM THEIR BURROWS
Entire Towns Have Been Wiped Out by Battles Between Rus SianS and Germans. Peasant Population Near Starvation.

ture or Saint MlhieI' is the soldier characterization of the wedge, at an angle of about 45 degrees. that the Germans have held in the French line since September It is in the Woevrt and its point rests at St. Mihiel upon the lower extremity of the heights Of the Mouse. Near the point are the Bois Brule. the Bois d'Ailly and the suburb Of Chauvoncourt, all of which have had their days of glory in the war Along the lower angle about 20 miles long which runs toward pont- Ia-Mousson are the Bois de Mort Mare the Bois le pretre and Flirey.
 The upper part of the angie about the same length ran west of Les Epar- ges until the recent engagements there that made Che French masters of the eastern extremity of the Heights. ol the Mouse From Les Esparges it runs northeast and reioins the brok c1 battle line near Etain. This pO- .ltiUn was particularly strons for tEc Germans as it had Che frontier of Metz directly at its back In fact it may be imagined to represent th- head of an immense arrow that Me.s launched with all it's might ct Yer dun. and which glancing on from the ! greatest French fortress, lodged in the Heights Of the Mouse at Sal
 Lihiel All round it there has bee heavy fighting since the frs. Germ
 advance and at Troy0n Diculouar. and the Saint German hill some c the bloodiet work of the war
 It was the crown pri0cr' a--
 its attempt to get at Ve~fun
 dented the French line t'rre ir
 mighty rush while its artillery VI demolshing the interval fort or Tro on. It required S000) men to ho' i it and a simple glance at tho mar. end a reference 10 the ccmmuniques shows what the French are trying t- do to it.
 i At Les Eparges and toward Etoir on one side of the srclc, and in ,hr ! Mort Mare woods and Le Prctre woo Pc on the other. they are gradually clo.- ing in and making the angle sharper. This work is slow and costly to both sides. Nowhere on the battle front has the art Of digging in and the ant of digging out been more highly de. yeloped. The German earthworl;s i here were first class underground for i tifcations and from them the French learned what they had to do. Weak5 of sapping and mining from both d.. ] rections at the same tirle were rcguiT. ed Co get at these subterranean fort 1 resses.
 The question was generally which would get there first; sonnet mes they met ir their burrowing like wood l chucks come together by chance t the Germans were masters iu thia sort of warfare at the outset the French were apt pupils Their facility of Improvisation and remarkable ini- ] tiative soon enabled them to do better than thei rteachers with their teach CTS tools otherwise the rupture Of SC. Mihiel" would be today what it was in September.
 ] General R., a specialist in the en- 1 gineering arm of the service, was en- trusted by Jonre with the work or ltIItlluE NIlt hANL iAltAAI" DhAN NI AAANAl burrows into the Doeuvre His tas, is not finished but it is SO well begun that the Germans at saint Mihiel are somewhat in the position of the man who had the bear by the tail; they cant let go without grave danger of being captured, especially since the
 taking Of Les Eparges gives thl French possession of Che heights that command the plains to the east in- side of the angle
 ln the Woouyre not far from the point of the angle General R. organ ized a ,chool of sapping and mtdus. where men at rest were exercised in
 the construction and destruction oi lmdergrouad Notifications There nt 1 had reconst'uted for their benefit an exact model Of the best specimen of German mtrenohment "Nou must im- prove on tbis,' he told them "And, above all, he added "you must know
 how to male it useless"
 A Seritable museum of underground
 warfare developed from this school and was visited by officers from all
 6etllOAe or ANt hdNllt lIhNl. IT ht now reen abandoned because General l,. and his ferreting troops have mar rowed the wedge and left behind them
 line after line of German trenches. most fthem blown up before being
 captured Now on both sides of the
 angle they are finding trenches al
 ready made for them All they have Co do Is to repair the blown up sec. tions and throw the b-nk of dirt from
 thehir side to tha, of the Germans.
 Behind and in fiCnt of the battle
 Front and between the many lines or Trenches that have mashed the land
 scapo of the Woeuvre, little mounds
 most of them surmounted by crosses, show how dearly each gain was bought
 an dhow desperatel yoppoaed. ln
 many places they are SO thick as Co
 aspume the importance of "a town
 graveyard. In the Moni-M Mare woods.
 where the Germans resisted Che slow
 French advance most vigorously, ey-
 cry foot of ground has seen blood-
 shed