Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-25
VEIL OF SECRECY HANGS
TH|CKEsT OVER LORRAINE
Fighting, Unsurpassed for Stubborn
ness or Picturesqueness, Oc-
ours on Frontier.
LIFE IN NANCY NEARLY NORMAL
Gun-Firing Audible Almost Any
Hour Of Day-NVinter Quarters OF
Troops Similar to Healthy Win
ter Camp in Adirondacks.


NANCY, FRANCE. January "a tvia
Paris. 1920 T.. M).-Throughout the
war the veil OF secrecy has hung thick
est over the Lorraine frontier, where
fighting unsurpassed for stubbornness
or picturesqueness has occurred. Com
nand OF tho heights meant that the
valley was death trap: forests screen
artillery from aerial reconnaissance; and
Civil war in the United States often are
reproduced.
In Nancy. the capital OF French Lor-
rainc, life seems more nearly normal
than in Paris. though German aviators
need fly only twenty miles to drop
bombs in the city. Nancy is as brill
liantly lighted as In peace time until
10 o'clock In the evening, when all the
lights are put out Officers. rosy-cheeked
from facing the mountain gales. come
in from the front to dine at a restau-
rant.
From the high points in the suburbs
the gun firing from some direction Is
audible any hour Of the day, which
means that some French battery has
discovered some Germans In its range
WORKING on q new trench, or is touch
ing up German battery.
The correspondence first OF three
tours was northward. In the direction
"i l"nt-a- MousSon and the lie Pretre
forest which are on the French front
OF III" German wedge in the French
lines, between the fortresscs of foul
and N"rdun. 1t Is a dull day in pont-a-
hall
pie take to cover with the first, and
20 on with business when the shower
- over. In tn. lie Petre forest, as in
ct her forests of the Nosges. the winter
If" Of tho troops is similar to that
Of n healthy winter camp In the Adiron-
dacks.
ENOUGH BRANCHES
TO FORM \ SCREEN
N" forests are Scared rs by lum-
b"rlnI operations whcrc fields for fire
nave been cleared, but usually there
nave been only scattered cuttings. so ne
TO leave enough branches to form a
screen.
Inc french army in the Vosges is
having healthy woodland outing.
hanoits and other game, including wild
Doars. are to be shot. The artillery is
not popular. because n shell from II
striking tho limb of Il tree makes
spllnters with power of penetrating
enough to cause nasty. wounds.
The French soldiers literally are
stuffed with food. Many live better
thah it home. The bracing mountain,
AR gives them keen appetites. An
officer told me the men OF his com
Dany now averaged five. pounds more
IN weight than when they went to war
IN Inc Forest regions. where the lines
are crosse together, as trenches are
lhkeh ana retaken ut critical points
sidings to take south the wounded
IN the open country, when there are
no trees to screen the guns. ingenious
pains are taken TO hide them The
correspondent and his party literally
walked into one battery. The onlv
sign Of its existence was celIor-like
opening for descent under the tim
bercd roof covered with dirt, and such
as might be used to keep vegetable.
in the winter. Over this snow had
merged the'gun positions Into "A white
landscape to the German aviators, who
are up every day.
LIVING IN CELLAR
BUILT BELOW GUNS
The gunncrs we're living in a cellar
built below the guns Its floor was
hcaped with straw
While In the fiat country OF Belgium,
ana Northwestern France one scarcely
can grasp the meaning of posittons
lines become as clear as those of Get
tyshurg from Round Top
Looking north of the hill of Gene
We've, it Is clear why the Germans
cannot drive their st. Mihiel wedge any
further, and why the French are hav-
ing difficulty In forcing out the Ger
mans
Looking east toward Metz. tree crests
FORM a frontier against the cold, blue
SKY The fields In the immediate fore
ground, up TO the French positions i'm
'hc nearest woods, are bare EXccp;
Tor q stray messenger. communications
are carried out and supplies furnished
under cover of darkness. Thanks 10
the watchfulness OF the sharpshooters
ana the artillery, the soldiers in the
front trenches literally are prisoners
during the day.
As FAR as one can see over the white
mountains and woods, both the French
and German positions can he plotted.
II Is clear why each dead zone between
exists, and why each side holds where
~ is Men can no more lie out nights
on the cold slopes of the Vosgcs In any
extensive forward movement than they
/ could in the Tennessee mountains un.
der Grant and Longstrect
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