Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-01-16
HUMAN MoLEs WORK AT NIGHT
Men Who Build Trenches For Armies
Can't Work by DaYliaht

lCorres pondence of Associated Press I
Karlsruhe, Germany, Jan. AT
night, when the searchiishts fit from
trench to trench of the enemy and
when sunners send shells into hostile
works which during the day have been
singled out for this attention, the
human mole-the pioneer-goes to
work. The present war at close quar-
tiers has made 1t impossible for him to
labor in daylight. Not alone is every
part of the field scrutinized with pow
erful glasses by the observation Off
GERS, but men in aeroplanes are also
constantly on the lookout for a red
or brown scar in the landscape that
might show pioneers busy at work
digging trenches
Contrary 70 popular belief. trenches
are but seldom dUg by the infantry
men nowadays. The little spades they
carry serve for the sole purpose Of
throwing up cover when during an at
tack the firing line. owing to superior
ity Of fire from the enemys position.
must intrench itself specifically until
reinforcements can be brought up. The
trenches OF the permanent positions
are dug by the pioneers. as are also
the approach Of trenches, bomb proofs
and tunnels which make up q modern
position fight" line.
What Il means to be a pioneer is
well told in a letter which has Just
been published In the German press.
The writer explains that the division
staff had thought II advisable to ad-
vance closer to the French trenches
had to be dug; otherwise the infantry
had to be dug; otherwise the infantry
sent there would have been moved
down by the fire from the other side.
The locality Of the proposed trench
lay between the French and German
trenches.
80 we left the half-ruined, little
village on the banks of the canal.
reached the highway. and labored thru
the deep mud and around the holes
blown in the ground by the shells. .
continues the pioneer about us
hummed bullets which seemed to have
los. their way, and the spades beat
gently against the rifles.
after wading thru muddy fields we
crossed a pontoon bridge, upon which
our steps resounded in dull concus-
sions. Later we entered along the
sphere Of the English bullets. and had
to get into the ditch along the road to
escape them. After that we crossed
more muddy fields, crept thru barbed
wire fences, and finally reached the
spot.
There we deployed and went tc
work It had started to rain again
and the ground we worked became
somter than 1t had been. We WORKED
like maniacs to get cover against the
fire Of the enemy. Though IT was dark
the bullets hit the wall OF a nearby
house like hail.
after a while the fire grew worse
Lay down. came the command. we
rested safe enough in the mud, bu
there was a nasty smell about it. Fol
ten minutes we waited in this posi-
;ion, and then resumed our work
Some Of the ground we were on hat
been filled in. 1t seemed, for after
while we hit layer of brick fragment.
which seriously retarded our prog
ress.
THE trench we were digging wa!
only 1870 to 200 feet from the trench o
the enemy, some Of the bravest O
! whom had perched themselves in tn
crowns of some willow trees and wer'
popping away at us.
But q winter Thunderstorm cam
to our aid; It's downpour caused tn
ardour of the men in the trees to cool
1--WE kept on with our work to tn
accompaniment Of the incessant artil
| lery fire from both sides. Now an
then the bombardment would develol
into long, rolling cannonade. Shrek
ing and bowling, the proJectiles rusf,e'
thru the air above 10. to explode o.
either side with terrific crashes.
meanwhile we had buried ourselve
we'll in the earth, and when the raj
ceased and the bullets began to com
from the willow trees they could n
longer modest US. With loud spiasht
they hit the soft loan about us, bu
we were below the level OF the parape
We had thrown up.
Another half hour and our wor
was done. With not dry thread on on
bodies, and covered with mud fros
head to foot, We returned to our quar-
ters, accompanied by the humming {
the bullets which sped about VI.
wow, there were stars n the cfeA
sky-the same stars as At home. Bt
they look upon different scene. I
the right Of us q searchlight 1T up III
ruins OF destroyed towns and village
in sharp contrasts. thanked Ga
that such fate has been sparpd N
Il