The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-05
Soldiers Welcome Brief Rest and
First Chance to Change
Clothes.
JOKE OVER THEIR PLIGHT
INDICATED lnfantrymen Tell Of Their
Life at Front-onIy II Left Of $50
In Original Company = XIII
Germans to Get Clothes.
BY GABRIEL DElAGARDE.

Correspondent OF the InlcaSo palIy news
Amiens, France have just passed
two days in tiny hamlet near the
front between Arras and Albert, sleep
ing on straw and living on bread and
sardines. French batteries few hun
dred yards away Numbered intermit-
tently. My companions were 100
French infantrymen. who were quar-
tered there for four days to rest after
AZ consecutive days in the trenches.
BY this time they must have resumed
their old positions on the firing line.
The first man with whom | talked
when the grim. dirty columns broke
ranks and scattered about the thirty
odd farms which compose the hamlet,
said:
Eyes, monsieur, we have been AZ
days in the trenches without once re-
moving our clothes or even our shoes.
Except for two old peasants we passed
back along the road, you are the first
civilian we have seen in all this time.
But, you see, we do not look too miser-
able. We even stood 1t very WELL be-
cause we are Bretons, who are tough
and stubborn race. But we are rather
dirty, are we not?"
Joke Over Life In Trenches.
I replied frankly that l had never
seen dirtier men in all my life. Their
clothes were torn and covered with
layers Of yellow clay and their shoes
looked like Jumps of mud which had
hardened around their feet. Yet the
men were laughing and joking happily
enough We entered the village inn.
picturesque tavern blackened with
smoke, with strings of onions hanging
from the rafters, while in the corner
the aged grandfather was weaving on
a hand LOOM Over their coffee ana
brandy the soldiers renewed their
jokes at the expense Of the "boches'
(Germans), their own drtiness and va
rious features of life in the trenches.
To the accompaniment of distant
cannonade they told the history of
their company since the beginning or
the war. They had participated In
many battles and the company had
been entirely reorganized three times.
or the original contingent Of $50 men
only one officer and ten men were
left.
Dug Holes With Their Hands.
When they first took position at the
place they still hold, they had to fight
in an open field, for neither side had
time to prepare trenches. The men
sought to protect themselves the best
they could. Those without pickaXes
dug in the earth with their hands, try
ing to make holes big enough to lie
in.
Gradually. however, trenches were
completed and subterranean village
organized Before the trenches barbed
wire was strung on which bells we're
hung which would ring when the wire
was disturbed. Their monotonous
life was interrupted only by shells that
burst too near and occasional surprise
attacks.
Ordinarily the men sleep In the day
time in restrooms, the straw In when
Is changed every two weeks. Little
bv little the soul and body became
hardened until now they can look on
the rain of deadly shells with indiffer-
ence.
XIII Germans to Get Clothes.
Protection against the cold was not
difficult Wooden garments had been
distributed literally and in case these
were lacking one could always find a
chance to "snipe" some German, steal
forth under cover of the darkness ana
remove his overcoat and shoes, as
several men of this company had
done.
Rain is more serious here In Pi- |
cardy, where the clay holds water on
the surface. Despite cutters and roofs |
rain always gets into the trenches /
somehow.
"When It rains" said soldier with |
heroic carelessness, you get wet
That is all there is to It,"
I learned that several men, Ill from
dampness, had been sent to the hospi-
tai.
Death Loses Its Terrors.
The following story illustrates how
little preoccupied with death these
men are:
One day the men in the rear guard
trench decided to send a soldier TO
fetch water from village two kiio-
meters 1.2 miles) away. 1t was
fine, warm day and they wanted to
wash themselves. An hour later the
soldier returned with two pals OF wa
ter, which all we're eager to use, but
they lacked towels.
One soldier said he would get some
from the advance trenches, where
there were several He went ducking
down the zigzag passage which con-
meets the trenches, and which, because
of its length, is named Rue Lafayette
fter the longest street in Paris. All