El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-27
BAT TIE line IS
VAST CEMETERY.
German Bodies Lie Long
Unburied on Western
Front, Says Observer.

London. Eng. Feb. 27-The whole
district about Ypres, Belgium, on the
western battle front is a vast cemetery,
according to a statement given out by a
British official eye witness at the front.
The ground is plOWed by shells, fur
rOwed with the remains of old trenches
and hummOcked with graves. German
and French trenches still occupied WIND
in every direction.
IN a sheltered spot" he continues.
there is a little graveyard where some
of our own dead have been buried.
Their graves have been carefully
marked and a rough square of bricks
has been placed around them. In front
of the trenches German bodies still lie
thick
"At one point of the brick fields re-
Gently some 30 men tried to rush our
line. At their head was young Ger
man officer who came On CALAMITY,
waving his sword He almost reached
the barbed wire and then fell dead, and
he lies there yet, with his sword in his
hand and all his 80 men about him.
German Bodies Everywhere.
at is the same all along the front
in this quarter Everywhere sun, gray
files can he seen lying, sometimes sew
eral rows together and sometimes SIN
gly or in twOs or threes.
This description might serve, with
few minor alterations, tor many of the
localities along our front where the
fighting has conferred around some
wood a village or line of trenches. 1t
is as if each had been swept by with
ering blast before which every object,
whether a work of nature or of man,
has crumbled into ruins OF became
twisted and defOrmed, and even the
very ground itself looks as if 1t had
been shaken by a violent CONFUSION of
nature"
To the south of the Ypres- Confines
canal says the eye witness" the
ground, although there are some en-
closures, is comparatively open. To the
h nv
woods and these have become a tangle
Of fallen trees interspersed with shell
craters.
Sink Deep in Mud.
To add to the hardships of such
fighting, the troops have been attack
ing on ground in which the men sink
up to their knees in the mud.
Despite all these drawbacks con-
tinues the observer, counter attacks
have been carried out with the result
that in nearly all cases the original line
has been regained.'
Incidents of the lighting are de-
picted:
Incidents of Fighting.
"On the night of Feb. 10. as our
troops are advancing to drive the
enemy out of one of these trenches, his
guns suddenly opened tremendous
fire" the eye witness says. Our men
were in the open at some distance from
the Germans at the time, and being
thus taken. at disadvantage their chance
Of success looked small. Without a
moments hesitation, however, the long
line broke into double quick. and
pounding through the mud, burst into
the German trenches
"A counter attack on the 18th, was
also a most daring piece of work
Trenches occupied by the enemy had
been subjected to such 4 heavy fire that
they would not await our onset. As our
men charged forward cheering, the
Germans were observed TO be leaving
the trenches and hurryins to the rear.
Forty Fight to the Last
an one trench, (which became in the
course of the fighting more or less isO-
lated 40 of oar men continued to hold
firm until everyone of them had been
either killed or wounded. Eventually
there were only three left who were
capable of firing and these three con
tinued to hold the enemy at bay. In
the meantime word was brought to
ton was nearly exhausted and seven
men, the strongest available. were Sc
leCted to bring up as much ammunition
as they could carry. These latter found
the three wounded survivors still stand
ing amid the bodies of their dead and
disabled comrades and still firing
steadily. The support, slender as il was
came in the nick Of time for at that
moment the Germans launched another
assault which like the previous ones,
was beaten off and the position was
saved.
"Our howitzersr did especially good
work on the trenches captured by the
Germans at one point. Observers could
see one lyddite shell after another
bursting in the trenches and hurting
the defenders into the air"