The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-01-30
GERMAN VISITS FRENCH
TRENCHES.
Tells of His Interchange of Ideas
With French.

count or "a German soldiers visit in
the trenches Of the French is given in
u letter Just received here by relatives
ui the writer.
: II had been ordered to go to tie
foremost OF our trenches and de:iv-
cr message to the officer in charge
when | heard one of our soldiers
calling to the French only a cut 100
yards away" snys the writer. My
cOnradc wanted tho French to under
stand he intended to throw bostie
containing the latest German war
ncws into the trench of the enemy.
tered to a bayonet, but it seemed the
French were afraid Of ruse ami
none showed his head.
Getting Impatient l climbed out
Of the. trench and shouted as loud as
q could Don't shoot! When l pro-
cecded climbing through the wire en-
tanglcments l heard the command,
! Haiti coming from the French side.
At the same time bullets were COM
l did not consider this fair play. Their
| heard the voice of a French officer
telling me to wait minute. assuring
me at the same time no more shots
would he fired.
! Shortly the face OF q French SOL
dier appeared above the enemy's
trench. He climbed out and seemed
to DC some what anxious. but walked
mp to him and handed him the bottle.
What's the news? he asked me in
good German. We spoke few words
in French. but he seemed too glad to
get back. SO l handed him five cigars
for which he thanked me profusely
With n mutual An revoir" each of us
returned to his side.
"Whcn ] told my officers of my ex-
pericnce they said they had planned
to attack, but in order to avoid any
suspicion that our move had been
only ruse they promised to postpone
any aggressive tactics. At the same
time | heard one Of our men shout:
THE French are signalling. they
evidently want to speak to one of u.s."
81 went out again, climbed through,
the cntanglements and waited. !
heard n French officer tell me l should
not be afraid. lie gave his word Of
honor that l should not be harmed If
l entered their trench. So went
ahead. The French officer thanked
me for giving him the news and said
he wished to return the favor by
handing me the latest copy Of the
Paris Matin. d..
"A great many soldiers came up,
looking at me in great astonishment.
They were surprised to see me with
out an OvercOat. I explained to them
| was wearing heavy wooden under
wear. One Of them said he wished
he had some
why don't you write to your wife
to send you some?" l replied. He
said he had no wife. Well write
to your latest sweetheart" 1 advised
him. with a laugh.
The French lieutenant complained
they were shot at whenever they
showed their heads and told hir, we
were treated the same way. He then
told me the German prisoners and
wounded were treated the same as
their own soldiers and assured him
the French prisoners in Germany were
as we'll off as my compatriots in
France.
AT this moment the French COM
mandcr appeared. l was prepared to
make little speech and said it had
not been cur intent to- wage war
AGAINST the French. Our real enc
my was the English. The officer, did
not like this kind OF talk because too
many soldiers were listening. SO he
asked mo whether the Germans real
ly believed they could win this war
ultimately.
FRANKLY, this question perpleXed
me somewhat. Here we were i'm the
heart of France, only 100 Kilometres
from Paris and such a question. But
i ala not want to wound the pride Of
our adversares and so l diplomaticaI-
~ suggested 1T would be impossible to
foretell the result Of the war. although
the present outlook seemed favora bio
tO the Germans
The French seemed to like nv
cigars ana the officer asked me wheth-
er ] could sell them any. told him
we were rather liberoIlv sunnIiod ,,;,,