New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-12
Peace of French Trenches
Goes Up in Shell Smoke
First Line Suggests Afternoon Scene in Mohawk Valley
Until Four Explosives Suddenly Drop in
One-f4undred-Foot Circle.

A tin can filled with cartridges hangs
beside the hole and the soldier stands
sideways and peers through cautiously,
exposing himself TO the least possible
degree. There is little talking among
the men in the front line, and they
have little to say TO observers coming
through, but they watch with mild
amusement the non-combatants who
step boldly up to the open loopholc and
look squarely through it without any
pretence of exposing themselves as
little as possible. The experienced sol
der never does that. He approaches
the loophole like a crab. and the num-
Der of wounds in the head one sees
is very good reason for following MS
wise example.
| heard a great deal, too, about the
shell fire SCATTERING mems nerves, but |
have seen no signs of such results. IL
NAV be because the French system
keeps the men in the first line trenches
only four days, and then gives them
twelve DAYS OF rest, seven of which are
passed in reserve camps and five in the
second line trenches, before they have
another turn in the first line.
But my own experience would not
lead me TO believe that ordinary shell
fire such as is encountered daily at the
front would be nerve shattering. VI
course, an extremely heavy lombard
ment, kept up for days at time, may
be a different matter, but | am speak
ing of the regular daily round; and 1t
must be remembered that heavy bonn
bardment is not daily affair along
whole front.
Excitement of the Unknown.
NV own experience-and although l
was n non -combatant ] think | prob
ably had much the same sensations as
a soldier going for the first time under
fre-was that of approaching the bat
tie line for the first time with the
Measurable excitement Of advancing
into the unknown, where, perhaps,
some unforeseen danger lurked behind
every tree. Some very similar sensa-
ton, imagine, is that which burglar
feels when he examines country
house before inserting his jimmy un-
der a window.
Our party went under fire under very
favorable circumstances. We heard
big guns at distance for several
hours before we saw any shells burst,
and then we saw the shells burst and
throw up their clouds of earth and
smoke before we heard their song. II
was excellent preparation.
Then we saw German aeroplane
circling over the French lines and saw
French guns turned on 1t and white
puffs of smoke breaking out below IT,
But the aeroplane was too high TO be
reached by a shell. and we stepped INTO
the woods with the machine flying hlgh
over our heads. The French were still
bombarding it, and we had to look up
perpendicularly to see 1t through the
trees. | wondered where the shrapnel
would fall, and as we followed the
Guide we discussed whether we heard
pieces Of she'll coming down through
the trees. Two or three times we were
sure we heard a shell strike the earth,
but nothing happened to any Of US and
that was quite reassuring.
When we got TO the trenches the
aeroplane had disappeared, but, OF
course, it had been trying to locate tho
French batteries, and half way through
the communication trench we heard the
first Of the German guns. When We
had crossed a broad, open space TO
another wood and had climbed out OF
the trench we were for the first time
directly in the line of fire and heard
the shells singing above us-Germans
searching for the French battery and
French guns replying.
Lesson to -Combatants.
II was not by any means an artillery
duel-just a few German guns on one
side and the French guns answering
from somewhere in our rear. But 1t
was & very good first lesson. and when
we got back again TO the rear of the
first wood we had entered we could
see the German shells bursting in open
ground half or three-duarters of
mile from us. We knew then why we
had stopped behind the second wood.
The Germans had never come any
where near the French batteries. but
if we had gone on we would have
crossed the field where the shells were
falling.
After that we began to watch for the
song of the shells and feel more or
less unhappy if we couldn't hear it.
We saw Camp des Romsines shclled,
saw 100 shells dropped on a particular
spot in the earthworks and a second
she'll dropped forty feet from where
the first struck, saw the mathematical
accuracy with which gunners could
drop a shell on a particular spot five
miles away and with two ranges of
hills between them and IT, And yet
when il came to the Germans firing
on our lines we could not see the Ger
man guns nor any signs of life in Ger
man lines, and il seemed unreasonable
that that spot of road at the end Of
the wood or that patch of field should
be avoided or hurried across.
Rife fire Is different. Shells scream
overhead and one looks up in the d.
rection of the sound, for il seems as
though one must be able 20 see them.
Rife bullets zip by at your level with
a sound like an angry bee hurrying
on an errand of vengeance. You don't
have time TO try to follow them with
the eye. Shells have a long, crescendo
scream that makes a slow and we'll de-
fined arc over your head and ends
with the crash of the explosion. The
rife bullet says "B-z-z," and it's over.
That is my experience under fire,
and there is not anything nerve-shat-
tering about that, is there?
Indifferent TO Death.
Soldiers become absolutely indffer-
ent. They go back and forth about
their work as though no such thing
as death were flying loose in the air.
They know the safe paths TO take and
the ones 70 avoid. As for myself. |
never felt more safe than at the
French front, either in the commune
cation or first line trenches.
talked to a colonial who had been
in the first line trenches eleven
months. lie said:
II have It seen my wife or children
for eleven months. but"-pu ling out a
packet OF letters from his pocket
hear from them all the time"
when are you going to see them ,"
| asked.
81 don't want to see them until go
home after the final victory" he re-