Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-11-12
Stories of the War
When the French Advane.d.

when we have taken you out be-
bore, we have shown you trenches"
said French officer. This time We
are going to show you field of VIC
tory--lines of trenches which we took
frem the Germans"
Not all the spoil had yet been re-
moved from that section fifteen miles
long and from one to five in breadth
the French had broken back the siege
line of the Germans with the concen-
tration- of infantry and the expendi-
ture of a million shells.
What looked like a man Of war tur-
ret on wheels was being drawn along
the road. This cupola of riveted
armor was denied by shell fragments.
1t had an opening for the swing Of a
small gun and a door for the exit
and entrance of the crew, which could
be fastened by a bolt and a heavy
chain.
There men were found inside -
locked in, said an officer. The tur-
ret was set in the parapet of a trench
at an important point of the line. All
the German soldiers in the heighbor-
hood had either been killed or buried
alive We had to break the lock to
take the crew out. All three were
alive but stunned. They had gone on
firing their guns as long as they
could"
Freely the Associated Press CORE
spondent moved between the old first
line French and German trenches,
which, for many months. had been a
zone of death for whoever showed
himself. In front of the first line
trench the Germans had barhed-wire
entanglements five or six feet broad.
A rabbit could not have gone through
without being caught. In places now
one had to search to find any wire.
1t had been chopped into bits by the
burst of shrapnel bullets from the
''soixante quinze" guns and then
kneaded into the earth by high explo-
sive shells. Those guns had been fir
ing from a range Of anywhere from
two thousand to five thousand yards,
yet with such accuracy that they
could hit this ribbon OF wire six feet
broad. On such accuracy depended the
success of the infantry in reaching
the German trenches. There must be
guns and shells enough to destroy
wire over q front of fifteen miles. II
the Germans in the trench with their
rifles and machine guns and hand
grenades could go on firing it meant
murder for the Frenchmen exposed in
the open as they charged.
So fifteen or twenty yards beyond
where the wire was being cut more
shell-fire had to- kill the fire from the
German trenches. Some blasts OF
shrapnel bullets here, too, enough to
| make any man in the German trench
es want to keep his head down IL he
was not buried or eviscerated by high
| explosive shells. For hundreds OF
yards ms some places there wal
scarcely any semblance Of trenches
after the French guns had prepared
the way for the French infantry. II
was as if the trenches had been dyna.
mited systematically with charges
plotted out ehecker-board fashion.
l At other places where the destruc.
1 ton had not been so complete it was
| possible to see what the German
/ trenches were like and with whas
/ sraazing theroushness and care thes
4 rad been built.
To a laynaata they seemed irnpreg.
Eable. Down these slanting shaft;
under the parapets were caves TWEEN.
i " and thirty feet deep for refuge II
i a Commandment. In many cases tbs
| openings had been closed by ths
/ descent of ton or more Of earth
i from the parapet from the conclusion
\ of large calibre howitzer shell and
4 ali the men within were buried alive.
i The fate of those who were in the
trench itself was often to be buried
/ in fragments Of flesh and bone. blown
into the soil by the explosions. Tit
4 German guns could not fire on tn,
French infantry as they reached tn,
bafbed-wire for fear OF hitting thu
4 Germans in the trenches and tn,
i ing the French. Where an inferno O
Il explosions had ragged peace Feignet
Il over the wreckage wrought by French
Il gunnery, as the French soldier
4 sprang over the remnants Of paraPeti
4 to face with bayonet and dagger an.
u German shat had survived and was II
Il possession OF his senses.
IL Even those who were." said sol
! der, often yielded. What would you