Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-03-09
MEN IN TRENCHES
ALWAYS ON ALERT
Never a Time When Some Are
Not on Lookout and Reserves
in Readiness.
LINES FEW YARDS APART
Except for Thresh of Shells and
Bang of Guns. Scene Is
Most Peaceful.

Frederick Palmer who is Mt the front
In France for the Associated Press.
sends the following:
bril- TISIf HEADQUARTERS IN
FRANCE. March tvia London. sos
J.. M).-"Thore YOU are. and keep your
head down 1t is fair target ut that
distance said the officer who had come
out OF the shelter to meet the news
paper correspondents who were being
permitted TO visit the trenches.
The correspondents were In the de-
lenses at the edge of Il grove. called
the ploegsteert woods. The British
had fought fercely for possession OF
this grove. for it meant cover for
them. Occasional bullets whistled
overhead and the swish OF German
shells. which were being fred at some
thing at the rear. passed higher up.
while a hidden british battery was
sending it's shells In the opposite dircc-
ton
AT intervals in the defenses mon
were waiting with rifles laid to plug
any moving thing that looked like a
"Gerboy."
III a Gerboy helmet appears. can
you put hole through it," was asked
1T looks SO. They don't put them
up very often. sir" was the answer
WALL OF SAND BAGS
ONLY $50 YARDS AWAY
Two hundred and fifty yards away
was wall OF sand bags. The bare
field between the two lines was as
lifeless as desert. and for moment
one could see the German breastworks
was no, occupied by a single human
being. But there. as on our side, the
sharpshooters We're waiting. and the
officers were watching through the re-
fracting mirrors OF perscopcs
For three months the trenches have
remained in the same position. and
never. in all that time. here as else
where along the line, has some one
not been on the lookout and reserves
in readiness for an attack.
Here we will be till the big push
comes" say the men. BY big push
they refer TO the movement when the
new British army is In.
At night German patrols creep out
to see IL thes British are up to any
thing new. and the British do likewise
4 TO ascertain II the Germans are And
sometimes some OF the men are killed.
Those who not on watch are
lounging on beds of straw under the
timber roofs. To the rear there are
many more shelters. where officers and
men are quartered. One old South
African veteran was planting primroses
on the earth roof of his house. 1T ls
getting primrose time al home in Eng
land" he said.
ALWAYS IN DANGER
FROM ENEMY sNIPERs
Except for the thresh OF shells and
the bang OF the guns, the scene Ia
peaceful. When the Germans cut loose
with some thrills OF the rapid fire guns
or begin Smelling. the men take to
their shelters until the storm is over
They always are in danger from snip
ping. and are likely to be called at any
minute 10 repcl an attack. They are
veterans who cease 10 think OF possi-
biities.
III you are killed. why, you are
killed., says Tommy Atkins, "and
what's the use in worrying about it?r
Very proud are all the men who have
stuck Il through from the time OF the
British landing until now. When one
OF them was asked about il, he said
Just luck. that's all. Maybe I'll get
IL from sniper when this winter is
over"
AT night all the work in the neigh
borhood trenches is done. Across the
fire zone. behind the trenches. food and
;imbers and everything needed In the
trenches is carried up by hand in a
wallow OF mud Yet one hears no one
growing or swearing when it would
seem that human irritation must have
an escape valve.
MT
soldier The Gerboys may hear YOU
and then turn loose. 1t may not only
cost YOU your life, but that OF Your
pals"
RATTLE OF MACHINE GUN
GROWS MUCH LOUDER
With darkness falling over the fiat
country and the buildings becoming
shadowy. the correspondents walked
away with an officer. with the rattle
Of a machine gun growing louder to-
ward the trench.
They can't be firing at any definite
object in the dark" queried a CORE
spondcnt.
''Perhaps-perhaps not" the officer
replied. The gun is laid for the top
of their trench. We don't hold down
the fire too much. az we want the
Germans to know We are on deck"
Are we in bullet range yet"' was
asked
'Rather-500 yards. That's why we
don't walk up in the daytime. The
flares you see are going up from the
German trenches" replied the officer.
These flares. like Fourth Of July
rockets. threw glare over the sodden
fields and revealed the faces of the
correspondents and the officer and out
lined their figures. I'm that way they
keep watch TO see that we are not
creeping up for an attack" the officer
added.
Another 900 yards Of plunging in
mud and the correspondents descended
into the wet earth behind tiers Of
sand bags. and were walking on a
boardwalk at the bottom of n great
ditch. The commanding officer pulled
aside curtain. and lieutenant came
out of his cellars. looking neat enough
for parade. Neatness under any con
dition is a point with the British Of
ficer. and he keeps his men up to 1t.