Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-20
Rv FREDERICK PALMER

PARIS, Oct. 2O-All the ground TO the
ridge Of the horizon was taken on the
first day" said an oficer standing in a
first line French trench in the Cham
payne region from which a wave OF men
hfteen miles long, on the morning OF
September 25. dashed forward, winning
from one to ive miles before the tidal
rush Of soldiery was stopped.
1 was the FIRST correspondent 10 view
the great battlefield 1 looked across a
rolling land with groves Of dwarf pine
which rise out OF almost snow white ex-
cavations, chalk burrows. trenches, COM
municating bitches traverses and re-
doubts, where German military science
and Industry had sought impregnability
in vain.
The population in the camp Of chalons
near which the French fought to regain
their old review ground. is very meagre
For year this has been the object of a
relentless sapping warfare.
PERTHEs IN RUINS.
Only the village Of Perthes was in sight
from where we stood and its cluster Of
houses had become the typical pile OF
ruins which marks shellfre The cor
respondent, walking over the course Of
the French advance. witnessed the results
- ti'S must powerful QefenSe attacked
py the most powerful assault Of the war
The famous hill, the butte Of Tahure,
the occupation of which clinched French
success. resembles any small wooded
enlnence To the north shells could be
seen bursting over the Somme-Py rail-
ROAD. That important German line of
transportation was cut, as the French
gunhre rendered it useless.
An enormous amount of labor was sc-
coHnlshed by the French in preparation
Tor their advance. French engineers briIt
transport road 10 miles long Ssnnsrs
aug winding communication ditch six
iee' oeep. six feet broad and FIVE miles
long. This trench was cut through chalk
the consistency OF soft stone
GATHER BOOTY.
The object OF this long, deep ditch was
10 enable the French soldiers to advance
without being subject directly to the shell
nre or the Germans. Although the fight
ing had been over for some time. there
were still many unexploded German shells
and hand grenades lying upon the
ground. The French soldiers were busily
at work gathering in ard sorting the
captured accoutrements in order to COM
pile the booty.
Occasionally we come across a shell hole
or a dugout where German dead were
buried. In one grave were "a corpses; i'm
another were is. In some instances the
inscription upon the cross over a grave
related that both French and Germans
were Inferred there.
Where the graves were so new that
there had not been time to erect a cross
we sometimes saw bottles stuck neck first
into the earth. Inside the bottles were
pieces of paper bearing the name of the
dead man. Nearly every inscription that
we saw on the graves of German and
French alike bore the words: KILLED on
the field of honor"
FRENCH LOSS SLIGHT.
Considering the immensity OF the opera-
tions with at least a million men on each
side and the fighting taking place over
narrow front, the small number of
French casualties was amazing Oficers
who had participated said that the Ger
man losses were much more heavy than
the first official estimate and must have
been at least 10000 Twenty-Five thou
sand Germans were captured, which was
very small proportion to the number
killed by high explosive shells and in
trench-to-trench ighting.
The barbed wire in front of the first
line trenches of the Germans was cut
to bits in the preliminary bombardment.
so that II offered absolutely no resist
ance to the advance when the French
SOiulSlS swept forward.
Soldiers agreed that the rush of tho
first line was "walkover," as there
was no rife nor machine gun fire. due
TO the long and violent French lombard
ment. The irst serious resistance from
the Germans developed on the second
line It was impossible for the French
artillery to smash all the Germans sec
ond-line trenches on a 15-mile sector and
10 blast away all the barbed wire en-
NanRlementR. fIu h.
had to pause at some places or slowly
cut way forward.
GERMANS NUMBED.
The most formidable German position
was the redoubt of Troubicot which had
mitrailleuses on every side. deep. dun
geon-like cellars, and sandbag galleries
which had been pounded into heaps of
aust by the high explosives. The French
infantrymen marveled to find a few Ger
mans still alive, but their senses were
numbed by the artillery fre. Occasional
ly fragment OF dried human flesh and
a Dit OF green German uniform were still
visible in the wreckage.
III we can take that with our guns
we ought to take anything the Germans
can build" said the French soldiers when
they saw the ruins of the redoubt OF
Troubicot.
was revealed by the hght. long ditch
had been dug through the woods In front
OF the German lines and the French. In
advancing, naturally took shelter In Il.
However, the Germans had a masked ma
chine gun at one end of the ditch, hidden
by branches, and this was turned upon
the French.
However We took the gun" said the
French ofilcer who had led the advance
In that direction.
The roads and light single track rail-
WAYS which the Germans had built 10
supply their trenches all contained good
materials which are now being used by
the French. the OLD German trenches be-
ing turned into new works for French
occupancy.
Both sides are now holding their new
positions, with the Germans having set
tied down IN front OF the new lines OF
the French. There are occasional ma
chine gun duels and aeroplane aghts and
occasionally shell bursts over their
landscape.
Probable Tragedy at Target Shooting
LANCASTER, Pa, Oct. O.-This morn
fna while Harold Shon and q com na nlon