New Britain herald., 1915-01-01
INTERESTING ACCOUNT ! OF LIFE AT FRONT
Whole Companies Flooded Out Of Trenches Night After Njght.

ed to the rank of officer:
 During the latter part of Novem- Der the army in the trenches was swell-nigh perishing with cold; since carly December 1t has been the vic- 1tim of persistent rain and flood. Night after night, whole companies are flooded out of their trenches, while a rearrangeme of the forces . has made it impossible to give the men their former weekly three days Of rest in the villages behind the lines. All the advanced forces will remain in their trenches now for 4eighteen days; then they hope to nave a brief relief. .-
 Rain Destroys Trenches.
 "It Is difficult to give an idea of what rain means in the trenches. 3sThs lines under frosty conditions seem such an orderly, permanent, and town-like series of cubby-,1oles i:that when they all start to melt away and cave in under the influence of thaw and rain, it is as if one were trying to travel through a pitchdark London in ruins. Officers who were 4glorying in fine new dug-outs equipped with all the trench comforts, suddenly found themselves buried in < d 11la6S Ol COlopS0Q edItIl OI lIS COH- sistcncy and quality of thick paint
 The latest gossip here is that the Indian division and the Germans were so close to each other a day or two ago that they used the same parapet for their trenches and took turns at firing through their mutual loop-holes. That, of course, is lit tie exaggerated, but serves to illus Ntrate the manner in which the two armies keep continually getting closer 1and closer. Hand-grenades and homemade bombs fashioned out of biscuit tins can be used advantage Ously at many points.
 200 Yards Apart.
 "Generally, however the front Trenches are about two hundred yards apart in this section. That gives the sharp hooters plenty of chance to get in their fine work, and it is dam xerous to push ones head above a trench even to sight a rifle. Many of the sharp-shooters are using peril scopes much like those of the sub- marine, and With these they can sight and shoot accurately without coming anywhere near the top of the trench. The opposing sharp shooters, of course, delight in efforts to hit the tube of the periscope, and frequently succeed
 Since the rains and floods came, the communication trenches have largely oozed away, Some of them are like rivers; others are knee-deep with pasty mud of exactly the same <, consistency as bakers dough. A reg iment which passed through one such trench a day or two ago left three
 
 lief party back to dig them out
 Labor Is Terrific. Under such circumstances, the labor of bringing up ammunition and rations from the rear is terrific, and the men assigned to this labor reach their destination in state of utter fatigue; nevertheless they have to rtake their turn at sentry duty later in tho night. ..f
 The enemy is very business like and misses no chance to shoot any man who exposes himself. Today, for instance, an English soldier was up in 6 willow tree cutting Withes. A shot passed him, and he sportive- ly signalled "A miss; left A second shot came, and he sgnalled "A miss; right The enemy profited by his ad-
 
 through his head.
 There are the strictest orders against men exposing themselves; but some of the careless ones are surpris- ingly disregardful of their safety Yes terday a private who was dragging a sack of coal walked slowly along the top of communicating trench for considerable distance in full view of the enemy, merely because the bot tom of the trench was muddy and 2, travelling down there in safety would have been so laborious than on the firm soil above. A hail of bullets missed him, but he even stopped to light his pipe behind an eighteen inch willow before he deliberately climb ! back Gown into the trench with his load.
 Tired of Willow Stumps.
 The whole army is very tired of Willow trees and poplars. It would be relief to know that we would never have to see them again. Will low stumps are particularly annoying ? because ill the dark they look exact ly like a crouching soldier, with per haps stray limb resem bling leveled gun.
 T was out scouting two nights ago, and went farther ahead than had - intended. l had no rifle with me. About forty yards from the enemy's trench l suddenly saw what thought was a German crouching down with tevelled gun. My heart stopped, and hastily signalled for the rifle of a man behind me, only to find it not loaded. Then 1 looked again and found the German was only will ' low stump.
 On my way back, crawling cau- tiously through turnip feld-one