Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-20

a gar1anded bower of pine branches on
the hillside for the dead of his regiment
Comparison of Losses.
Considering the immensely Of the
operation-at least 100000 were en-
gagged on both sides along the narrow
front-it was amazing how apparently
small had been the French casualties.
Officers who had participated in the charge
said the German losses had been heavier
than the first official estimate, and must
have reached 10000. Twenty-Five thou
sand German prisoners. they said. was
a small proportion to the number of Ger
mans killed by the high explosive shells
and in hand-to-hand fighting in the
trenches.
The barbed-wire front of the first
line trenches had been cut to bits and
1t was impossible to live or to make
bardment. Soldiers agreed that the
rushing of the first line was a walk
in, there being neither rifle nor ma
chine gun fire to stop them, SO excel
lent had been the work of the enor-
nous concentration of French artil-
lery. Serious resistance developed at
the second line, where the trenches
for the entire fifteen-mile sector had
not in all places been smashed and the
wire not always cut. so that the adj
and slowly cut their way. BY the
state of the ugly messes of wires. rust
ed from a years rain, the correspondent
was able to see where the tide had
advanced, halted and flowed through
the opening made before rolling on.
The labor that had been expended in
constructing the German trenches and
Notifications was enormous. 1t was
as If hundreds Of thousands of human
beavers had never ceased their toll in
preparing for their protection. French
officers said the Germans knew that
the attack was coming and thought
their positions were impregnable. but
were overwhelmed by the number of
French troops.
Most Formidable of Defenses.
The most formidable point seen was
the redoubt Trou Bricot. which had on
all sides mitrailleuses, a labyrinth of
dungeonlike cellars, sand-bag gall
leries which had been pounded into
heaps of earth by the high explosives
the sand bags having been turned into
rags mixed with dust before the posi-
ton was surrounded by French infan-
try, which marveled to find a few men
still alive. What few were left had
had their senses numbed.
"If we can take that with our guns"
SAID a soldier, we ought TO be able to
take anything the Germans can build .
In the midst Of what remains of this
result of colossal labor and the use of
probably 100000 sand bags. was mine
crater 100 feet deep and 200 feet across,
which the French had created by an
explosion after the guns had finished
their work and just before the infantry
charge. Many such mine craters were
seen at formidable points along the
German and French lines. Significant
of German strategy in preparation to
receive the attacks was a long ditch
through the woods in which the charg-
ing French soldiers naturally took
cover. At the end the ditch branched
into. blind alleys. while concealed
machine gun commanded 1t.
However, we took the gun" said an
officer who had led the attack in this
section.
French Occupying German Quarters.
Roads and light railways which the
Germans had built to supply their
trenches with food and material are
now used by the French. German