The Sentinel=record., 1915-05-06
TELLS OF ARMY LIFE
"RELlABLE" DISPATCHES FROM
 BARON MUNCHAUSEN
According to His Reports Soldiers Are Having an Enjoyable Time, but of Couf- e One Need Not
 Believe Him.

The hardships of warfare in the trenches have been so grossly exag gerated that it is time, l think, to put forth the real facts of this fea ture of the war Rocking-chair core Ispondents, who spend their time far from the scene of action, draw so largely upon their imaginations that very little. if. in fact, any truth per colates through to the ultimate reader l had read with interest, though with skepticism, their reports of the intense suffering of the troops compelled to fight in the trenches. so while 1 was with the German army in Poland l determined to investigate the matter fully Needless to say, found the soldiers enjoying comforts ill their subterranean shelters that Irivaled those of the most luxurious homes.
 l had the pleasure of visiting the German position in Poland as the per sonal friend and guest of General yon Hindenburg. The first thing that struck my notice was that the trenches were about half filled with water, in which the soldiers were standing up to their waists. So ac- customed had they become to 1t, how ever, that they found it uncomfortable to stand on dry ground, and when, unhappily, as sometimes happened the water drained away, they made special provisions for reflling the ditches, drawing their supply from nearby streams.
 ] The water served a double purpose, that of keeping them warm and of af- fording a hiding place when the Rus sians advanced in too great numbers. The soldiers would in such a case merely duck completely under the water, until the attacking force had again retired. The Germans also found the streams that constantly flowed through the trenches of ines timable value in the transport of ra- tions and ammunition from one point to another, and by the skillful use of specially constructed rowboats they were enabled to rush re-enforcements to threatened spots.
 One difficulty they had coped with unsuccessfully was the freezing of the water in extremely cold weather. The disadvantage of this was that 1t ren- dered the entire army immobile in the event of attacks, and General von Hindenburg was often at a loss when he found troops needed at a particu- lar point held fast by the ice in their positions, on fixed post, as it were l suggested that if the soldiers were ordered all to jump upward at the same time they would bring the ice with them, and would, moreover, pre- sent a united front to the foe. This scheme was tried on the next cold night with unparalleled success. The German lines, linked together by ice walls, advanced literally by leaps and bounds, and so startled the Russians that they fled pTeciptately.
 Two companies in returning had a laughable experience, for inadvertent- ly each attempted to enter the trench of the other, The irregular ice, of course, did not fit in either case, and the soldiers efforts to force their way into the wrong shelters was so Judi crous that l was fairly convulsed with laughter After the difficulty had been pointed out the two commands ex- changed places, and without further trouble got into their proper shelters. -Brooklyn Eagle