Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-11
REPLACING MEN
N TRENCHES IS
HAZARDOUS TASK
Dangers Attendant Upon Re-
ref of Fatigued Troops
Dramatically Discussed by
Man Who Knows
.,..o.,,,,d Press correspondence

D.os from the German trenches
'u' ro,teving them with fresh troops
a" "o dramatically discussed by cor
' nondent of the Berliner Tageblatt'
,refaccd the story with expert
aces of himself and colleagues IN
settIng into and out of the hf'ns
line,
.we could only reach the village
,..son" ne writes. Here we had to
,,a the automobile in the mud be-
KIND a church whose walls showed
.ho marks Of desperate struggle
n'.ry,yherp on the ground, bandages,
.,,s and parts of uniforms-every-
.sing covered with yellow mud. Be
,n' ,ne church were fresh graves.
.,rroni Eesscn to DiXmude the road
a.. tbrce liIometers runs parallel To
,no French trenches. Every auto ana
',ory wagon seen on the road is taken
,nder fine from the trenches which
"re only about 400 Yards away.
aso we left the automobile in cover
and continued our journey on foot,
soonine about sixty feet apart in or
der IA be- as inconspicuous to the
many AS possible. But they had al
reody seen ms. A rolling fusilade be-
oon TO sweep the road. We jumped
rom tree to tree and made part of
inc distance by RAINING in stopped
nostion behind hedge.
THE mud was several feet deep in
nlaces and our way lay past trenches
and dead horses. Many of the animals
wore chestnuts. deeply imbedded in
tho mud and their wide-open eyes
.,ored into the leaden sky in most
nncanny fashion.
Thrilling Experience.
aof sudden the man ahead of
mo shouted and jumped behind the
wall Of a building that had been laid
law He believed he had been hit,
Int as luck would have it the bullet
mst missed him and had buried itself
with a thud in a nearby tree.
His experience induced us to pro-
gross little more rapidly and with
greater caution-from cover to cover.
after a while we came to an eX-
posed railroad crossing some goo feet
from the trenches of the enemy FIRST
one man bolted across the open place,
then the other, until we were all over.
The bullets from the French helped
every one to lose no time.
But now we had the protection
Of the railroad embankment ana
ayailing ourselves of this we soon
reached the ruins of Dixmude. Sew
eral streets and especially the market
place iie within the fire zone of the
enemy.
IN this uncanny town dwells UNI
speakabIe fear. Dixmude has been
shot up as no other place in the the
alter Of war In the -furrowed
streets the mud is several feet deep,
and there appears to be not a single
house which has not been hit by a
she'll But of this ! am not sure. Dods-
Ing from one street corner to anoth-
er, to avoid the bullets which seem to
have sort of fountain head at the
end Of each street, you have no time
to make many, or close, observations.
At any rate the ruins form little hills
one has difficulty getting over.
I'VE finally came to the market
place, which is constantly swept by
a hail Of bullets. In a rush we gain
the shelter of the walls of the city
hall on the other side. To one side OF
this are the ruins of ST. Nicholas
recognizable as a church today only
by two walls and a pillar which rear
into the sky like naked giants.
The town Is empty and deserted
But you become aware of a noiseless,
ncanny sort of life in the houses. II
comes from the cellars where our
soldiers are in quarters.
Waste of Ammunition.
I'VE finally met the commandant
Of the place. He had been decorated
with the iron cross. first class and
showed that he was glad to see new
laoes in this place of desolation.
AS he explained the situation to
US bullets hit the walls to the left
and right Of MS. We counted forty
hVe in one minute on the wall of a
building close by. jealousy, by day
and night, this waste of ammunition
goes on.
The only living creatures our men
lgHQQ IN a. lnp a ~
.hfee cats. Three times--four times
pNmude has been the center of
oa'tle But now the large heap OF
runs is In our possession. and with
We have gained a point directly
oh me User canal. which passes close
70 the last houses of the town on the
west
But we intended to get into the
Uenches--the firing line.
Inc road to this lay through
trench approach whose mild and
'ioody history is not likely to find an
eaual even IN this war. OFF we 60
w,oug7 Weil-wrecked houses, tun-
Nels cellars, stable upstairs through
'oNs OF rooms. then down again
a''os narrow street exposed
" 'he fire Of the enemy; through
r'"e houses ana rooms and across
sa'us' ana hnaly into long subter'
.RHean passage from whose ceiling
~ water ran IN streams,
w me distance We finally saw =
NNN very much as one does in com
~ 20 me END Of railroad tunnel
enemy
silence l9nmlnded
p 4fe oauuoned not NJ SPEAK
scam 300 rect AWAY rom o.
i'fRsh # me french fon eonl'
n. s'athne Yefg nlAlnly NllheN
~ p iHla slasses 0mons lh'
'Nl.. numhrr % afelfs.
'A'al.# vino mmNd ahHnl e
|NI .Hs.INf IH l..0H#I.a III