Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1915-01-21
Shepherdstown Jefferson County, Virginia. Thursday January
Digging In" On The Firing Line.

digging In" On The Firing Line.
Lying flat on the ground, alternately
digging with his bayonet blade and SCOOP
ing out the loosened earth with the top
Of his meat can, a soldier hastily makes at
his side shallow trench that extends
from the head TO the knees, placing each
little scoopful, as he digs it, in pile al
his head. Every movement is made with
the utmost caution, for bullets are whiS-
Ting past only few inches above his
head and the raising of any part OF his
body would mean almost certain death.
When this shallow trench is finished the
soldier cautiously rolls into it. Under
this slight cover he then begins TO dig
another and deeper trench at his side,
but one that is long enough this time TO
take his entire body. If he lives to COM
pete the task, he has made what is known
as "lying- down" trench. He has made
a cover that protects him from rifle fire
but not from shrapnel or the flying frag-
mentS OF bursting shells.
This is not an individual instance but
typical case. Ii is one phase ofthe dig
ging-in" process that comprises one OF
the biggest features OF the biggest war
the world has ever known. When COL
umn OF soldiers has advanced until il can
advance no farther, and the men are or
dered to hold their exposed position, they
"digthemselves in" in this fashion. Per-
haps they are compelled TO remain where
they are, fora retreat over exposed ground
is often as dangerous as an advance. AS
soon as night comes, intrenching tools
are brought forward, and the little trenches
made under fire are enlarged, connected,
and deepened until they are continuous,
and furnish cover in which men may
stand and move about safe frCn rifle fire,
but always in danger from shell fire and
shrapnel. In this shelter that the soldier
has dug for himself he may remain for
weeks, or the trench may be abandoned
in few minutes or few hours for an
advance or a retreat. In the face OF mod
ern weapons, infantry troops, fighting
long in the open, simply get themselves
slaughtered, and the first thing an army
does after its preliminary advance has
been stopped is TO dig itself in.
This war is therefore primarily one OF
field intrenchmentS. Much had been
written before the war about held intrench-
ments and their importance in modern
warfare. But a battle line 300 miles long,
extending from the North Sea through
northern France into Alsace, consisting
of practically continuous lines ofintrench-
mentS so securely held that neither side
could make any material advance in weeks,
is thing so big that il had apparently
never been dreamed Of Along this bat
tlefield the country is cut up, not by two
parallel lines OF intrenchmentS alone, but
by numerous trenches, some OF which
have been occupied repeatedly by first
one army and then the other as the for
tune OF battle wavered along the battleline.
There are new and half-finshed trenches,
trenches with shrapnel-proof shelters and
with zig gag excavated approaches from
the rear, abandoned trenches and trenches
that have been wrecked by artillery fire.
So carefully are the trenches and their
occupants concealed that the battlefield
would have, much OF the time, the ap-
pearance of deserted country, if il were
not for the bursting shells and shrapnel.
Back OF the firing line, on both sides OF
the great conflict, men have been busy
for weeks constructing trenches for the
army TO fall back on in case OF retreat.
Since this work is not done under fire,
these trenches are carefully made on Sc
lected ground, often motordrawn plows
being used to break ground for then.
Since men not only fight in The trenches,
but must often eat and sleep in them. the
cave shelters have become one Of the
common features of the intrenchments on
both sides OF the battlefield, and, crude
as they are, they furnish the one home
like touch OF the war. Here are found
dishes, simple cooking utensils, and the
ever-preseut coffee or teapot the latter
being indispensable for the English SOL
der. In spite OF the discomfots and
dangers of the trenches, human nature,
with its philosophy and grim sort ofhu-
NOR, asserts itself. Much ingenuity has
been expended in naming the shelters
scattered along the trenches, and il is not
an uncommon thing TO see crude sign
above one Of the caves bearing some such
name as "Hotel Cecil" "Ritz HOTEL"
"Billet Doux Hotel" or "Rue Dormir."