Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-02-27
REGION OF YPRES
hVasT CEMETERY
EYE WITNESS GIVES GRAPHIC Ac-
COUNT OF FIGHTING IN MUD
KNEE DEEP.

near the front line is plowed up with
/ shells and furrowed with the remains
of old trenches and graves. The whole
place is 2 vast cemetery in which our
trenches and those of the enemy wind
in every direction"
This statement is made by the Brit
ish official eyewitness at the front in
description of the recent battles
southeast OF Ypres and of the country
in which the armies are fighting
! I'm sheltered spot" he continues,
there is a little graveyard where some
OF our own dead have heen buried
Their graves have been CAREFUL mark
ed and rough square Of bricks has
been placed around them. In front of
the trenches German bodies stir lie
thick
AT one point of the brick fields re-
Gently some 80 men tried - rush our
\ line. At their head was a young Ger
man officer who came on calamity,
waving his sword. He almost reached
the barbed wire and then fell dead. and
/ he lies there yet, with his sword in his
hand and all his 80 men about him.
1T is the same all along the front in
this quarter. Everywhere etiI, gray
figures may be seen lying, sometimes |
several rows together and sometimes 1
singly or in twos or threes.
This description might served with 1
few minor alterations for many of I
the localities along our front where /
the fighting has ceJ.teTaI around some |
wood. a village, or iiae of trenches. /
1T is as if each had been swept 10y +
a whitening blast before which every
object, whether work of nature or OF .
man, has crumbled into ruins or be
come twisted and desormed, and even
the very ground itself looks as # it /
had been shaken By violent convuI-
sion of nature"
To the south of the Ypres-Comines
canal. the eyewitness" says, the
ground. although there are some in
closures, is comparatively open. To
the north OF it, however, there are
many woods. and these have become
a tangle of fallen trees iuterposed
with shell craters.
To add to the hardships of such
fighting, the troops have been attack
ing on ground in which the men sink
up 20 their knees in mud.
Despite all these drawbacks the
observer. continues, counter attacks
have been carried out with such reso-
luton that in nearly all cases the
original line has been regained. On
the night of Feb. Is, as our troops
We're advancing to drive the enemy out
OF one of these trenches. his guns sud
denly opened a tremendous fire.
Our men were in the open at some
distance from the Germans at the time, ..
and, being thus taken at disadvant-
age their chance of success looked )
small. Without 4 moments hesita- .
ton. however. the attacking line
broke into double quick. and. pound :
ing through the mud. burst into the
German trench.
a counter attack on Feb. II also
was a most dashing piece of work
Trenches occupied by the enemy had
been subjected to such a heavy fire
hat they would not await our onset.
As our men charged forward cheering,
he Germans were observed 70 be leav-
ne the trenches and hurrying 10 the
ear.
In one trench. which became in the
course of the fighting more or less $50
ated. 40 of our men continued to hold
irm until every one of them had been
.ither killed or wounded. Eventually
mere were only three leiI WHO "cItt
apable OF firing. and these three con-
inued to hold the enemy at bay. 4
"In the meantime word was brought II
o those in the rear that their ammu- II
ition was nearly exhausted, and seven II
len. the strongest available, were Sc II
scted TO bring up as much ammuni-
ion as they could carry.
These latter found the three wound
d survivors still standing amid the
odies of their dead and disabled com
AIDES and still firing steadily. The
upport. slender as it was, came in the
lex of time, for at that moment the
ermans launched another assault
.hich, like the previous ones, was
eaten OFF and the position was saved
"Our howitzers did especially good
ork on the trenches captured by the
ermans at one point. Observers :
,uld see one lyddite shell after an
her bursting in the trenches and -
urling the defenders into the air" -
Mount Vernon, ni.-Word was re-
lived today from Trilby. Fla. that
rs. George Shoup of Mount Vernon
Id been burned to death in that city.
he body viii be buried there. Hi
Champaign, 1.-Two thousand bot ",
rs of beer and whisky, confiscated by
e Champaign police in raids on Hill