Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-11-14
French Proudly Show Lines
of Trenches Taken From
the Germans.
HOW THEY CHARGE
The Barbed- Wire Entangle-
ments Ripped to Pieces
by Heavy Bombardment.

Correspondence of the Associated Press)
CHALONS, France, oct. 30.-"When
we have taken you out before, we
have shown you trenches" said
French officer This time we are
to show you field OF victory-.ines
OF trenches which We took from the
Germans"
Not all the spoil had yet been re-
moved from the section II miles long
and from one to five I'm breadth where,
on September 25 and 26, the French
had broken back the siege line of the
Germans with the concentration of
infantry and the expenditure of a mil
lion shells.
What looked like a man of war
turrct on wheels was being drawn
along the road. This cupola Of riveted
armor was dented by shell fragments
1t had an opening for the swing of
small gun and a door for the exit and
entrance of the crew, which could be
fastened by a bolt and a heavy chain.
Three men were found inside
locked in" said an officer. "The turret
was set in the parapet Of a trench at
an important point of the line. All
the German soldiers in the neghbor-
hood had either been killed or buried
alive. We had to break the lock to
ldht lIlt crew Out. All lnTte were
alive but stunned. They had gone on
firing their gun as long as they
could"
Wires of No Avail.
Freely the correspondent moved be-
tween the Old first lire French and
German trenches, which, for many
months, had been zone of death for
whoever showed himself. In front OF
the first line trench the Germans had
harbed wire entanglements five or six
feet broad. A rabbit could not have
gone through without being caught.
In places now one had to search to
find any wire. It had been chopped
into bits by the burst of shrapnel
bullets from the "soizante quinze"
guns and then kneaded into the earth
by high explosive shells Those guns
had been firing from n range Of any
where from two thousand to five
thousand yards, yet with such ac-
curacy that they could hit this ribbon
Of wire six feet broad On such ac-
curacy depended the success of the in
fantrv in reaching the German
trenches. There must be guns and
shells enough to destroy wire over
front of Is miles. II the Germansfh
the trench with their rifles and ma
chine guns and hand grenades could
go on firing II meant murder for the
Frenchmen exposed in the open as
they charged.
So fifteen or twenty yards beyond
where the wire was being cut, moro
shell fire had to kill the fire from the
German trenches. Some blasts Of
shrapnel bullets here, too, enough to
make any man in the German
trenches want to keep his head down
if he was not buried or eviscerated Dy
high explosive shells. For hundreds
Of varfs in some places there was
scarcely any semblance Of trenches
after the French guns Rad prepared
the way for the French infantry 1t
was as if the trenches had been
dYnaInited Systematically with charges
plotted out checkerboard fashion
At other places where the destruc-
lion had not been so complete it was
possible to see what the German
trenches were like and with what
amazing thouroughness and care they
had been built.
Men Buried Alive.
T. q layman they seemed impreg-
rable Down these slanting shafls
under the parapets were caves twenty
ana thirty feet deep for refuge In a.
bombardment. In many cases the
openings had been closed by the
descent of ton or more of earth
of a large caliber howitZer shell, and
all tho men within were buried alive.
The fate of those who were in the
trench itself WIS often to be buried
in fragments of flesh and bone,
blown into the soil by the explosions.
Tho German guns could not fire NJ
tho arnch infentry as they reached
the barbedwire for fear Of hitting the
Germans in the trenches, and the
French fire stopped for fear Of hittlns
the French. Where an inferno Of cA-
plosiCns had ragged peace reigned Over
the wreckage wrought by French
Eunnery, as the French soldiers
sprang over the remnants of parapets
TO face with bayonets and dagger any
German that had survived and was
In possession Of his senses.
Even those who were" said Il SOL
der "often yielded What wound
you! We swarmed around them. we
summoned those alive out Of their
dugouts. Thus we took our prisoners
That is we took those who were
alive. The dead and the wounded
Nh! Monsieur, they were more
numerous than the prisoners. II was
terrible Monsieur, and 1t all happened
very fast, Monsieur. The blood was
hot We had waited many months
1t Was victory. How good the hongn-
hcugh OF the soiXante quinZe sounded
behind us! How good the scream Of
our big shellsl Then there were the
mines We exploded. Have you seen
the craters? So big you could almost
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