The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-14
SOLDIERS CALM AS THEY AWAIT
 CHARGE ORDERS
No Excitement as Boys In Trenches Prepare for
 an Attack.

French Front, Nov. 14-Tense ex- sftement, but no furry, reigns along any sector of the French front just before an assault is to be delivered. The men stand to arms cooly as though they were going on to the parade ground. They look to the breaches of their rifles, load their magazines. loosen their bayonets in their scabbards, fix the straps of their steel helmets or tighten their belts Some of them sit down with their backs supported by the side of the trench writing what may be their last message to their relatives while wait ing for the word to Ego over." There is no hesitation when this comes. The men, with every confidence in their leaders, all their nerves and muscles taut, chamber out and spring forward hnd in the recent offensive have al- ways achieved the objective set them by their commanders.
 The Associated Pr ,ss correspondent had an opportunity to be in the midst aration at a certain point of the
 
 Somme at a time when the Allied of- fensive was pushing forward with great vigor.
 Tn the sector visited by The Asso- ciated Press representative the French and German first line trenches are separated by a distance of from 200 to 300 yards. In between are wide barbed wire entanglements, erected at night time after the French had driven the Germans from vil- 1age and wood by surprise. With modern arms the covering of such a distance across open ground by at- tacking infantry would mean a terri ble casualty list. The French, how ever. were determined to advance. To do so they excavated with great rap fdity approach trenches zigzagging forward some fifty to eighty yards, where they were joined up by paral- Tel trench known as the taking off parallel" From this running still further out saps were cut leading to- wards the German lines and these were occupied by listening patrols and armored machine gun emplacements From the bottom of the taking-off parallel steps cut in the earth led up to the level ground. Up these the companies chosen for the assault were to spring on the signal for the de- parture and spread out in open forma- tion, dashing forward in sections to- wards the German works previously almost battered out of existence by the French artillery.
 The sector was not at all healthy when the correspondents visited it. German .aeroplanes cruised about overhead. evidently scenting that something was about to take place. Their activities were not to the liking of the infantrymen below, who, while not impressed by the dangers of artil- lery and machine gun fire. object strongly to the appearance on the scene of these aerial intruders.
 Artillery curtain fire had been start ed by the Germans to prevent the ar rival of French endorsements, but its effect on the French troops was almost nil.
 The French general commanding the division, who had been promoted only recently for brilliant service on the Somme. had spoken with the cor respondents before their departure TUT LuS lXOuI lluc. 1ucy AaQ III. 'vaded his post of command on a par ticularly lively sector of the French line for the time. The general oc- cupies dugout excavated for a Ger man battalion commander, who had remained in possession for the better part of two years. It was dug deep down beneath the earth, nearly six solid yards of which guarded 1t from shell of ordinary calibre and it was fitted up in a style which assured a considerable degree of comfort to its Inmates. This caused the general to excuse himself to the correspondents who. he thought, might draw com parisons with his quarters and those of the soldiers. He said: eff I had had this made for myself it would in all probability have meant my being put on the retired list''
 AS the correspondents left the gen. eral remarked: You may go wher- ever you like, but cannot guaran- tee you immunity from shells or tor pedoes. wish you good luck. See that you come back here and have tea with me-"
 Shells ranging from two-inch pom- poms to the big missiles. from eight inch howitzers fell intermittently all around at the time. A well-kept, wide and deep communication trench with floor of earth in most places trodden hard by thousands of feet led towards the front line some folr thousand yards away. To go through its intricate twistings and twinings meant march of ten miles. The of f1cer appointed as guide, however, de- cided that for some distance at least 1t would be comparatively safe for the party to proceed across the open, as slight haze in the atmosphere hinder ed the Germans seeing distinctly any movements in the French lines.
 This progress, however, did not last long. Shells began to fall with great CT frequency and it was decided to adopt the more prudent course of entering the communication trench. A couple of miles march in Indian file led through a destroyed village con- stantly under fire and breaches in the trench parapet especially in the vicin-