The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-02-23

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y rations, and a hot cup of coffee, restore
5 them quickly; Indifferent to swollen anC
+ blistered feet they set to work under tht
heavy rains, throwing up earth that has
cayed in from the parapets, repairing the
fagot supports, raising the parapets witt
never finch and never sign that Their
courage may have suffered from those
trying tramps through the mud"
} There are parts of the front where il
is possible for the men to carry TO the
frigid trench a primitive foot warmer in
the shape of a stone heated by braiser
at the quarters in the rear; the heat
endures long enough to afford a real com
fort, but, of course, the trench must be
dry For other comforts the men must
wait for their turn to go to the rear.
A head ventures above a parapet and
is greeted with volley OF bullets; the
adversary replies and the fire intensifies
from both sides. All the men at work
drop their picks and shoyels for the rifle
and the fusillade becomes general The
bomb singers join in and generally the
inch guns follow, covering the lines
with fragments OF steel, killing some
men, wounding others, rupturing the
harbed wire entanglements and damaging
the trenches. That is the average in
yentory of day OF the winter campaign
on the French front that the official com.
munique dryly characterize as calm" 1t
/ is going on every day all along the front
with constant wastage of men in killed
and wounded
FD,tr abaIfn an "a, ;obfar hut h..
out question they do more damage than
those of the Germans" said an artillery
officer to the Associated Press. 1--WE
see it every day in bloek-houses torn
to pieces and in ammunition stores blown
up we can't see all the execution our
fire does to the trenches, but we can
gauge pretty well from what we do see.
The principal havoc to the German
trenches and field fertilization is the
work of the six-inch shell. The three
inch she'll is more effective against troops, |
in defense, in pursuit, but not powerful
enough to break through trench forti |
fications. At nightfall after one of those
calm" days of the official commique, the
men creep out through the mud to
stretch more barbed wire where the lines
have been broken, to drive new stakes
where they have been wrenched out by |
shells To drive those piekets into the
ground it is necessary to pound them;
each stroke of the sledge hammer re-
sounds and draws a shot from the op-
posing trench, 20 to 100 yards away; the
shot afterwards becomes a fusillade and
often brings the first and sometimes the
second line into a night attack.
Iax.ataraI he in |
stincts of a trapper," said an officer,
from living so long in close intact with
the enemy they are able by imperceptible ,
signs to detect the stroke in preparation ,
by the adversary, or weakness that it !
is necessary to put to profit without de- {
lay.
The trench is a daily school of brav- (,
cry and heroic patience" said the Off =
.er with no recess, but little vacation '
very four days. "See all that goes on
Dut don't be seem that is the watchword {
Ill along the line; it is unquestionably :
The same on the other side of the wire a
for every rise of ground !
hat gives vantage point Of observation h
5 bitterly contested" The slightest ele
-ation occupied on one side obliges the p
adversary to burrow deeper into the &
arth. At some points the adyersaries 1
ave renowned heights that have cost 4
90 much and have dug in ON the slopes; Il
hey push out little listening or obser- &
alton posts armed with machine guns, =
or the possession or destruction of 4
which all imaginable expedients are en- W
loyed. At certain points the listening
ost is within two yards of the enemy's :
reneh, and in some caes the two adver
aries occupy the same trench separated
nlv bv q barricade of sacks of earth.
he tension there is at the maximum in o.
he incessant guard against a surprise. N
! is in such spots so many soldiers sue a.
lmb or are blinded for life by the hand a.
renade. which. in hands become expert m
v years training have become a more
,rrible engine Of war than ever before. N
The struggle never ceases though it o.
ay not every day give copy for the "
said an officer. IT takes y
. all hitherto known and some hither- %
, unknown methods Each detachment :, E,
axes war in the way in which the lay =,
the ground aud the position Of the =,
oops impose IT, Where barbed wire VI y
mt be used. spiked defenses. called M
ievaux De frise. with sharp pointed q,
axes OF steel sticking up to the height
a man. are rolled over the parapet Of "a.
e trench Where the lines are 80 close ~
tillcry cannot be used against the ad- liz
rsarv. the trench mortar called the 70
"a pouiilot' comes into PLAY. Where the ar
intact j. such that even the mortar
mot b. utilirea. we fan back on the an
nd creuades. q the aerial torpedo. It frp
the torpedo that. according % the evi- "
nee Of prisoners. causes most terror - n.
~ a. most havoc IN the German Pll
inches. IL NAV H. usef II close rance 20