The Washington herald., 1916-12-04
BIRDS BRAVE SHELL
FIRE T0BEARNEWS
Pigeons Fly Through Aerial Inferno to
Garry Important War Dispatches.
BY JOHN L. BALDERsToN.
Copyright. 1916. b. the Mcclure Newspaper
Y avndif,aAsl

Copyright. 1916. b. the Mcclure Newspaper
General Headquarters British Armies
IN France, Dec. 3.-The 1917 trench viii
be conservative In style. In previous sea-
sons there has been q tendency to 20 to
extremes, but very wide. extremely mar
row or freakishiy angled creations are
no longer IN good. form. according tosthe
best designers Of London and Paris Ber-
French and British colleagues. according
TO the latter who have lately enjoyed
excellent opportunities to study the latest
German thought in this field Of artistic
activity.
It was during an inspection of some
brand new trenches de luxe on the Brit
ish front, In company with the general
who superintended their construction, that
realized how trench modes alter with
the rapidity Of hat and dress styles.
Trench warfare Is little more than two
years old. and both sides continually ex-
pertinent with new ideas.
'aThe sort Of trench we and the gBoches
are now adopting" the general said, as
we watched the German parapet hfty
yards away through our periscopes." Is
the result Of lessons learned on the
Somme. For time early in 1915 a wide
trench was favored, sometimes six feet
aeross, for the sake of convenience and
because rapid movement Is easier when
there Is plenty Of room, and hustling often
wins trenches. Then with the advent Of
the bomb and the trench mortar It was
realized that missiles were only half as
likely to land In a trench three feet across
as in one six feet wide, SO very narrow
trenches came into vogue to reduce
casualties.
Mistakes Revealed.
But Verdun and especially the Somme
bombardments proved this a mistake.
Far more men were killed through being
buried In narrow trenches when big
shells caved them in. than would have
been hit by the bombs and shell frag-
ments that might have penetrated wide
trenches but were kept out Of the mar
row ones. So the new trench 10 a com
promise.
As we proceeded through the first line
the general showed me the new system
of revetting, or building up the sides Of
the trench with sandbags stacked against
posts placed at such an agle that they
can bear the maximum of strain without
giving way. My young oficers," the
general said, come out here not know
Ing much about trenches, and naturally,
they can't always show the menShow to
do things. l got tired Of having to send
for the engineers to make trenches, so
when things were quiet I fenced on q
bit Of old trench. kept the men away,
and made the new officers widen and
revet the trench themselves. taking q
pick and shovel. myself and having my
old regular officers do the same. 1t
didn't take the boys long 10 learn. and
they enjoyed 1t too. The Tomfnies were
amused and chaffed a good deal. but they
worked twice as hard as before for ON
GERS whom they knew had been through
the game themselves and were capable
OF giving intelligent directions"
Best Sector In World.
The general didn't say so himself, but
one of his officers at lunch later told me
that his training school for officers re-
suited in a great parsonage who visited
these trenches remarking, This II the
best sector I have seen in any army"
Among the refinements OF trench lux
ury the general showed me was sub
terranean kitchen twenty feet below the
ground reached by a twisting stairway
leading from asupport trench not hun
dred yards from the first line. Descend
ing, we found a company cook stirring q
huge cauldron OF soup. How the smoke
from the great ovens down there is dis
posed of without drawing fire-well, that
is one Of the generals little secrets. The
value of such a kitchen as this to the
troops in front during a great action
when German barTage fire cuts on com.
munication with the rear is evident. and
it is the first have seen so close to the
tirfng line.
We also crossed a circular tramway,
with little cars pushed along by one man
and laden with food. water, ammunition.
or timber and sandbags for the never
ending work of construction AIf shells
cut one branch Of the line the cars can
take the other and reach the same sup
port trench.
A cage Of pigeons, built into the wall Of
a communication trench beside a bat
talon headquarters. was opened as we
passed, and three birds arose, circled two
or three times, and sped away to the
rear. They are going to corps headquar-
ters," said the general. Every day they
make the trip, and are carried back here
to their cage. No shell fire will prevent
a pigeon from making for his roost 81