Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-09-17
ORGANIZATION BACK
OF TRENCHES GOOD
French Military Leaders Said to
Have Done Wonders in
Somme Region. -
ORDER AND SYSTEM PREVAIL
Men Work and Fight With Equal
Cheerfulness, Declares
Correspondent.

Especial Cable to The Times Dispa tch. ]
PARIS. September 1s.--I have just
returned from the battle field Of the
Sommc. impressed beyond words by
the indomitablc courage and strength
OF the French armies. Nowhere has
French army organization reached
such perfection as in fertile Picardy.
Nowhere have seen such scenes of
absolute destruction. These battle
fields present a spectacle of violence
and death which never can be for
gotten.
The German trenches. wonderful
works of military engineering. re-
enforced with steel and cement. with
spacious bombproof shelters under
meath, have been destroyed and blown
into bits in few hours. although il
took more than twenty months to
mako them. The white soil into
which they were dug has been pull
verified to the hncness OF table salt
by tho, merciless bombardment OF the
wonderful French guns. Under an
avalanche OF metal and high explo-
sivcs, those trenches ceased to be
works Of defense and became prisons.
tombs from which no human being
emerged alive
And stilI the ruined villages whore
hardly one brick IS left on top Of AN
other and the nattencd trenches were
not the things that impressed me most
on theae battle fields. What struck
mos, and what even al this mo-
ment seems absolutely incredible to
me is the friEhtful ordeal TO which tho
entire bombarded zone has been sub
mitted by the French batteries, for
there Is not single square yard OF
ground which has escaped the shells.
Leaving the German hrstline
trenches behind us, went for
three miles. through Dompierre and
Becqu!ncour,. Everywhere we found
shell holes. thousands of them. far
"a your cy. could sec. and never more
than orc or TWO yards apart. The sur
face of tho ground looked as II IL had
been torn UP by the claws of some
gigantic monster.
GERMANS GO MAD
UNDER BOMBARDMENT
For three miles we went on, and in
front Of as the ground still presented
the same appearance. One shuddcred
To think that this wide belt of de-
structlon stretched north and south for
many miles, and that everywhere
human beings by the thousand had
been budding together below the sur
face awaiting death or what was
worsc--madncss. for ! told that
hundreds OF poor German wrctchcs
went mad under the bombardmcnt, and
in many cases killed their officers.
Surely there is no sight in the world
10 compare with this. But these spien-
did results which have given France
certainty of victory, have not beer
accomplished by a miracle When you
have visited. as ] was permitted TO do
not only the actual battle fields, but
also the zones behind. where YOU ind
the complicated organization which n
modern fighting army requires. then
your establishment ceases and gives
way to admiration
Here behind the line I found the
roots OF the forces which have dis
emboweled the soil and disintegrated
the villages of the Somme. II was here
found the key to the wonders | had
seen. The battle field itself speaks TO
your senses. but the organization in
the rear Of II speaks TO your mind.
The organization OF the lines behind
the fighters in the Somme is master
piece of intelligence. OF logic, of call
culation, foresight and coordination
The French people we'll may be proud
of the work of preparation and organ
ization which their military leaders
have performed in the Somne. Enor-
nous quantities OF war material which
had been accumulated before the bat
ties In the Picardy still continue TO flow
into the hghting zone a gigantic
torrent by rail. by motor car and old
fashioned horse truck.
FRENCH ARMY AVIATORS
ACCOMPLISH WONDERS
The wonderful perfection of the
French flying camps. the daring OF
these incomparab bic birdmcn who fly
wherever they want to over the Ger
man lines. while not one enemy flyer
darcs cross the French, who SOW death
and destruction. who accompany the
infantry when 1t attacks and who act
as the eyes of the thousands of French
guns of every calibcr from the elegant
"seventy-fives" to the monster how
tiers that require special railroads
built for them, are superb.
Tha INN sci Onf Pry her