New Britain herald., 1916-02-25
TRENCH WARFARE
 CONSTANT STRAIN
Rain Plays Havoc With Defences
 -ShOVel VieS With Rifle

Correspondence of The Associated Press)
 Paris, Feb. 10.--The second win
 ter campaign along the Franco-Bel-
 glan front has thus far differed little
 from the first, excepting in the greater
 eftlclency that experience has given to
 tactics between the trenches. The two
 armies at close quarters are, as last
 year. like two wrestlers gathering
 their forces, each seeking a solid
 foothold and on the look out for the chance to grip the other by the neck. Most of the activity between the artil- lery positions is with flying machines overhead or with the sappers and miners underground; in the trenches themselves it is largely a matter of vigilance, mud and water, with a fre- quent variation in repairs of defense works after a heavy bombardment. The mud is a more serious problem than at the same season last year on account of the heavy rains. Ditching mas been done on a large scale all along the front, excepting in the dunes Of Flanders where the trenches are mostly above ground--ccmposed of millions of sacks of sand; the water there is too near the surface to make drainage possible. Elsewhere drain age has been effective in dry wathur but the rain ttoys With the genius of the engineer and turns the ditches in to canals.
 The men are we'll armed against cold with sheep-skin coats, mufflers sweaters. boots and are quite com i fortable in the Vosges where the wa ter runs off readily. In the plains of 1 the Woevre, though, where an entire | brigade worked four days to execute | a plan of drainage admirably con- ceived and theoretically perfect that ] was found insufficient during the first ! storm, there is no protection possible | against mud and water.
 Rain Bad As Guns
 The bottoms of trenches are cov- cred with fagots, but in vain; as they disappear in the mud after a storm. week of rain causes as much dam age as a violent bombardment, ac- ,ording to an officer who has seen nearly every sector of the front this winter.
 Tn certain parts of the Woevre Ar eis and Flanders the ground all lround the lines, belabored by shells If all calibres, covered with excava- ions that rain has transformed into miniature lakes, resembles a marsh f interminable length and mile or 0 wide; the communicating trenches themselves, sometimes several miles ,ng, are like cess-pools The men 1 bliged to tramp through them to get , the front line are tired out when ley arrive. One relief detachment ! as a whole night making the four liles from their quarters to the during the passage a num- CT of them left their shoes in the eavy, sticky mud. Men often pre- er to risk the enemys shells and lake their way to their post on the Irface, but even this route is scarce- 7 better in many places on account .. f the pitfalls dug by artillery fire. It
 over such ground that the soldiers aust plod with backs bent under pads of materials required to main ain the invioability of the first line; o other means of transportation is ossib1e.
 'They reach their posts as a rule eady to drop from exhaustion" an
  1e smoking rata as the trench ang has named the rations, and a ot cup of coffee, restore them quickly different to swollen and blistered z set they set to work under the heavy aims, throwing Up earth that has , aved in from the parapets repairing 1e fagot supports, raising the para cts, with never a finch and never gn that their courage may have suf- cred from those trying tramps , trough the mud.' i There are parts of the front where
 is possible for the men to carry to , le frigid trench a primitive foot f armer in the shape of a stone heat Z q by a brasier at the quarters in the f ear; the heat endures long enough to ( ford a real comfort, but, of course, r 1e trench must be dry. For other r onforts the men must wait for their ' oturn to go to the rear. F
 Drop Picks For Rifles. t A head ventures above a parapet t ind is greeted with a volley of bull t it's; the adversary replies and the t re intensifies from both sides All I