The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1916-06-08
PAINTS WAR HORROR
Death Stalks Everywhere"
Writes Bernhard KelIermann.
Men Only Parts in Great Machine
All the Time Their Thoughts Are
of Home, but They Do Not
Shrink Duty.

Berlin.-Bernhard Kellermann, well
known German novelist and CORE
spondent of the Berlincr Tageblatt, |
who became seriously i'll while in the |
trenches in France in December, now |
has recovered and is back on the
western front. His first contribution
since his illness is a graphic word
picture Of war conditions now exist |
ing on the western front:
"Along the whole front of hundreds
of kilometers extending from the
North sea to Switzerland the faithful
are in their trenches" he writes.
"They are there day and night and at
this very moment.
up in Flanders the water reaches
to the knees The pumps are working,
but the water does not subside. Des-
pite concrete, beams and sandbags,
the trenches daily collapse and the
sandbags have to be replaced again
and again with much labor. If they
leave the trenches the soldiers have
to wade in water In the Champagne
region the mud is ankle deep, also in
the Argonne. Here, too, the pumps
are working to free the country of
the water.
''In mud and water, behind the sand
bags, the soldier stands with his gun
in the narrow labyrinth of trenches.
Thousands of men are doing this, from
the coast where the wintry sea rolls
on the beach to Switzerland, where
the Alps rise to the sky. Day and
night they stand, a. few feet apart, and
day and night the machine guns spout
and send out their deadly fire. II
damp Enclosures are the reserves,
ready at a moments notice to spring
to their guns and charge if need be.
The water keeps trickling from the
walls of the trenches. There is deep
silence among the men; they are
thinking of home. AS long as they
stand at their guns, in muddy uni
forms and boots, they do not think
but as soon as a few hours resi
comes then they think of home and
family.
Remnants Of burst shells. rain wa
ter, barbed wire and bodies that have
lain out there for weeks. and over
there the enemy's trenches, that is
all the men see That is their entire
world It is always the samoa mo
notony to drive men mad. Thousands
of fine, healthy men who could be do
o ing good work are thus engaged.
Death is doing fine business here.
The rats, too, from wrecked French
villages near by are adding to the
troubles of the men in the trenches.
Added to this is the horrifying shrieKs
and cry of the ravens. The war is
without mercy
"And here death stalks everywhere.
The rife bullets, the shells and the
hand grenades-all do their deadly
work. officers and men all feel the
hand of death upon them. Even in
the tired soldiers seek a rest, in the
woods, in the air or under the earth,
everywhere is death. There is no safe
place here
"This girdle Of death extends
through France, Belgium and Alsace,
and there are particular spots where
' hell breaks loose Now it is at Ypres,
then at Souchez and Vimy, then in the
Champagne region or the Argonne.
Often for days there is a lombard
ment. when thousands of shells come
crashing into our lines with the regu-
lar movements of sledgehammer.
It is then thLt the trenches arc
smashed to dust. We are driven from
our trenches, but the reserves are or
dered forward; they charge in the
deadly fire, and the trenches are again
ours.
This is not a war Of man against
man. The telephone, the automobile
the railway, the big guns-all have
changed the method of warfare. II
is now a war of science and chem
istry, of brains against brains. The
soldier of today is a skilled mechanic
who simply aids in operating the 81
gantic machine of modern warfare.
"a trench is captured, lost and wor
. again. That is all that happens here
and the siege continues.
"The roaring Of the shells is con
slant Even when lying on his bee
of straw the soldier hears them, ant
then the picture Of his home, bis wife
and family quickly fade away
"The siege continues, and the sol
der is at his post, keen, alert, faith
FIJI and true -