Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-03-06

adversary replies and the fire intensi-
fies from both sides All the men at
work drop their picks and shovels for
the rife and the fusillade becomes gen.
eral. The bomb singers join in and
generally the six-inch guns follow, COW
ering the lines with fragments of
steel, killing some men. wounding 9TH
ers, rupturing the barbed wire entan-
clements and damaging the trenches
That is the average inventory Of day
of the winter campaign on the French
front that the official communigue dry
ly characteriZes as calm" It is going
on every day all along the front with
constant wastage of men in killed and
wounded.
Our shells go no straighter, but
without question they do more damage
than those of the Germans" said an
artillery officer to the Associated
Press. I'VE see it every day in block
houses torn to pieces and in ammuni-
ton stores blown up; we can't see all
the execution our fire does to the
trenches, but we can gauge it pretty
well from what we do see
The principal havoc to the German
church and field Notifications 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 Notifications. At nightfall after
communique, the men creep cut
through the mud to stretch more barb
ed wide where the lines have been
broken, to drive new stakes where they
have been wFenched out by shells.
Two of the daily cares are the destruc.
ton and maintenance Of those line. To
drive those pickets into the ground z
is necessary TO pound them; eacn
stroke of the sledge hammer resOunds
and draws shot from the opposing
trench, 20 to 100 yards away the shot
afterwards becomes a fusillade and
often brings the first and sometimes
the second line into night attack.
Our soldiers have developed the in
stincts of a trapper." said an officer,
from living so long in close contact
with the enemy they are able by i'm
perceptible signs to detect the stroke
in preparation by the adversary, or a
weakness that it is necessary 10 put
to profit without delay.
The trench is daily school Of BRAY
cry and heroic patience" added the Of
ficer, with no recess, but little vaca-
lion every four days. See all that
goes on but don't be SEEN that is the
watchword all along the line; it is I'M
questionably the same on the other
side of the wire entangiements, for ev-
cry rise of ground that gives vantage
point Of observation is bitterly con-
tested. The slightest elevation occu-
pied on one side obliges the adversary
to burrow deeper into the earth. At
some points the adversaries have re-
nounced heights that have cost too
much and have dug in on the slopes;
they push out little listening or obser-
walton posts armed with machine guns,
for the possession or destruction of
which all imaginable expedients are
employed. At certain points the listen
ing post is within two yards of the enc
my's trench, and in some cases the
two adVersaries occupy the same
trench separated only by barricade
of sacks of earth. The tension there is
at the maximum in the incessant guard
against a surprise. It is in such spots
SO many soldiers succumb or are blind
ed for life by the hand grenade, which,
in hands become expert by years
training has become a more terrible
engine of war than ever before.
The struggle never ceases though it
may not every day give copy for the
communiQue." said an officer. at takes
on all hitherto known and some hither
to unknown methods. Each detach-
ment makes war in the way in which
the lay of the ground and the position
OF the troops impose it. Where barbed
wire can't be used. spiked defenses.
called 'chevaux de frise,' with sharp
pointed stakes OF steel sticking up to
the height of man, are rolled over the
parapet of the trench. Where the lines
are so close artillery cannot be used
against the adversary. the trench NOR
tar called the 'crapouillot' comes into
play. Where the contact is such that
even the mortar cannot be utilized. We
fall back on the hand grenade. or the
aerial torpedo. II is the torpedo that.
according % the evidence OF prisoners,
causes most terror as well as most
havoc in the German trenches. II may
be used at close range and its explo-
sive force is extraordinary.
All the news all the time-The Argus