Norwich bulletin., 1916-06-07
Stories of the War
Trench Raids Daily.

Between the British and German |
 modern machine warfare wherein ev- cry man was supposed to have become 1 a pawn without initiative of his own | has been developing perhaps the dead Hest form of sport imagination can 1 eonveive-Where every combatant places his cunning, his strength and his skill in hand-to-hand fighting against those of his adversary.
 Hardly day passes that there is
 rot trench raid by one side or the other, and sometimes several such
 sallfes No subject is more tabooed in
 it's details by the censor. Command CTS do not want to jet the eflemX
 know why their raids succeed or fail or why the enemy's succeed or fail. Invention fights invention; secrecy fights secrecy.
 All the elements Of boxing, wrest-
 ling, fencing and mob tactics plus the stealth of the Indian who crept up
 on a camp on the plains and tEle team
 work of a professional baseball nine are valuable to the player.
 The weapon that is least needed is a rife. A club or a sandbag or al In- dian battle aye or spiked club is better A good sIugger without any weapon at 1 all may take an adversary's loaded rifle away from him and knock him l down and then kick him to death The monotony of trench existence 1 these days is broken by preparing for I commanders work out schemes OF strategy which would have won them fame in smaller wars. Fifty men or a I thousand may he engaged in a raid l It may be on a front of fifty yards or l a thousand. Its object is to take as many prisoners and kill and wound as many of the enemy as possible in a few minutes; and then to get back to their own trench. The asSaulters try to hold on to the piece of trench they have taken. the guns are turned on them, the bomberS close up on either
 side, and machine guns and rifles are
 prepared to sweep the zone of retire ment.
 An uncanny curiosity gives the eoI- dters incentive for the raids. Ordin- arily they never see their enemy E1dd@ den in hds burrows across No Mans
 Land" from their own burrows Un-
 seen bullets from unseen snipers crack
 overhead. Unseen guns suddenly con-
 centrate in a deluge of shells. For
 u1cnths this sort of thing goes on and
 the trenches of the adversaries re-
 main always in the same place. the
 l grim monotony of casualties and watching continues. This arouses the desire to "get at" the enemy whioEs the trench raid satisfies. 1t means spring !, ing over the parapet and rlshfns across "No Mans Land'' into the very houses of the enemy and man to mar on his dor step proving which is a bet , ter fighter
 .t To so over the parapet ordinaril, . means death. In order to make any [ such rush there must be interference 1 as they say in football, and the barb. l wire in front of the enemy's tren6E must be cut. This is usually done b, ] the guns, which become more ant 5 more deadly in their ability to turn : accurate sprays of destruction oI : given points. They cover the rusI r and they cover the return of the raid 5 CTS with their prisoners.
 5 But the guns are not all; there Is al 8 kinds of organized trickery in orde : to enable a body of soldiers to get in q minutes of activity, when the occu a pants throw themselves on their in vaders at such close quarters that 1 : is a; question if even a. revolver is nov . a practical weapon. It cannot b a thrown over a traverse and a bonn t can. Running into a German aroun f the corner of a traverse blow ma, ? be better than a shot.
 : There have been trench raids wher e every man who went out was respon
 sible for a casualty or prisoner Wha }, the raiders own loss might not hay s been one in ten to the enemys. Ther . are also failures. Success require e that every detail should work or n right The British inaugurated Erenc. , ratdang which the Germans prcmptf z adapted. Where it's deveIopment Vi ], end no one dares venture to say. - On advantage of any raid Is Ina - those who return are bound to brtn
 back some information Of value { . the intelligence corps.
 gil Ohacars in the trenches as well a s, officers in other military units, us u uaIiy wear steel corsets as prctec = ton against spent bullets.
 e sfEcors one for the breastplate"y sai il an oflcer who tad been doubled ove
 II a-4. .MeW mAssnm L. A E the abdomen. Instead of flow ( ,- blood eriTnaonina his blouse all the
 Nges vtstple through the rent n t2