The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-03-11
WAR HORROR
Death Stalks Everywhere"
Writes Bernhard KeiIermann.
Men Only Parts in Great Machine
All the Time Their Thoughts Are
Of Home, but They Do Not
Shrink Duty.

bti III DE- ubdIu htlltTDldH1. well
knowL German novelist and CORE
spondent of the BerlinG- Tagehlatt,
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 graphic word
picture of war conditions now exist
ing On the western front:
Along the whole front of hundreds
Of kilometers extending nom 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 md 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, aid
de-. and night the machine guns spout
and fend out their deadly fire. In
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 rest
comes then they think of home and
family.
Remnants of burst shells, rain wa
ter, barbed wire and bodies that hay
lain out there for weeks. and over
there the enemy's trenches, that is
all the men see. That is their entire
world. 1t is always the samoa mo-
notory 10 drive men mad. Thousands
of fine, healthy men who could be do
ing good work are thrs engaged.
Death is doing a fine business here.
The rats, too, from wrecked French
villages near by, are adding t. the
troubles of the men n the trenches.
Added to this is the horrifying shrieks
and cry of the ravens. The wal is
without mercy.
And here death stalks everywhere.
The lille 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
tie tired soldier seek 4 rest, in the
woods, in The air or under The earth,
place here.
This girdle of death extends
through France, Belgium and Alsace,
and there are particular spcts where
hell breaks loose. Now t is at Ypres,
then at Souchez and amy, then in the
Champagne region or the Argonne.
Often for days there is a lombard
Tent, when thousands OF shells come
cfs shing into our lines with the regu-
lar movements of a sledeehammer.
1t is then h.. he trenches are
smashed to dust. We are driven from
u trenches, but the reserves are Or
dered forward; they charge in the
deadly fire, and the trenches are again
ours.
This is not a val of man against
man. The telephone. the automobile,
the railway, the big guns-all have
changed the method of warfare. 1t
is now a war of science and chem
istry. of brains against bruins. The
soldier of today is { skilled mechanic
who simply ads in operating the gi-
gantic machine of modern warfare.
"a trench is captured, lost and won
a,ain. That is all that happens here.
and the siege continues.
The roaring of the shells is con-
slant. Even when lying on his bed
of straw the soldier hears them, and
then the picture of his home, his wife
anG family quickly fade away.
The siege continues. and the SOL
der is at his post. keen, alert, faith
ful and true"