The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1916-06-23
Monoiony Of Existence Broken BY
Preparing for Assaults Or
Against ITEM.
RIFLE IS or LITTLE USE
asndbss Or sa Indian Rattts-ax Or
Spiked Club shs estssr wsapSa--
Inventions Fight snlpsra ard
Trfekssy - Many Saved
by Steel cerseta.
By FaEngRack PALMER.

NFE&f = NSA0 y q N+[hAhA Waf - -
where every man was supposed TO
have become Q pawn without Initiative
OF his own. has been developing the
deadiiest form OF sport imagination
can conceive. where every combatant
places his cunning. his strength and
his skill In hand-to-hand fighting
against those of his adversary.
Hardly q day passes that there 10
not q trench raid. No subject 10 more
tabooed In its details by the censor
Commanders do not want to let the
enemy know why their raids succeed
or fall. or why the enemy's succeed
or fail, Invention lights invention; So
crecy fights secrecy.
All the elements OF boxing, wres.
ting. fencing and mob tactics plus
this stealth of the Indian who crept up
IN a camp on the plains, and the team.
work OF u ~ptpfeasionai baseball nina.
are found Of value.
The weapon least needed IL the rice.
A sandbag or an Indian battlesx or
spiked club Ii better. A good siugger
without any weapon at all may take an
adversary's loaded rife away from him
and knock him down aud then kick
him TO death.
The monotony OF trench existence
these days Is broken by preparing for
eatda aud uIalnaA thau battalion nn,u
manders work out schemes OF strategy
which would have won them fame In
smaller vars. Fifty men or O thou.
sand may be engaged In a raid. It may
DO on a front OF ffty yards or q thou,
sand.
Its object Ia 10 take as many prison.
ers and kill and wound az many OF
tho enemy "a you can In a few min
utes: and then 10 get back to your
own trench, II you try TO hold on TO
the piece OF trench you have taken.
the guns are turned on you, the
bombers close up on either side. and
machine guns and rifles are prepared
to sweep the gone OF retirement.
An uncanny curiosity gives the sol.
diers their incentive for tae raids. Or
dinarily they never see their enemy
hidden In hts burrows across No Mans
Land from their own burrows. Unseen
bullets from unseen snipers crack
overhead, Unseen guns suddenly con
centrate In a deluge OF shells,
Grim Monotony Continues.
For months this sort OF thing goes
on, and the trenches OF tho adverse.
ries remain always In the anne place;
grim monotony OF casualties and
watching continues,
This arouses the desire 10 get At"
the enemy which the trench raid sat.
isres. II means that YOU arc going to
spring over your parapet and rush
across No Mans Land into the very
houses OF the enemy, and mentoman
on his doorstep prove whether you are
. better man than he Ia.
~ TO; 60 over the parapot ordinarily
means death. In order TO make any
rush there must be Interference" rs
they a In football. and the barb
wire In front OF the enemy's trench
must be cut This Is usually done by
tho gans. which become more and
more deadly In their ability to turn
accurate sprays OF destruction on CIV
on points, They cover the rush and
they cover the return OF the raiders
with their prisoners,
But the guns are not all, thcre are
all kinds OF organized triekery In or
der to enable a body OF soldiers 10 get
into the %enou,y's trenches for q few
minutes OF activity. when the invaded
throw themselves on their invaders at
such close quarters that 1t is \ Ques'
ton II even a revolver Is now A prac-
ticai weapon.
You cannot throw II over a traverse
and you can a bomb, Running into
a German around the corner OF u
traverse, a blow may DO better than q
shot,
There have hcen trench raids where
every man who went out vas resron'
sihia for a casualty or a prisoner,
while the raiders own loss WAS not
II In ten to the cnemy's, There are
also failures
Success reasires that every detail
should work cut right. The British
ina ,gurated trench raiding. which the
Germans promptly adapted. Where
its development viii end no n darss
~snture to say. One advantage OF any
raid is that those who return ara
bound to bring back soue information
Of value to the intelligS ace corps.
Steel csrse,s Save Lives.
"Scorc one for e~reastplates.~ said
an oaicer who had been doubled over
by a shell fragment which hit him In
the abdomen, Instead OF a flow Of
blood crtnsoning his blouse, all that
was visible through the rent In the
cloth was an abrasion on a steel sur,
face.
Bat for your new corset your aorta
would have been ceened, and YOU