Arizona republican., 1916-08-21
[Republican A. p. Leased wirel


 PARIS, Aug. 20 The unexampled conditions of fighting before Verdun have developed new type of soldier called the Couriers of Verdun." They are the men who maintained communi- cation between the troops in the midst of the meles and officers commanding from the rear. The battlefield into which they dart with orders or after information is q desOlated zone where nothing but thick smoke. sometimes black, sometimes white, gives appear anee of life: excepting during the brief time of an infantry attack, it is to all appearances deserted; the sharpest eye discovers no movement of humanity. The earth is everywhere furrowed by freshly stirred earth but no one sees the hand that stirred it.
 Occasionally form is seen going over this desert land something after the manner of a rabbit, bounding into sight out of the herbs and above un- even ground to disappear again; leap ing from obstacle to obstacle, from ditch to ditch. from shell hole to shell hole as it approaches the front line. at times vaulting, atipthers crawling, and sometimes kept motionless for consid- erable periods by showers of projectiles StHl ONtI lIbin lIlt OtiitI Slut bI Lilt line for his personal benefit This is the messenger of modern battle; he was never more needed nor more use ful than at Nerdun and the type will probably bear the name for years to come of the Courier of Nerdun."
 Not a telephone line can resist the ! incessant bombardment that digs up the soil and levels all field work along the whole line in front of this fortress; consequently to assure communications between the front and the rear is a difficult problem. Communications by 1 carrier pigeons are very uncertain and optical signals are insufficient for vari- ! ous reasons. Nothing is certain ex- cepting the man himself. and to trans init information and orders across that beaten field requires something extra ordinary in the way of man. He must ! be an athlete, with good lungs anC above all he must have stout heart
 The courier of Nerdun is unable tC use the communicating trenches where ! he would be out of sight of the enemy ! because that line is crowded always with soldiers going to or from the front l line. with wounded being carried back with men of the commissary depart. ment carrying provisions to the meI on guard That is too slow a route foi the courier of NerduD. he must tak' his chances of being sighted and hit above ground.
 The first formidable obstacle to pas Is the zone that is beaten by drum . fire" where S-inch. 6-inch and 4-incl shells are bursting with formidable ex plosions. sending showers of shrapne over the whole zone. In going througl this ordeal, the courier sees every where the spectacle of death, stumble over corpses. sometimes runs into cloud of poison vapor before he ha crossed it; once through he is within range of the smaller German guns an' the quick firers.
 During the whole distance of mil or two miles, according to the position his nerves are at the highest tension with his mind on the end of his mis sion and at the same time on the ob stacles that are multiplied each instan in his path.
 Some of these couriers get throug untouched, others crawl back to tn starting point, bruised or maimes Some of them never come back to te the story of their heroic effort.
 The couriers of Nerdun maintaine communication from the rear with tn heroic troops under the orders of Com mandant Raynai-a company of On
 Hundred and Forty second Infantr and a machine gun section of the tifty