The Washington herald., 1916-12-10
THE WASHINGTON HERALD SUNDAY DECEMBER TO- 1916

were the remains Of Richebourg and
Neuve Chapelle; before us the German
bastio1 of La Basse, which protects
from capture the great city Of Lille.
It is country OF evil memory. In the
terrible battles fought here during the
first winter IT was often impossible to
save the wounded from drowning and
at one time the floods forced British
AND Germans to Chamber up on their
paranets and until the waters sub
sided a tacit truce was observed, sim
gle shot would have means massacre
for practically all the troops of both
armies in the sector, since retirement
was impossible.
For miles, the hostile positions north of
the La Bassee canal run through this
marsh land, intersected by numerous
drainage bitches constructed by French
peasants who little thought what strange
use foreign soldiers would one day make
of them. The bitches are not used as
trenches, because they are always full Of
water, but piles have been driven down
into the mud. and upon them laid narrow
footpaths of duck-boardin stripes of
wood two inches wide with narrow OPEN
ings between. affording better footing
when covered with mud than planks. In
the dark, It is most difficult to walk
along the paths without slipping into the
water on elIHcT bIuCp dIu 6uSh a pihioS
is distinctly unpleasant, as I found
several times.
Construction of Trenches. ...
These runways are laid on a level with
the surrounding marsh; cover from the
enemy's fire, therefore. must come from
barricades built along the sides Of the
bitches. Millions upon millions OF bags
of sand and dirt are used for the breast
works. The inside wall of the misnamed
trench" is made of wire netting, or
more often wickerwork, to prevent the
bags from bulging inward. Upon such
defenses as these, which stand out in full
view of the enemy, destruction can be
worked at will by artillery whose shells
could do little damage to trenches dug in
the ground, and the life of troops among
the islands is passed in filing bags with
earth and mending broken-down para
pets They console themselves by re-
membering that the lot Of the Germans
opposite them must be even harder, for
the British guns and trench mortars send
several shells or bombs across for each
one that Is returned.
There were some formalities to adjust
at the headquarters of the army when we
arrived, early in the evening, from Arras.
Then we motored with an army stan
major to the headquarters of the brigade
found a guide waiting. Right up to q
famous ruined village, the car took US,
jolting through shell holes over a road
that cannot be used at all by day. Two
German searchlights, mounted on auto
mobiles SO they can rapidly shift their
ground after revealing themselves and
avoid British shells. queried our road.
but did not pick US up. The ctar shells
kept rising and falling along the lines be-
fore US. and to the right and left, for we
were running into a salient. Our stan
major left US at the village, and we walk
ed a half mile along a blackboard bridge
built in a ditch Of the type described un-
til we came to battalion headquarters
which had been warned by telephone to
expect US.
Warned of Discomforts.
Half a dozen officers were sitting about
a table, now covered with maps and pa
pers. which served for meals as well as
work, in a structure of sandbags which