Evening star., 1916-06-08
Making the German Mad.

The German is sullen," the Bretons
said. He likes to stay in his bomb
proofs. Only now and then we make
him very angry, and then he comes
boiling out like hornets"
When we reached this particular an
gle of the trench we had passed through
a sa,ly-port into a rude spur that had
been >riven toward the German line
The sai.y-port was in safe angle
Overhead skeleton cylinders wrapped
with barbed wire were SO hung that
pull at cord would drop them length
wise into the trench No man could
possibly pass them, and they could only
have been pulled out after long and
irritating toll Even if the enemy man
aged to get into that trench, he could
not pass these barriers. The spur we
entered had been constructed for pren-
ade throwing purposes. 1t was so shall
low that we walked in it bent in half
moon form. Sides and bottom were slim
perry with the mud resulting from the
never-endlng Argonne rains. Halfway
back was a miry bench cut in the wall.
Then Tosses Something.
Now" said the Breton
Out Of the corner of my eye saw
dimly man on that bench pull back
his right arm and throw something
with a mighty swing toward the Ger
mans. That meant nothing to my hap
py Ignorance. Soldiers everywhere
were engaged on mysterious tasks The
noise of nrIng was continuous Shells
were whistlfng overhead and now and
then breaking somewhere in the neigh
borhood. The trenches had so turned
and twisted that in walking through
them ] had lost all sense of direction
| saw nothing but their dripping walls
Sometimes we splashed knee-deen
through wet tunnels by the aid of our
electric lamps That man down the
trench might have been tossing a loaf
of bread to a comrade. l could not tell
When 1t was my turn to bob up it
seemed to- me. vaguely, that some
thing was happening In the German
trench. cloud of smoke and dirt
a small cloud. the size of an automo-
bile-was rising. AS / watched there
was the sound of explosion on the
German earthwork and another small
| volcano spurted into the air. In sone
manner I soaked In the knowIedee
| that more men behind me in the
trench were throwing things toward
the Germans with high overhead
swing of their right arms. There were
| more explosions and more mud clouds
on the German trench. Rememher
this knowledge was gained in hastv
bobs of a half second durat ton each
Between bobs one hunched along the
1
thought to disconcert the German aim.
| Come on" said the Breton,
Escape From Death.
This time I understood. Maybe II
was because he had seized my arm.
| Maybe It was because 1t had finally
| worked into my consciousness that
these kindly Bretons had hospita bly,
arranged hand grenade fight for
their guests. Perhaps no other civil
ians in this war have been afforded a
first hand sight at the modern use
l.of weapon of the last century We
ran bent over down the spur and
turned into the main trench with a
heavy sigh of relief. Behind us a
series of heavy, thudding detonations
throwing grenades at the Frenchmen
in retaliation for the attack. They were
falling in the trench from which we
had so hurriedly fed:
Was any one hurt?' We asked later
oh, no." was the smiling reply
All our men had gone into the bomb
proofs"
French Tactics Revealed.
So that we caught a glimpse of the
tactics of hand grenade fighting, as
well as OF the ingenuity which has
enabled the French to so indisputa bly,
master the situation in the Argonne
during these spring months. The spur
trench had been thrust almost into
the German line. The greater part Of
1.-THE time 10 was empty. Oncs or twice