El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-05-20
InceSsdnt French Fire Pre-
Oents Burying Men Who
Haze Fallen.
TRENCHES ONLY
10 YARDS APART
Many Bodies Hang On
Barbed Wire In Plain
View OF Combatants.
DARIS, FRANCE. May 20-A Rus
- sian who is the guest Of the


NARIS, FRANCE. May ga Rus
- sian who is the guest Of the
= French general staff at the front,
/ sends the following description Of his
| experiences near Eparges. where san
culinary fighting has been going on al
, most necessarily since the middle Of
/ February.
We have reached the front trench,
about 40 yards from the Germans, and
are now looking across no mans
land
4 take off my gas helmet. close my
left eye and peep through the little
round hole at tie view in front. 40
yards away a brown ditch bank, the
. German trench, and in front Of it a
maze Of old iron and barbed wire.
The colonel explains that the Ger
mans here have been forced to retreat
a few yards, leaving a strip OF land for
which they had fought three days and
nights.
Bodies Hang ON BarBed Wire.
"Op the barbed wire, the dead bodies
of four soldiers are hanging, like flies
In q spiders web. Their uniforms are
torn by the bafbs, their faces, there are
no faces left
"AH around. in the barbed wire and
on the ground are hanging or lying the
p
months. four, three, or two months ago.
1t has been impossible to remove any
OF them.
1T is not pleasant to stand thus
month after month facing the bodies
Of your dead comrades. Everything has
been done to have them removed.
Bullets Prevent Recovery.
The colonel first asked the soldiers
to go out and get them. \ young un-
married man Immediately volunteered:
the para phet to signal the enemy. In
stantly q bullet pierced his brain and
he fell back into the trench. dead. An
other man volunteered. and again an
other. Five young men altogether
sacrificed their lives
Then the attempt was given up and
it was decided 10 await the coming OF
darkness About so dead bodies were
thus recovered, but il was impossible to
touch those hanging on the wire be-
cause the slightest touch set the Ger
man system Of alarm bells going.
Just as life in Treuchville, which
is about the size of London. is a pic
ture of the great society Of humanity
subject 10 the same laws and the same
necessities. so Death. too. is carefully
organized. Its servants are first Of all
the stretcher bearers. as rule rather
delicate looking men. pale, near-sighted
and often wearing glasses
Srretcher Bearers Heroes.
AT the beginning Of the war
French writer's looked upon them as a
kind Of strikers, but this is a great
mistake When these men. I'm single
file. go out into the battlefield to
gather up the dead or wounded. they
are far more likely to be killed than
are the soldiers behind the walls Of the
trenches, to say nothing OF their risk
when they have to pick up wounded
in the midst of a hail of shot and
shell during a monster battle and
carry them back to the first aid sta
tons
1--WE visited one of these dressing
stations. a small dugout in the wall OF
a trench, with one exit to the trench.
another to the field behind. Here was
p surgeon with his two assistants. the
most necessary Instruments and a long
pine table While / was talking to
the surgeon a torpedo exploded outside
the door and the windows were broken
The surgeon did not even turn his
head but gave an order to send for the
glazier
American Ambulance Corps Formed.
Behind the front are the aut mo- /
bile ambulauces. many Of which are :
run bv volunteers A number of (
Young Americans have founded a CORPS 4
Of 200 automobile ambUlanCes. l met D.
them one day i'm a small village be-
hind the front They were cheerful
soOrtsmen, who looked upon the war as
am exciting adventure.