Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-10-02
NOTES MANY CHANGES IN "a MONTHSI|
: ALONG ENTIRE FRENCH BATTLE FRONT
ReWsts as Staff Officer the Scenes Where He Fought as Al
Subaten Two Years Before and Finds the Status Exactly
the Reverse of When He Left-AIeS Are the Opposite Of
Germans in Numbers and Efficiency Now

the front lines On a neighboring
road other battalions, also singing.
were returning to well deserved rest
and cleanliness. The outgoing party.
with shining morning faces, clean and
5ronzed, formed a curious contrast
% the mud and dust covered vet
Grams on the home trail Yes, they
IRE all veterans Forty-eight hours
81 such work as one gets today in
he front line makes a well trained
nan into a veteran Besides, these
men have had months Of exactly such
work on Salisbury Plain or Alder
shot Common. The fact that instead
of dummy grehades and blank cart
-idges and lay figures there are real
explosives and genuine Germans
makes little difference. provided cour-
age is present And this quality these
citizen soldiers have in abundance. :
We turn on the road and dive into
maze OF broken trenches. Here and
there we ccme, across occupied dug
outs. They are Royal Engineers on
details OF NAVY battaIions. A squad
of men carrying miscellaneous as
sortment of equipment, looking for all
the world like NShakespeare's delight
full Pistol, Nym and Bardolph, come
staggering along They look like
ghouls OF the battlefield. Actually
they are members of the salvage
corps-for In this war nothing is
wasted Old boots. gas masks, dam
aged rifles. unused hand grenades,
broken belts, even old shell cases, are
gathered up and sent to the great re-
pair shops. Another party is engag-
ed in burying the dead. The sanitary
corps is busy filling up holes and
sprinkling disinfectants.
A few hours ago how different was
the scene upon this very spot? These
deep dug-onts held desperate men,
fighting foot by foot. destroying every
individual they could before Sinking
out through the underground pas
sages to the communication trenches
In their rear. In some cases cayerns
30 and 40 feet deep remained undam-
aged under the terrific shell fire, and
injured men brought UP machine guns
to enfilade or even to fire In the backs
OF the British who had passed over
their first line trenches These stub
born fellows, in groups of 80 or 40.
we're not to be turned out. In several
cases these dugouts were lined with
timber. the shaft fitted with wooden
stairways Of 30 to 40 steps.
Two OF our fellows broke their
necks by falling down this shaft, =
says the engineer officer. explaining
the difficulties of the first great day.
Then we had to smoke out the enc
my. You can see on either side of the
dug-out at the bottom are traverses.
When our fellows got down they could
see nobody. while the enemy just
lobbed grenades over the traverse on
any one who entered. We had to fill a
barrel with explosive and incendiary
powderNWith q short fuse attached We
rolled the barrel down the steps and
bolted You see the result. The wood
work caught fire and the place must
have been q furnace In moment.
Most Of the occupants must have been
burned to q crisp; the rest were suf-
located by the smoke, fumes and heat.
Il was difficult TO count the victims.
but 40 men must have been in there,
unable to get out. as the exit into the
communication trench was blocked by
a shell, and this exit was held by our
men. They must have had a particu-
larly obstinate officer with them. In
such circumstances they generally
came up with their hands up. shouting
skameradi'"
A Transformation
We passed on to what had been a
pretty little village set on hill. When
| was last In these parts had ad-
mired this picturesque spot. 1t was
difficulf to believe stood in the VII
lage street where. under shady trees.
had partaken Of lunch some months
ago. But my map had to be believed.
The cottages were laid flat. The
shade trees were mere stumps. The
hill itself was flattened out. The vii
lage pump had withstood the on
slaught, but only feeble trickle Of
water responded to all ones efforts to
produce a drink.
In every direction the scene Of desc
lation was repeated wilderness OF
dishevelled landscape.