Arizona republican., 1916-12-24

NESTERNFR
 ON THE SUMMIT OF HART l MANNSW Ell. .ERKOPF, Alsace, Dec g, Correspondence of Ahe Associated | Press. Deep in snow the listening i posts of the French and Germans are l within a few yards of each other on the slopes of the Hartmannsweiler- i koDf with the French in possession | of the dominating position. For many months this part of the front l hos been the quietest portion of the line, although the opposing troops are | in such close touch. Sometimes days | | pass without . short being fired. but just on the day when The Associated i ! Press correspondent visited the most ! i advanced line d daring raid was car | ried out by French detachment ! The object was to capture q German | prisoner in order to discover the com ! position of the forces in front of the | 1 French positions. The exploit was | accomplished so well that a party of fifteen prisoners was brought back and not a man of the French detach- | ment was injured.
 The lines of the French and Ger IilStuo Ou lIllo litI6Hb etiA oO liteii 'D- gether that the troops occasionally | engage in a sharp battle with stones iltermingled often with hand grenades, i and these encounters are intersperceG | by short artillery duels which without exception conclude by the silencinS of the German guns.
 The summit of the mountain. in the hands of the French since last January. has been mentioned prob o hlN 1 nftpn 2 of tho line owing to the fierceness of the fight
 ing for it's possession. It is not, how ever. considered of prime importance from strategic point of view, al
 though it's ownership permits the troops in occupation to see all the surrounding country. The effect of holding it is greater for the moral value than from any other consdera- tiOn
 , The correspondent was permitted , to advance even beyond the front Ger mar trench and was able to study at close hand the system of defense in- , troduced to meet conditions quite different from those prevailing at
 those sectors of the line where the , fighting men face each other under = normal condition of modern warfare ! To arrive at the front line on the ' Hartmannsmeilerkopf. a long climb ul, :. sharply winding paths has to be un | dertakcn Mile after mile along the
 edge of steep precipices and slopes 7 sometimes bare and sometimes GOV y cred thickly with pine and frs. bring one at last to the zone where the g armies watch closely each others 5. movements Dotted here and there Q are huts and shacks and battery pos y itions so well hidden that their pres
 ence is not discerniole until pointed r out
 Whom tho dan0ar zona ic rao cbo,l n the character of the scenery changes.
 Much Cf the summit is clear of tree;., which have either felled or shot away. h Tie ground is broken up hy trenches if and rocky hCaps. Scattered about in e sheltered positions are detachments e of troops always on the alert. Some
 portions are exposed to direct fire o from German batteries on other and 7, lower summits of the surrounding II hills.
 e When the correspondent visited the = mountain in the last days of Novem- :, her snow covered the ground to a " depth of nearly q foot. He and his
 companions with guides-the party
 was made as small as possible owing 'e to the risk involved made their way ie cautiously toward the front trench r. From this the German line coult e easil; he distinguished. and stretching t; away for miles on either side could le-l be seen the tops of the posts support ' ing field of barbed wire entangle it ments buried partly in snow. whicl h. in the bright sunshine took on a red Y dish color
 le In spite of the hardships brough aV 7lon. ly the cold and wind in tn Of hills. together with the arduous worl e. of making roads and bringing II 1y supplies over the rocky hillsides man,
 of the officers and men have becom q loo
 that they decline to be relieved an, sent to the rear to enjoy the rar = periods of rest accorded to the fight ing forces
 The men in the front, like thei comrades a; other parts of the iron
 stretching from Switzerland to tn North sea. haze to cOrtent themselve With the shelter afforded by dugout' There they keep warm by means q
 heavy clothing. as there is peril i lighting fires even under cover Tn conformation of the ground, however permits the aproach of supply de tails ana under most circumstances a least one hot meal daily is provided The cold is so piercing that it Ina be"n fOnnd necessary to shorten tn period 7f duty in the open. Even tn hardy inountaineers composing tn troops employed here cannot resis the sharn frosts while standing rigid iy on guard for many hours al tim, The new system of quick relief ha heen found 10 work very well an there is astonislingly little sufrerin and no complaint on the part of tn ' men.
 Further down the hill slopes. i the second and third lines. the me are well housed in comfortable shack
 which they find way of heatin. Here the men agther when thei daily duty of building roads, diggin
 trenches and transporting supple
 is finished. and then contrive to mak themselves quite at home.
 The chaplain with the regimen
 now on duty in the front line. ha
 been on the mountain side and sun
 init four months without once de
 scendirg to the valley. He ha
 started for the benefit of the men
 co-operative store which he has es tablished in a hole in the rock Her
 'H" mon arc able to purchase at co! price almost anything in the way ,
 inner comfort and around it the
 gather to read their newspapers an
 letters and to exchange opinions c
 the news of the day. Close by is
 small open air chapel where u
 chaplin holds a daily service Whe
 fighting is proceeding the chaplai