Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-06-09
TRENCH RAIDS
CALL FOR REAL
'MANHANDL|NC'
Boxing, Wrestling, Fencing,
and Mob Tactics Brought
Into Play Fist Often Better
Than Gun.
(A-sociated Press correspoadence.l

British Headquarters, France May
20.--hetween The british and German
modern machine warfare wherein
every man was supposed TO haze be-
come a pawn without initiative OF his
own has been developing perhaps the
deadhest form of sport Imagination
can onCeiye-where every combat
ant places his cunning, his strength
and his skill in hand 10 hand fight
ing against those of his adversary.
Hardly a day passes that there is
not a trench raid" by one side or
the other. and sometimes several such
saliies, No subject is more tabooed
in its details by the censor Conn
manders do not want to let the enemy
know why their raids succeed or fail
or why the enemy's succeed or fall
Invention fights invention; secrecy
fights secrecy.
All the elements of boxing, wrest-
ling, fencing and mob tactics plus the
stealth Of the Indian VIII crept up on a
camp on the plains and the teamwork
of a professional baseball nine are
valuable to the player.
Rifle Least Needed.
The weapon that is least needed Is
a rifle A club or a sandbag or an
bbltit tiAN VI NlliNNN tltD - wv
ter. A good slugger without any
weapon at all may take an adversarys
loaded rifle away from him and
knock him down and then kick him
to death.
The monotonH of trench existence
these days is broken by preparing for
raids and against them Battalion
commanders work out schemes OF
strategy which would have won them
fame in smaller wars Fifty men or
a thousand may be engaged In raid.
1t may be on front of fifty yards or
thousand Its object is to take as
many prisoners and Kill and wounc
as many of the enemy as possible IN
a few minutes; and then to get back
to their own trench. The assaulters
try to hold on to the piece of trench
they have taken, the guns are turned
on them, the bombers close up on
either side. and machine guns ana
rifles are prepared to sweep the zone
of retirement
Curiosity Is Incentive.
An uncanny curiosity gives the sol
diers incentive for the raids. Ordi-
narilv they never see their enemy
hidden in his burrows across mo
Mans land from their own burrows.
Unseen bullets from unseen snipers
crack overhead Unseen guns sud
denly concentrate in deluge of
shells. Fer months this sort of thing
goes on and the trenches OF the au-
versaries remain in the same place;
the grim monotony of casualties ana
watching continues. This arouses the
desire TO get at" the enemy which
the trench raid satisfies. 1t means
springing over the parapet aud rush-
ing across NO Mans land into the
very houses of the enemy and man to
man on his door step proving which
is better fighter
To go over the parapet ordinarily
means death. In order to make any
such rush there must be "interfer-
ence.o AS they say in football, and the
barbWire in front of the enemy's
trench must ~ cut This is usually
done bv the guns, which become more
and more deadly in their ability TO
turn accurate sprays of destruction
on given points. They cover the rush
and they cover the return Of the raid
ers with their prisoners.
Blows Better Than Shots.
But the guns are not all; there is
all kinds of organized trickery in Or
der to enable a body of soldiers To get
into the enemys trenches for few
minutes of activity, when the occu-.
pants throw themselves on the in
yaders at such close quarters that II
is a question if even a revolver is now
n practical weapon, II cannot be
thrown over a traverse and bomb
can. Running into a German around
the corner of traverse, blow may
be better than shot.
There have been trench raids where
every man who went out WAS respon-
sible for a casualty or prisoner While
the raiders own loss might not have