The Detroit times., 1916-05-27
BY HERBERT COREY.

Cspyvtxht. 1915. by Herbert Corey.)
IN THE ARGONNE. May 15.-(By
nail 1--WE must hurry" said the
GENERAL oficer who accompanied u.s.
AT 4 o'clock the guns begin"
We squashed breathlessly through
vet and muddy woods. on paths that
wound painstakingly behind hillocks
md clumps of bushes. Sometimes
IN open glade presented itself.
Then We turned In our tracks and
circumnavigated the opening. The
verb has been carefully chosen.
Walking In the Forest of the Ar
konne closely resembles navigation.
Dne goes by compass and the stars
md fixed points on the horizon.
Underfoot the forest Is loose and
sloppy. The soupy mud spurted
under our boots.
In 10 minutes the civilian men,
bers Of the expedition we're CON-
pletely lost. Sometimes we walked
boldly across wide spaces. Then
we descend into trenches. One road
we encountered was labeled quite
safe. The next road-an equally
wide. equally wet road, running in
the same apparent direction-was
the Germans were able to see
out OF use. BY some legerdemain
stretches OF II. The Smelling Of
these stretches impaired its eff
cheney. We painted loudly behind
the officers. The Russian cores
pondent took OF his cap and per-
spired shamelessly. His head Is
large and very bald.
Down here" said the general Of
hcer.
Fifty years old, this general OFF,
Ger. and as lively as a boy. More
lively than most boys. His eyes
shone and he crinkled his face In
the most friendly way when he
laughed, which was often. His cap
perched jauntily on one aide OF his
head and he switched at weeds with
his cane. A tremendous walker.
this general Officer. He would pause
to tell us a story and We would
thankfully stop and listen to IL.
Then he would be on at full speed.
We splashed after him, our feet
slipping on things that turned in
the mud.
What he called down here" was
the line OF communication trenches.
They were very narrow and at times
very deep. Sometimes they bur-
rowed through the shoulder OF a
hill and sometimes II was 20 feet
to sunlight and sometimes we
stopped as we walked. lest the alert
German see our caps above the bat
Elements. All the trenches were
muddy. When We met soldiers COM
ing out We passed them by a half
turn motion. We climbed up a
Shiny cleft In the hill by putting
our hands on either side. That
climb would have bothered a goat.
II was so steep and slippery.
War From q Box Seat.
Here is the balcony" said the
shall see the fight from here"
We had been invited to watch the
French shell the German trenches.
We do not know that the Smelling
was arranged for our especial bene-
At. We preferred not to ask. All
we knew was that the Smelling would
begin at o'clock. and that IL we
were In our seats we would see IT,.
The balcony" to which the general
officer referred was an artillery OBJ
servation post. We raised cur
tain OF sacking and stepped into a
cell cut I'm the side OF the hill. A
narrow slit ran across IL, and there
was a rough bench and a place on
which TO rest our elbows. The cur
tain behind us was pinned tight
shut. IL Il had been raised some
German watcher might have seen
the light shine through the cell
from the trench behind. Then
The trenches in one angle OF
which we sat ran along the face or
shallow hill Across the valley
was another hill. identical In slope.
Both slopes were bare and brown,
with blackened patches here and
there. Once they had been well
wooded. but the shells had cut down
the trees For the most part they
persisted only as shredded and shat
tered trunks.
No whole tree remained on either
slope. Across the valley was a
heap OF broken stone In which IT
was quite impossible TO recognize
what had been a pretty village be-
fore the Germans came. Under
cut banks" In the bottom OF the
valley men walked. wearing blue
uniforms. They were French sol
diers. Sometimes they came to
open places. where the slope Of the
hill was not broken by any Unequal
ity. Across these places they ran.
The Germans fired a them, down
the hill.
How far are the German trench.
es ?" we asked.
Perhaps 1000 yards" was the
reply.
They were so near that the BIZ
uncuIaro MARA not poaSad wo sat