Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-04-30
INVISIBLE war
lin Flanders IS
DlSHEARlENING
Except for Ruined Houses
and Shattered frees
Nothing Is Seen.
BY H. Warner Allen.
1Official British Press Representative
With the French Army.)

Somewhere in Flanders, April %
It is no easy matter in the flat plains
of Flanders to reach the advanced
lines. The smallest eminence gives so
wide view that the cnemy's look
outs can, on clear day, spot motor
car many miles away, and the Ger
man gunners are generally ready to
welcome such a target. However,
there is much mist in Flanders, and
under it's cover it is possible to reach
without danger points where, in sun
shine, one would surely have been
bombarded.
There is certain village at an i'm
portant crossroads. Here the visitor
can gather a very fair idea of the
famous Flanders mud. Every cavity
and depression was full Of water thin
l. y frozen over On the day ! visited thu
lines, and one could only marvel at the
magnificent patience and endurance OF
the men who stood for days up to the
knees in what was practically freez-
ing mixture.
Nowhere along the line is war more
invisible than in Flanders. A misty,
grey line of trees, ruined farmhouse,
a stake or two with tangled barbed
wire-that is all there is to show
where the enemy is lying. AS for our
own defences on close inspection they
prove most encouraging. A master
mind has been at work, taking adj
antage of every little hill and depres-
sion in the monotonous plain:
Is there a spot where barbed wire
entanglements can lie concealed from
the enemy's artillery, to prove at the
moment of the assault fatal
obstacle? There you will find neat
rows of stakes intertwined with that
deadly barrier which has done so
much to change the whole system OF
warfare.
Occasionally the bare expanse is
broken by a good-sized wood. In such
flat country the cover given by trees
is invaluable. Indeed, the underground
of a coppice is far more powerful
defense than the strongest wall OF
medieval castle. Such a wood may
hold regiment, brigade, division
"a veritable army, and it's resistance
could only be overcome at terrible
cost.
To the stranger the only gay thing
about the countr yls the wlndmills'
Right up within the zone OF fire they
continue to throw up their arms with
extravaganza gestures W Cic ohiC,
working away steadily at their daily
, task. despite the invader, with true
) Belgian persistence and obstinacy
Water Barriers.
In this land Of bikes and canals per-
} haps the most interesting features are
the formidable barricades which pre-
emit the flood water from reaching the
! sea, and maintain the foundations
which guard the line. They are such
barriers as had elsewhere along the
front been raised to hold back the
Observation-Disclosures of sandbag'
neatly piled one on the other, and II
time of frost, when the tide is low
cocred with an arn,or of ice. Agains
such tremendous obstacles no bonn
bardment can be effective. A luck,
: shell may displace score or two o
sanabags. but they can be replaced
[ without delay and the whole barrier j
I only the stronger.
Some miles behind the firing line
visited hospital built at the cost o
the American wife of q British officer
: Here the men who require immediat
attention are nursed until they ar
Z able to be sent to the base hospitals