Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-05-21
CONSTANT MENACE .
OF DEATH PRESENT
No Soldier Knows at What
Moment His Turn May
Come.
DEAD REMAIN UNBURIED
Torn and Mangled Bodies Hang
for Months on Wire En-
tanglements.
DEAD REMAIN UNBURIED

lSpccial Cabi. to The Times pisp atch1
PARIS. May 2O-A Russian. who is
the guest of the French general staff
at tho front. sends me the following
description OF his experiences near
Eparges. where sangninary fighting
has been going on almost necessarily
since the middle OF February:
we have reached the front trench.
about forty yards from the Germans, 4
and are now looking across mo mans
land SD
II take off my gas helmet. close my LETT
eye and peep through the little round
hole at the view in front-forty yards I
trench. and in front Of 1t a maze Of
old iron and barbed wire
Tho colonel explains that the Ger
mans here have been forced to retreat
n few yards. leaving strip OF land
for which they had fought three days
and nights.
"On the barhed wire, the dead bodies
OF four soldiers are hanging. like flies
In spiders web. Their uniforms are
torn by tho barbs. their faces-no.
thcro are faces loft.
"All around. in the barbed wire and
on tho ground are hanging or lying the
bodies Of soldiers who have fallen five
months. four, three or two months ago.
1t has been impossible to remove any
Of them.
NOT PLEASANT TO FACE
ONES FALLEN COMRADES
ut is not pleasant to stand thus
month after month facing the bodies of j
your fallen comrades. Everything has
been done to have them removed
"The colonel first asked the soldiers
to go out and get them. \ young un-
married man Immediately volunteered.
He was given red flag, and mounted
the parapct to signal the enemy. In
stantly bullet pierced his brain, and
he fell back into the trench. dead. An
other man volunteered, and again am
other. Five young men altogether
| sacrificed their lives.
Then the attempt was given up, and
II was decided to await the coming of
darkness About nifty dead bodies
were thus recovered, but 1t was i'm.
possible to touch those hanging on the
wire. because the slightest touch sot
the German system of alarm bells
going. a
Just as life in Trenchvillc, which is
about the size of London, is a picture
OF the great society of humanity, SUBJ
jet to the same laws and the same
necessities. so death, too, is carefully (
organized. It's servants are first Of all
the stretcher bearers, as a rule rather
misunderstanding men, pale, ncarsightedS
and often wearing glasses
AT the beginning OF the war French
writer's looked upon them as a kind Of
shirkcrs, but this is great mistake
When these men in single file so out
into the battle field TO gather up the
dead or wounded, they are far more
| likely to be Killed than are the SOL
dicrs behind the walls Of the trenches,
to say nothing of their risk when they
have to pick UP wounded in the midst
OF a hail of shot and shell during n
monster battle and carry them back to 4
the first-aid stations
I'VE visited one OF these dressing
stations. Il small dusout in the wall of
a trench, with one exit to the trench,
another to the field behind Here was
Il surgeon with his two assistants, the
most necessary instruments and a long :.
pine table. While 1 was talking to the Z
surgeon a torpedo exploded outside the
door. and the windows were broken.
The surgeon did not even turn his
head, but gave an order to send for s
the glaZier
FIVE: O'CLOCK TEAS
NOT FEATURE OF TRENCHES
From the dressing station we reach
The nurses behind the front. English
illustrated papers have printed pic
lures Of pretty nurses drinking tea in