Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-08
STORIES OF THE WAR
Supplying the Army.

In all the villages, numbering be- l tween thirty and forty, captured dur ing the Entente offensive on the Somme, supply columns mingle in what looks like confusion, but this is
 more aparent than real, for every ! thing works with the utmost precision and order.
 So soon as a position has been taken the supply depots move up and ar engagements for feeding the men com posing the first second and third lines are made with extraordinary rapidi- ty. In the combatant lines themselves the movements of the troops are nat
 urally hidden from view. Every man is called upon to dig himself in and in a very few hours even on field of battle such as that extending north and south of the Somme over length of forty miles and a depth of perhaps | ten scarcely a human being can be seen.
 Behind the lines distributed over an area probably fifty miles square are parks of vehicles and provision and ammunition depots. These are all con- 1 nected by dozens of lines of light mar l row-gauge railroads, laid with un- | believable rapidity and intersecting the l fields in every direction. Horses are | tethered in thousands waiting to be attached at any moment to vehicles of l
 any part of the line. Along the roads, most of which have been specially cut even while the shell-fire was still | heavy in order to relieve the main na- i tional routes usually reserved for the heavy motor-lorries and staff motor
 cars, conveys of carts ranging from | the small donkey cart to the large
 supply wagon with a team of four | horses continually move to or from the
 fighting line. Junior officers, many of
 whom in private life occupy high posi- | tionS in business, seem to have adapt 1 ed themselves swiftly to the new life | so different from their regular occu- patton. At every intersection one of them is posted to direct the traffic and 1 they do so with all the efficiency of the memnerS of a city police traffic squad Never during his sojourn with the | French armies has the correspondent of The Associated Press observed any serious congestion.
 | Occasionally a German long-range gun will tear great holes in the roads
 in the endeavor to prevent reinforce ments coming up or the approach o1 ammunition columns. At once large squads of men supposed to be enjoy ing a rest from the rigors of the front line are put to work to fill the gaps | with fresh macadam and huge steam rollers appear from everywhere to leve the surface. Then other men come on
 with tar pails and brushes and coat l the surface to prevent the rising o1 dust as much as possible
 l The houses of the recaptured will !ages, when they are still standing, are largely in ruin but most of them are | repaired and utilized as stables fol horses. Some of the cellars have not suffered from bombardment and ire quently squads of men are bil1etted l there. As a rule, however, the men ir
 the rear of the fighting lines are com peHed to build or excavate their own habitations. Generally they prefer to dig them out of the slopes of the hills and often they are so ingeniously con- | structed that only on near approach can they be seen. Tens of thousands thus live in caves where they sleeI on bundles of straw spread on the ground. During the two years of war they have learned to make themselves very comfortable under these condi- tions so different from those of their ordinary lives. All the men look ir splendid condition, and the army doc tors report a very small percentage o1 sickness among them.
 | Anyone who has lived with the Freench in times of peace at once re-
 marns that the soldiers eaem to have increased both in stature and strength
 during the war. The men of the ma
 tion appear to thrive since they have
 returned almost to primitive condi-
 tions and been deprived of the com forts 10 which they had become accus-
 toned.