Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-03-29

with fragments of steel, killing some men.
%wounding others, rupturing the barbed
wire entanglements and damaging the
trenches. That is the average inventory
of a day Of the winter campaign on the
French front that the official communique
dryly characterizes as calm" 1t is going
on every day all along the front with con-
slant wastage of men in killed and
wounded.
French Shells More Destructive.
"Our shells go no s%traighter, but with
out question they do more damage than
those OF the Germans" said an artillery
officer. 1--WE see 1t every day in block
houses torn to pieces and in ammunition
stores blown up; we can't see all the exc
cution our fire does to the trenches, but
we can gauge 1t pretty we'll from what we
do see."
The principal havoc to the German
trenches and field Qualifications is the
work of the siX-inch she'll. The three-inch
shell is more effective against troops. In
defense, in pursuit. but not powerful
enough to break through trench fortihca-
tons.
AT nightfall after one of those calm
days of the official c~ommunique. the men
creep out through the mud to stretch more
barbed wire where the lines nave been
broken. to drive new stakes where they
have been wrenched out by shells.
Two of the daily cares are the destruc-
ton and maintenance of those lines. To
drive those pickets into the ground It is
necessary to pound them; each stroke of
the sledge hammer resounds and draws a
shot from the opposing trench. % to 100
yards away; the shot afterward becomes a
fusillade and often brings the first, and
sometimes the second. line into a night at
tack.
Soldiers Have Developed Instinct.
'Cur soldiers hovo 6ovQ1opod tho I'm
stincts OF a trapper." said an officer,
from living so long in close contact with
the enemy they are able by impe~ceptible
signs to detect the stroke in preparation
by the adversary, or a weakness that it is
necessary to put to profit without delay.
1.-The trench is a daily school of bravery
and heroic PATIENCE" added the officer,
with no recess, but a little vacation every
four days. See all that goes on. but don't
be SEEM that is the watchword all along
the line: 1t is unquestionably the same on
the other side Of the wire acknowledgements,
for every rise of ground that gives a van
tage point of observation Is bitterly con-
tested"
The slightest elevation occupied on one
side obliges the adversary to burrow deep
er into the earth. At some points the ad-
versailles have renowned heights thai
have cost too much and have dug in on
the slopes: they push out little listening
va OOoSA SAO kO6S0 AAkN ~ ILldClklU0
guns. for the possession or destruction OF
which all imaginable expedients are en-
ployed.
At certain points. the listening post is
within two yards Of the enemy's trench.
and in some cases the two adversarfes &C.
cupy the same trench separated only by q
barricade of sacks of earth. The tension
there is at the maximum in the incessant
guard against a surprise. 1t is in such
spots so many soldiers succumb or are
in hands become expert by a years train
war than ever before.
may not every day give copy for the
on all hitherto known and some hitherto
makes war in the way In which the lay of
impose 1t. Where barbed wire can't be
frise.' with sharp-pointed stakes of steel
rolled over the parapet of the trench.
Where the lines are so close artillery
can not be used against the adversary, the
comes into play. Where the contact ia
! utilized. we fall back on the hand gren-
! ade. or the aerial torpedo. 1t is the tor
| pedo that, according to the evidence OF
prisoners, causes most terror as we'll az
most havoc in the German trenches. II
may be used at close range, and Its ex-
] plosive force is extraordinary"