El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-02-05
FOR TINY MOUND
6FRENCH MAKE
RECKLESS FORAY
Dig Trench Under German
Position, But Forced to
Flee Under Fire.
EVERY INCH ALONG
AISNE FOUGHT FOR

= ONDON, ENG, Feb 5.-H Warner
Allen the official observer with
- the French armies for the British
new spapers sends the following account
of a daring French expedition along
the Aisne river:
The struggle for every point of van
tage between the two lines is a con-
! tinuous and desperate one. Every little
mound and every bit of cover in the
debatable ground between the trenches
is fought for again and again; is won,
lost and won again. In this give and
take fighting the initiative and dash of
the French soldier are invaluable. and
so little are they cast down If the enc
I my succeeds for a moment in occupying
one of these disputed positions that
they set out to recapture it the next
day.
On the banks of the Aisne, Just half
way between the French and the Ger
man positions there is a small mound
or hillock that overlooks the German
lines. One night Is men and nom
commissioned officer crept out Of their
Z trench. crawled through the barbed
wire entanglements. crossed the river.
and quietly installed themselves on the
crest Of the mound. In absolute silence
they set to work to dig themselves in,
and constructed two trenches and a fair
" strong dugout They spent As hours
rim their dangerous position unobserved.
and they admitted later that they were
the longest hours in their lives.
Discovered by Germans.
At last they were discovered, and
big projectiles from a German eight
inch battery began to burst on their
makeshift entertainments. After the
bombardment the French soldiers came
out and peeped over the edge OF their
shattered fench-only to find a new
menace
The Germans, considering that the
French position had by this time been
I cleared. had sent forward 40 men. This
detachment had already reached the
first trench which the French had dug.
and was hard at work repairing the
damage caused by their own shells in
order to use il for themselves When
they had finished work they advanced
towards the second trench. The Franch
hastily scuttled to their dugout, and re-
NAMED there in perfect silence.
The enemys men actually entered the
trench and reconnoitered but concluded
that none Of the Frenchmen were left
in the position, and returned to the first
| trench.
Pass German Position.
The position OF the French soldiers,
coOped up in their dugoUt was anything
but pleasant, and they decided to send
back word TO the French troops behind
them. and a corporal volunteered to
carry the message, and somehow or
other he made his way out Of the
trench, crawled along the river bank
and slipped into the river itself There
with the water up to his waist and not
80 feet below the German position, he
passed across to the French lines. and
delivered his message to the officer
commanding.
The officer. after consideration. de-
cided that the men must try to get back
back across with his message. One by
one. at intervals of two minutes, the 16
Frenchmen crept past the German pO-
siton, and slipped into the river. The
enemy did not discover them until just
as the last man was reaching the
French lines, and then opened a heavy
fire. The whole party regained the
French trenches without losing a man.