Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-20

Of the fourth year of the war nnus
the Germans rapidly ma KING ,auiea
along the British battle front III north
ern France and Belgium The continu-
GUS lines of wonderfully constructed
forward trenches. with their deep aug
outs, In which lived and fought great
numbers of men, are fast passing INTO
the discard.
The enemy is adopting the system of
scattering his advance forces over 2
great depth. Cunningly constructed
stronEhoids, among the myriad of
shell-holes along the front. now con-
zeal innumerable small and more or
less isolated garrisons OF men who
along great stretches of picturesque
bitches. through which communication
was not broken for miles
This alteration has been brought
about by the ever-srowinC preponder-
ance of British artillery. which has
buried the German front line trenches
under an avalanche of shells. and has
left the defenses nothing but heaped
burrows of earth and has made the
famous dugouts veritable man-traps in
which countless thousands have lost
Stheir lives without chance of fight
ing back.
The continuous deiuse Of breaking
eteel made repair work on the trenches
Impossible. ana as the Germans were
gradually pushed back they, of neces-
eity were forced to invent another
mode of stemming the ever-adva nclng
tide.
Now Depends on Depth.
So it has come to be depth of defenses
upon which the Germans depend IN
many places rather than the strength
OF his first line trenches The recent
allied offensive east land north of 1pres
disclosed many, examples of this new
scheme of fighting. which bids fair TO
g. he MI of
three years
wherever the German front line
trenches have been made untenable. or
where a British attack is expected,
one finds the new order of things. The
first German lines now often consist of
strong outposts concealed in shell
craters or copses. and considerable
distance apart
: Back of these outposts are chains OF
hell hole nests each nest consisting OF
two or three craters. connected by un-
foreground passages that often lead to
dugouts. AS the entire territory Is
pitted with holes. this is easy of &C
eomplishment and il may be presumed
that the Germans figure it will be hard
for the allied observers to pick out the
defended shell holes from the thou
sands of others scattered about
Where time has allowed the Ger
mans have made the shell hole defenses
with elaborate care. Each nest Is
heavily protected by barbed wire. and
the chambers beneath are reinforced
with timbers and concrete In these
the infantry Turk with machine guns
and rifles. ready to rush out and begin
airing IL an attack is launched against
MEM.
Machine Guns Guard Exits.
MANY of the shell hole nests have
rear exits underground which lead back
TO what is called the first fire line. A
few yards behind the shell hole nests.
and situated half way between them.
are machine gun emplacements Which
command the opening between the
nests. mus. il the attacking troops
force their way through the nests they
are met by a deluge of machine bullets
Dfjn further to the rear is the nrst
IRE line, which may he some sort OF
french or merely a chain of shell holes
e0nnected to form more or less sohd
'front.' Even reserve troops are often
nheltered in the shell holes
The villages which present an easy
mark to the British. artillery are being
avoided by the Germans An illustra-
tion of this was to be seen at LANCE
narck The defenseS about that place
British had battered their way into
IAazemarck thev found very Few
troops defending it.
Back of all this deep front the Ger
mans undoubtedly have continued to
EMPLOY the old system of trenches, but
should the advance of the allies con-
fsnue these in turn will unquestion-
Ably give way to the she'll hole sys-
tenn. The Germans also have taken
advantage of every farmhouse in the
construction of strong concrete re-
doubts for machine guns In many
eases they have constructed steel and
concrete forts. small. but almost i'm
Dervious to artillery fire Numbers of
sfhese strongholds are built entirely I'M
derground, the only exit being through
q steel trap door. by means of which
the Germans come out to set up ma
chine guns. a large number of these
redoubts have been found to the east
and north of Ypres. and the territory
over which the French fought to the
left was mainly defended in this way.
In fnnumerable cases it happened that
the advancing allies swept beyond the
Germans concealed in shell holes or
IN concrete dugouts- Invariably the
British have to put up with shipping
from the rear. but ultimately they ac-
count for every German who has re-
NAMED behind