New Britain herald., 1917-06-06
FIGHTING FAILS TO
 WEAR FRENCH OUT
Three Years of War Has Not
 Destroyed Their Spirit

SUAVJVO AAVAA OPAAAt
 French Front, June e.-If the
 morale" of troops may be based on the initiative they display in fear of the enemy. then that of the French soldiers at all points of the front must be regarded as excellent. Three years of the severest kind of war. fare has not jaded them. In fact. the spirit of, attack has. if anything. increased among them. The recruits or the younger classes learn quickly to profit from the experience of their comrades who have become veterans ana past masters in the art of fur nlsning surprises to the enemy, and a1ter their incorporation into tho nsnt1ng units in the trenches, where they rapidly acquire the routine of continual watchfulness, they lose no tame in demonstrating their desire to carry out some act of individual dar. ing.
 Living among them. as the writer has done throughout the great oper- ations of the Somme. in the Argonne, on the Aisne, in Champagne, in Al- sace and around Verdun, ono acquires an unbounded admiration for the un- ceasing activity asd virility of the French soldiers of all branches of the service. Even during the intervals between great attacks and battles. when 1t would be expected they would be only too eager to seek repose and relaxation from the hardships and perils of trench life, there are always to be found daring men among them who voluntarily go out towards the German lines in search Of adventure always with the hope of bringing back some prisoners or disturbing the enemy's plans.
 One outlet for their overhowing ac- tivity Is the organization of trench raids in which only a few men com. pose the attacking force. In these minor affairs. whose effect on the gen. eral situation ct the front is more inn portant than at first would appear, since they harry the enemy and keep him constantly guessing and worry ing as to what may follow, the French soldiers have become experts. and they rarely return to their trenches without some prisoners and some val uable information as to conditions In the opposing lines.
 Tho commander of the army is not consulted as to the carrying out oi these raids. Each colonel of regt- ment has the final word as to whether his men shall take the risk. and the colonels take good care not to dis.
 courage their men from displaying their individuality.
 The problem of overcoming the net. work of barbed wire protecting the front lines of the enemy's position presented difficulties at the beginning of the campaign. but artillery hes nov acquired the mastery of that obstacle and as . consequence the enemy nc longer finds himself in security be' hind 1t. All the French colonel want. to know. when 8 raid is about to bt undertaken, is the hour at which | is intended to start. A few minutel sufiicies to make penetration by reso' lute infantrymen possible. Sudder outbreaks of artillery fire are SO ire. quent that tho enemy often pays nc more attention to them than to re. turn some shells. while the troops manning his front trenches seek shel- ter in their dugout until the shower of steel has stopped.
 The enemy's uncertainty as to what is to happen frequently leads to his 
 his mind that the French guns have decided to cease firing and that 1t ii safe to come out from the shelters again he finds French soldiers leap- ing into the trenches and throwing grenades into the mouths of tho dug outs while calling on their occupants to surrender. Refusal or hesitation means further volley of grenades and almost certain severe injury or death to those inside. Therefore they shout "Kamarade!" throw down their arms and come out to be chased be- fore their captors back through the broken network of barbed wire to tho French lines.
 In one division tho regiments made a speciality of surprise trench raids and acquired almost unbelievable skill in carrying them out almost without loss to themselves. One regiment, In the course of the last month. had to it's credit ten such raids, as a result of which, besides killing many ene- mics. they captured hfty-three Ger man prisoners, without the loss Of . single Frenchman.
 The French and German lines are so close that raid rarely takes more than ten minutes-just the time to race across the open. make the haul of prisoners and race back with them again. Night or day makes no diff ference-the main idea is to go over the top and get back to the French lines with the prisoners after caus- ing as much damage as possible be- fore the Germans have time to throw in endorsements to their front trench.
 ROUNDING UP AIERIDEN ALIENS. T. J. smith surrrised by Large Num- bsr q Aliens.
 Mertdan. June 6.-Deputy Marshal