The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1917-08-10
''LadieS Road on tn e
Western Front Bloody
as Verdun
NEITHER SIDE WILL YIELD
Pen Picture by Man ut the Front of
Brave Men Fighting TIL
They Drop
BY HENRY WOOD

who know how to fight and die Tht
daily battles now raging along the
Chemin des Danes equal in intensity
and fierceness the historic combats o.
last year at Verdun.
These Chemin des Danes attacks
launched on a restricted front with
all the concentrated resources thai
Germany has left for the purpose OF
retaking an observatory or obliterat-
ing a salient lack none of th edeterm-
nation and desperatness of the Yer
dun assaults.
! No war correspondent or civilian
has ever set foot on Ladies Road
since it was wrested from the Ger
mans by the French. What takes
place there can only be learned from
the survivors who come back after a
weeks defense of the road. The story
of one is the story of all-differing
only in detail and not in kind. The
| following is one of many thousands
Hit Hindenburg Line
"The batallions of chasseurs we
were to relieve had passed an agitat-
ed period that included violent attacks
by the Germans with ensuing influx
and reflux.
ITO reach our front lines we must
cross the first and second lines of the
famous Hindenburg positions all of
which in this locality has been cap
tured by us. Our artillery has COM
pletely demolished every bombproof
and shelter of the original linden
burg line, and for us it is question
of sleeping under the open sky and
glimmering stars.
Our officers go forward to recon-
hotter the ground. AS the officers
talk together a Boche marmite falls.
A lieutenant is killed and another
wounded. A little farther along,
rifle grenade mortally wounds an
other officer.
eve take possession, of our sector
and work hard to render it impregna-
BILE to surprise attack. The Boches
are only so yards away. At $3.50 in
the morning they attack.
Orders to Die There
From oui front line we can see
their infantry. They are so close to
their own barrage that at one moment
they are obliged to fall back to KEEP
from being massacred by their own
shells. eve have orders to die on
the spot before abandoning our line.
A hand-to-hand combat is quickly en-
gagged
into our trenches. We do not have
enough grenades to beat off their at
Jacks.
"But the waves which we drive back
are quickly replaced with fresh troops |
md the hand-to-hand fighting con-
inues. A lieutenant in charge of
section after driving one German as
ult is surrounded by a second. The
lieutenant shoots three German flame
hooters. He finds that the defensive
,renades they are using do not have
range sufficiently long and orders
is men to seize offensive grenades.
he latter are still in their heavy
acking cases. To open them his men
Sc pickaxes at the risk of exploding
he whole case. But they get them
ut and drive the German flame
lrowers back At this point the en-
my has now been thrown back across
lie Chemin des Danes.
Smokes While He Kills
eve find another soldier sitting on
trench with pipe in his mouth
almly shooting down German gre
ade throwers before a single one can
It within reach of him.
Another soldier after valiantly
eating off the Germans from in front
his shell hole only to find that
i'll others are threatening to cut him
from the rear, comes back and in
gnantly asks his lieutenant at what
nge he must fix his rifle in order to
t those pigs there
'At 10 in the morning, we have
e Boches back on the other side of
e Chemin des Danes In the eve
ng we await eagerly the official com
Unique. A line announces that an
ack has been repulsed on the Chem
des DANES. The German COM \
Unique next day makes even brifer