Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-11-14
UNITED STATES TRAINING CAMP.
Fart III

4
Fort Sheridan, Ills, Oct. "a.
Dear Mother You have Undoubtedly heard
the term French Warfare" used a great
deal and have wondered Just exactly what II
meant. ! wondered what it meant when camp
opened, but since the past week in the trenches
here at Fort Sheridan. the term has an ertire-
~ different meaning.
FRENCH WARFARE NOT UNDERSTOOD
1t is something entirely different than two
groups of men firing out of two lines of
bitches opposite each other. French warfare
as II is being developed abroad and as it
comes first hand TO us, is indeed a complicated
system and requires work OF many different
sorts, all the way from ordinary digging TO
laying system Of telephones.
Our warfare Of the past week, although
sham, was as real in all its details as is pos
sbe to make it. Some time back we had the
pleasure of digging the trenches. building the
duE-ous and putting up stoves and telephone
ed between the Blues" and the Reds" and
under stress of heavy penalty. every man had
to wear conspicuous red or blue ribbons on
his hat AS the case might be.
TRENCHES APPEAR zIG-ZAG
In general, the system of trenches as they
might appear from airpane. would re-
semble zig-Zag mass of lines. The front line
trench is very zig-zaE, but it has a straight
front every few IT. and this straight piece
Of ditch is called the fire trench, and issup-
posed TO accommodate six The trench
is about five feet wide and six feet deep. with
q parapet eighteen inches higher. To enable
men to fire over this parapet standing shelf
Is left in the bottom Of the trench about two
feet high. The object OF making the trench
and down the trench if any German attack
should be successful and allow the Germans
70 set in the trenches.
1T Is FATAL To PEEP OVER
This front line Of trenches is sometimes Is
near a htty yards from the German trenches
and It is fatal to anyone t. peep over the top
in the dRy time, At night al sentinels are
required to look over the top and expose
,fs 10.
well These front line trenches. about every
thirty Yards. connect. by means Of commune
eating trench. with secc nd line known
the line Of supports, and in turn the second
line connects with q third line which contain
The reserve tre5ps. Fslm this third line there
= system nf long communications trenchcG
guarding the artillery. But the artillery It,
self may De back as sur two three miles
from the irCul line OF the infantry. As a
general rule none of these trenches in any Of
the systcms run Ia straight line more than
thirty yards. As a result this zlg-zag mass OF
bitches IS very confusing to a 3oldier who is
confined below the surface. aud SO at every
crQss-roaG, there Is always sign board.
Besides tine regular trenches ] hF deacfib-
cd above there are short treuche here and
there. running to observation stations. supply
depotg ard the "due-Duts" 'bom3-proofs,'
which the soldiers call home.
wHAT THE 0UG-oUTs MEAN
These "dug-uuts are simply what the u'r
describesa hole ia the ground about 81 e.u
teeL square ana SIX ieet ueeN. with AlD4S dug
out along the sides. Over the top there is "A
roof of heavy logs. and "a shesting of iron.
then sand bags and then dirt. Each dug-out
IS supposed - accommodate thIrty-two men.
and you can imagine how much sleeping can
be done in such a small space small stove
IN the center Is all the furniture which the
home offers. This description may give you a
general idea about the trenches themselves.
As % life in SUCH trenches il Is indeed in
tercsting and is just about as systematic as
necessity has required il 10 be- and when il
comes To real hardship you may understand
that part of Il then / write that in the pres
ent European trenches the actually
live in the front system Of trenches only a
week at n time-each week a new regiment
goes in known as the relief and the other
troops go to the cantonment in the rear TO
rest up two weeks. We were actually in the
trenches for sixty hours, and during that
time / believe our company suffered more ae-
tuai hardship than during the whole period of
the camp far. Three fellows had 20 90 70
the hospital because their ankles had swollen
up they could not walk, ard by the time
we came out there were half the company
with cough.
THE DETAILED EXPERIENCES
/ will try and give you detailed account
Of my experiences from the beginning. We
were ordered to 20 in on wednesday noon.
and II continued to pour all Wednesday morn
ing. but orders are orders, out started
in the rain. almost every man in the com
pany wearing rubber boots and about all the
wooden clothes he owned. We had been ia
sued new olive drab oVercoats two weeks
previous, and when 10 the mouth Of
the "boyo' it seemed shame to start into
those sticky clay trenches with eighteen in
ches Of clay colored water and mud in the
bottom BIZ - went and before had
gone FAR the overcoats were covered with clay
mud and so after that we felt better, at
least more at home with the mud. Our com
pany WAS assigned sector and after wan
dering about in the trenches for half an hour
We found our posts. The platoon | was in
was assigned to the support and We all went
20 the dug-outs and the work began Two
sentinels were posted in each fire trench.
Watcher were sent out and those To observe
were posted went on a detail 20 get rock
els and flares and stove wood.
SPLENDID WORK OF THE !. VI. {. A.
In our dug-aut We found a bulletin board
the Y NJ c. A. had constructed and the sign
greeted Us Hot coffee and sandwichGs serv-
ed by the Y. ~. c. A. at II 30 a. m. IN this
BY the Y. ~. {. A. mail man when he came
the next morning with the mail Again we
saw the work Of the y. Vi. G, A. and ] can
understand how welcome the Y. n. &. 4. sign
must seem to the soldiers in the trenches in
France The sign is circle with triangle
inside
NOVEL MESS AID HOW SERVED
During the afternoon everyone was busy
with some task and at five o'clock mess came.
We took out our dishes and lined up and then
each man proceeded tnaofne trench with the ell
bow rest in the fire trench table and en-
5oyed "a real meal favored with clay. There
was tub Of water back somewhere in which
we could wash dishes but one cared
20 wander about In the mud looking for water
to wash dishes Ia and dried Rrass from Of
the parapet did Just we'll During the night
our support sent out patrols Of four each,
every hour. Then the watchers and obsery-
ers had 70 be relieved and 50 It was not much
sleep for "a.
MUST STAND TO"-FIRsT BATTLE
Just At dusk and dawn everyone has %
stand to-. which simply 20 TO his
assigned place IN the fire trench. The rule Is
tai. p fIsrn
and six a. night, and four and Eve in the
morning. After our first stand TO-, moth
ing exciting occurred except that one Of our
recoiuoitering patrols YRS captured until
about one q. m, when the call stand %,
came and ye went 90 the fire trenches and
witnessed the first battle Our troois. the
''Reis." in the front line, were putting up a
good hght against an attack which the
Blue" had launched. Soon flares illumT al
Cd the slsy like day and rockets went sailing
Horkfr,rod % faef no 90