Mohave County miner., 1917-10-27
MEN SLEEP IN TRENCHES
 WITH BIG GUNS ROARING

Paris.-Dozens of divisions of the
 French army now sleep underground
 in comparative comfort, even in the front lines when the German are hurl- ing tens of thousands of shells on the
 ground above them, thanks to the
 work of the companies of excavators
 formed since the beginning of the
 war. The men chosen to construct
 these shelters, which have preseTv-
 ed so many thousands of lives, are soldiers whose age varies between for
 ty-five and fifty and who would have
 been unfit to take part in the active
 operations of modern battles, where quickness of movement and litheneess of limb are absolute necessities. No matter what the nature of the soil,
 whether hard rock, quicksand, chalk or marshy land, these veterans have overcome all the difficulties and have succeeded in constructing formable bomb-proof shelters all along the lines of the front from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier until at the present moment any fighting unit arriving at almost any part of the line finds hOspitable dug-out awaiting it.
 In some cases a battalion finds ac- commodation in a single shelter, and each man lodged in it is provided with a simple bed consisting of wire-net- ting foundation supported by wooden uprights. On this the soldier lays his regulation bundle of straw and, cov- ering himself with his army blanket and greatcoat, can sleep with freedom from anxiety at to any bombardment in progress outside. The shelters are provided generally with electric light or acetylene lamps, sanitary conven- fences, and, in some cases, with com plete shower-baths.
 First aid posts and dressing sta tions with all modern surgical appli- ances are also to hand, so that the sur geon attached to the unit may attend immediately to any wounded men brought in from the nearby battle field.
 So well are the shelters protected from the view of the enemy that, al though in many instances the under ground lodging covers an area of 5000 square yards, not once in the course of the past year has one of them been destroyed by the enemy's fire. They have many exits, the plan being to provide one for each section or quar- ter company, so that in case one exit should be hit and blocked the men { inside may escape through another opening.
 At the beginning of the war the sol diers actually in the fighting line made their own shelters, which we're just holes dug in the ground and cov- cred with tree trunks and earth and affording very little protection, be- sides taking up much of the time of the soldiers and costing very much labor and money for transporting the necessary timber.
 It was then decided to utilize the older classes of the reserve of the territorial army who had been called to the colors and who, despite their previous military training, had been found unable to bear the strain of campaigning. Several companies of them were formed and they were first given the task of constructing shelters in the Somme district and around Verdun. Their officers were chosen from the engineer corps and from men who in civil life were engaged in sim liar undertakings, such as builders and miners. Most of the men were peasants used to digging in the fields and their work was very satisfactory, but this kind of excavating work was different and they suffered consider ably from the unusual motion of hay