The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-03-22
SEEING THE FIGHTING FRONT.
How Tourists Are Conducted On the
Danger Zone.

How parties of distinguished nell
trails" usually Americans, are taken
to the 'front.' was told recently in
Paris cafe which the war CORE
spondents' frequent.
You've no idea how many people,
women as we'll as men. insist on be-
inc taken to the front, said the Oh
ficer who was explaining that it was
his official duty to guide" these par
ties. There are men and women
who come over here and explain that
they have been sewing shirts for SOL
diers or collecting pennies for pollus
for a long time and feel that in order
TO continue carrying on their work
properly they should see war waged
at first hand so that they could de-
scribe it at home, you know.
well, we have several different
nlaces where we take these parties.
One is on the old battlefield of the
Champagne offensive of the fall OF
1915. and more recently we have
used our old first line positions in
the Somme sector. Then up IN the
Vosges we have a spot where the
fighting line today is several miles IN
front of where it once was.
s'As Safe as Chicago"
There are always plenty of troops
behind the lines all along the 'front.'
so that the old trenches never have
the appearance of being deserted.
And they look a little battered, too,
as wo do not bother to repair them
and strengthen them continually as
we do the actual fighting positions.
1--WE take our sight-seers out to a
rail-head behind the lines and Whlrl
them furiously for thirty or forty
miles in army motor cars, and then
stop somewhere, in spot about as
safe as Chicago. There We hand out
gas masks to the ladies and gentle
men, although the former usually re-
fuse to put them on because it dis
arranges their hair, and we have to
promise to warn them when gas
attack is signalled.
eve also hand them all steel he'll
NETS to put on in case shells break
near us.
s'TKen we walk them a good dis
tanee. until they are pretty tired,
explaining that it would be likely to
draw the enemy's fire if the automo-
bile advanced nearer to the front.
In a Real Trench.
FINALLY We lead them into a
trench, making them keep down be-
low the parapet all the time so that
German snipers won't see them and
pick them off. Once in a while we
hand them binoculars and ask them
if they don't see the grey clad Boches
way over there, and they usually
answer that they do. If an aero
plane flies overhead they usually spot
it at once as a Fokker-Taubes they
call them still although all of that
old model have been sent to the Rus
sian front-and when they decide
that it's an enemy machine it would
be discourteous for me to deny it.
let them all hide in dugout or
trench cave until the machine passes.
Sometimes 1 find a few poilus
and get some practice grenades for
them to throw out front, and when
they go off like fire crackers it pro-
duces some effect on the tourists,
who want to know right away if they
are under fire.
The officer was asked if he did not
enjoy acting as guide to tourists,
since there was no real danger in it.
NO." he replied, there's no real
danger in it, but it annoys one ex-
tremely to have to wear a heavy steel
helmet for hours when there is alb
solutely no sense in doing it, and to
have to breathe through a gummy,
acid smelling gas mask when the only
gas anywhere near is the acetylene
used for the automobile lights"