Evening star., 1917-11-04
u Bf FRANK W. GETTY.
of the New York TT
bune and The Warrington star

Il BIZ FRANK W. GETTY.
ksrrespondent Of the New York Tn
hume and The Washington star.
! LONDON, October So.-The "pillbox''
lNas come-and gone. Like the sub
Itnarine, the giant Gotha biplane. the
l$iouid fire and gas and other German
Inventions which were to turn the
itide of battle in Germanys favor.
these much-talked-of concrete forts
lhaye been laid on the shelf-as lar as
iuettling the war is concerned 0ney
iRre not Intellectual but they are not
lssecisive factors.
! The .pillhox." or '.iillar-box-" as tho
German communiQues have it. is O
itectanguIar structure. built generally
~ pilins boxes OF concrete one upon
fhe other, like ohildren's toy blocks
lChey are then allowed TO form into
ieoltd mass of concrete about YARD
:, shick. which affords the gunners IN
side protection against anything ex-
'cspt a direct hit by something over
itaine inches
Occasionally they have roofs OF sim
ifuar thickness More often they are
i{oft open TO the sky. the better to be
locncealed from lowering enemy air
tSlanes.
| In action they brfstIe with nachlne
gums which arc thrust ont through
numerous cracks and loophol -. the
lgunners. safe behind their thick walls
Being able to rake advancing infantry
without exposing themselves. Eacn
ispillbox" holds from forty TO hfty men.
,end becomes a veritable deathtrap y
ik British heavy does not land smell
ion it or q cloud of poison gas sweeps
shat way.
:. We're Hard Nuts for Infantry.
The boches have shown great adapt.
;estil,ty in placing these .,pillboIes.
seSad sowed them In and out among the
little hollows on the western slopes OF
,Sasschendaele ridge. frequently run
Wing up a rim OF concrete around a
iShell crater. leaving the top uncovered
Where they did this, of course. high
Trajectory British barrage quickly made
che position untenable, but such pill
3ead which preceded the British ad-
tSAnces were Difficult: nuts for the in
'SAntry to crack.
Many q decoration has been won In
~ single act Of bravery, have taken n
SSpillbox' which WAS holding UP an ad-
vance.
talked with a To,.'a1y who was later
awarded the u. c. II. ta- d!Sposing Of
one Of these obstacles single-handed.
at was a cinch.' he said, (He was
n Canadian by the way-l My com
ipany was held up hv one "f the infer
!AAl things, which kept shifting bullets
IAN over the ground we had 10 cross. SO
- took a couple of Mills bombs, and
icrawled UP behind a little rise, hardly
ihigher than your hat. with bullets pick
ing up tie dirt all around us. Then.
when got within a dozen yards of the
place rushed il. taking !. chance they
Wouldn't get me- Somehow, l got
through, and Gattened myself right UP
tkaoa n ba try.aI of ha
where the boches inside couldn't get
.tne. / could hear 'ena swearing away in
sthefr hut. knowing was there. but not
being able to hit me. Then Just pulled
the pin out OF one of the bombs, reached
tRround quick and showed her in past
the nose CT one q those little quick
yireTs they rad playing on the boys
The explosion darn near blew the thing
80 pieces. and when we got in by the
irear door every one of those Germans
was 50 far gone they couldn't hoiler
tkamerad- y
Were Deemed Impregnable.
The German higm command institut-
iEirst. the terrific barrase fire which
tthe British guns of all caliber sent
lover before an attack rendered even
Ethe deepest ana most carefully con-
s.rsetesi .r front iias trenches untenabie.
pretense of holding their first limo in
the face oT an attack, anyway. bu, by
iyneans of these 'piHboxeS,' which can
be constructed il! 2 VERY short time
ithey succeeded in establishing a first
Zine OF defense which for a time look
ed imperetTable.
The second and chief reason why the
general STAFF turned It's attention Sc
.Tiously TO these concrete structures
was that Tho mud Of Flanders is no
spiace for trench warfare. Whenever
IA law xt--
Hhefr trench systems 5hey fonnl them
selves Standing in wateE. Troops could
net live Ender such conditions and
something had to be devised above
ground.
II was this same Ieli..;I2e .nl:d. how
erer. which solved the fsta of the Ger
man pillar box, even as it was re-
.sponsible Tor its institution. because
! IN most places the mud was so soft
, and because. Ia many places. water
was only about two and half feet un-
der the surfaoa. foundations for these
concrete structures could only be sunk
| to . depth of about two iret. consc-
quently. whom . British high explosive
shell struck anywhere in tie vicinity
there was imminent possibility OF the
"pillbox" colIapsins like House Of
cards. and few tons Of concrete
coming down on the gunners packed
inside.
When the "p;lIboz'' was Gs.l .iiscay-
e4sO u. Ire herman .i'l~ g. GGten<"
east Of Ypres l had an i:t-rs.-s. with
military authority. Witr informed Iat
that they would be tremendously ''if-
ficUlt to overcome He was frafi.ly :
Iessin1istic over the prospects OF ;,av-
!ns to advance through This new form
uf defensive warfare.
Today that same authority told ne
how the 'pillboxes' I5ad begu con
ouered.
Accurate Gunnery Wins.
You VIII remember that 4; ;i!e ,.gae
the 'pillboxes' first made tacir aa-
Tearance." he said, "1 TOLD sou that
they represented a very serious OBJ
ttacle TO our advance in FlaEG.Es. This
Fcemed so at the time oees use only a
direct hit from a big gun could put
them out of business.