The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1917-06-07
RAT WORST Of FOES
French Soldier Tells of Fighting
the Rodents.
Made Desperate by Hunger They Fear
Nothine-Woe to Soldier Who
Falls Asleep With choco-
late In His Pocket.

Paris.-A young Partisan fighting as
a private in the trenches has sent
home letter which might have had
as its title: Rats" He says:
Lord Kitchener once said, speak
ing of the South African war, We had
two dreadful enemies to f1ght-the
flies and the society ladies'. In the
same way our soldiers will say some
day speaking of the present war: We
had two foes to fight-the Germans
and the rats
During the last two weeks the
Germans have apparently been de-
creasing in numbers, but the rats are
certainly increasing. It is horrible
invasion, far worse than the other.
All our trenches, communication
trenches, fields, woods, houses, dug
outs and shelters are full OF them.
Some Of them hold meetings and con-
ferences on the roads during the
night. others give concerts in every
house in the most populous villages
and towns. You literally have to walk
on them. They attack our billets like
the Germans attacked on the User, in
solid masses. On the whole front
there are only two places where they
dare not come-the hills Of Eparges
and Tahure.
They have been made desperate
by hunger and now they are afraid
OF nothing. The other morning l saw
q dispatch rider whose motorcycle
tires had been eaten by the rats. and
many OF US have found that during
the night they have eaten our emer-
gency rations which we keep in our
inside pockets. Woe to the soldier
who falls asleep with a piece of choc-
olate in his trousers pocket. He is
sure to wake up without his chocolate
and almost without his trousers.
Unlike the Germans the rats are
able to invent all kinds Of devilish
ruses. The German soldier Is we'll
trained and well-oiled piece Of ma
chinery, which always runs in exactly
the same groove. He makes war to-
day exactly as he did sixteen months
ago, he is a stupid brute who has only
two kinds of righteousness. The
methods Of the rats are infinite in
their variety and they adapt them
selves to all circumstances OF the
fighting. / shall give one example.
Long ago it was found necessary
to discontinue issuing sugar, cof1ee,
salt and spices direct to the soldiers
individually because the rats looked
upon these articles as most excellent
aperitifs. Then these articles OF food
were put up in small boxes, one for
each company, and we invented all
kinds OF devices to keep them safe,
preferably suspending them from a
wire at least yard above the floor.
Nevertheless, the rats very soon found
a way to get at the sugar. They SIM
ply gnawed a hole in the ceiling, let
themselves slide down the wire to the
box and had it emptied in no time.
I'VE shall get the Germans some
day, for against them we have Father
Joffre. but there Is absolutely nothing
to show that we shall ever get the
best Of the rats, against which we
have nothing but pamphlets. They
have sent us baccilli and poisons of
many different kinds to exterminate
the rats. but these means are about
as efficient as are the rules of inter
national law adopted at The Hague.
They may work all right against rats
In time of peace, but they are abso-
lutely no good against war rats. which
are as big as rabbits and which look
upon scientific prescriptions as mere
scraps Of paper.
"As a matter Of fact we have In
vented better methods OF fighting
them ourselves, but so far they are
still on the whole having it their own
way.
1T is really necessary to have two
kinds of sentries-one to shoot Ger
mans and another to kill rats. and the
latter has by far the worst Job.
I'VE only hope that some day we
shall find that all our rats have run
over to the Germans. 1t would be a
most satisfactory arrangement for
them both, for the Germans who are
hungry could then eat rats and the
rats that are born hungry could eat