The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-11-22

to do is to restrict the depth of their
advance by holding the bulk of his
men and artillery in the rear of his
outlying pOsitiOns-and of withdraw
ing his guns from emplacements near
the front, whenever the allied bonn
bardment reaches crescendo that
forefends an infantry attack.
Thus is revealed the strategy of the
German Great General Staff-to relin-
ouish Belgian and French territory
they overran at the beginning of the
war as slowly as possible, taking the
heaviest toll of the assailants they
can, and not trying to defend for
too long a position they would event.
ually and perhaps unexpectedly lose
and thereby imperil their whole line.
And their object in thus prolonging
operations is 10 give the submarines a
chance to win the war for the army
that failed.
No Mans Land and belt Of terri
tory a couple of miles deep on both
sides of the opposing advanced po-
sitions is always a mass OF shell era
tiers. When the average size OF the
guns was only three inches there were
only shell holes, but today when the
guns run to six, eight, ten and twelve
inches and when innumerable great
new pieces casting projectiles sixteen
and eighteen inches in diameter are
being used, the shell holes have ex-
banded to fair-sized craters, as large
as the yawning holes ripped up by the
average mine exploded.
The German engineers select an
imaginary line and then set to work
to "organize" the shell craters. These
are in such profusion-overlapping in
many cases-that the removal OF
few spadesful of earth makes them
continuous line, so that runners and
liaison officers can get from one point
to another along the front without get
ting out on the open and revealing
themselves to enemy snipers.
Machine guns are placed in the
larger shell holes and each position
is made a reserve depot for hand gren-
AIDES. bombs, Verey lights, ammuni-
ton. gas bombs, flame projectors and
food. There are no underground shell
ters built and the defending troops
are strictly prohibited from undertake
ing any extensive defensive work
which would reveal to aerial observers
and to aerOplane photographers the
exact position of the advanced line.
Just behind this line is the zone
for isolated defenses." These 'isolat-
ed defenses" are the pill boxes"
about which so much has been writ
ten. They are constructed OF con
crete and steel-usually railway ties,
criss-crossed and imbedded in the con-
crete. The pill boxes" are usually set
flush with the ground or at most ele-
waited only a few feet in cases where
the terrain permits their being hidden
by camouflage. In the pill boxes" are
machine guns, sometimes light ueld
guns of the quick firing pattern, and
a garrison of "sturm truppen"-the
picked troops used for bombing and
shock tactics. The zone OF isolated
defense is frequently two or three
miles deep, and it is behind this po-
sition that the Germans establish their
most advanced line of continuous
trenches.
Here. or in the next position to the
rear, is the organization for supports
and relief troops which was formerly
situated just behind the front line
There are spacious underground shell
ters. capable of housing thousands of
men. There are dressing stations for
the wounded, and even hospitals.
There are shell dumps for the ammu-
milton and there are food reservoirs
and water tanks. There are stables
built deep underground for artillery
horses, and there are gun repair shops
TO take care of slightly damaged artil-
lery. Here are the organizations for
asphyxiating gas, for liquid flags
and for the other chemical horrors the
Germans first used and which are now
being used against them.
It is back of this defensive sys-