Arizona republican., 1917-11-21
AMERICAN BOYS ARE
 DRY NOW
Republican A, p. Leased Wire1

lRepuDllCdH "A, r. EedScO wire
 WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Nov 20.-The American ar tillery and infantry at the front are dry once more, the rain having ceased for several days.
 The correspondents visiting the im- mediate front through the courtesy of the French staff found that the Amer jeans had taken advantage of the rain less weather and were devoting all their energies to changing, as they put it, Germans into casualties" They are on their toes every minute and are not letting single opportunity slip to drop a shell or to send machine gun and rifle bullets where the enemy is seen, or where he even is suspected of being There is no doubt that the men like the life they are living They are as cool and methodical as if they had been doing nothing else than fighting throughout their lives.
 The fine group in the first line trenches had just sat down to their salmon sandwiches and coffee when they jumped up and cut loose with their automatic rifles at Germans who were discovered hanging out clothes on wire in battered village. They saw the enemy dive for cover like rabbits and then they went on with their meal as if nothing had happened.
 On this particular section of Frances long battle front the earth does not ab- sorb water like a sponge as in some other localities There has been no rain for three days. so the ground is fairly dry. The uniforms of the men show evidences of where mud once had been, but that is all.
 From the first line trenches which are on hill, the German first line can be seen clearly between 800 and 900 yards away There was something in the German first line once which will | never go back to Germany. It is a woolly dog which deserted the enemy, crossed No Mans Land and bounded into an American trench one dark night recently It licked the hand of an American "doughboy' and was prompt | ly fed with a piece of white bread and | handful of Columbia River salmon. He was thereupon adopted and now roams all around the trenches and even !, walks upon the parapet and through | the barbed wire entanglements as if | there were no war.
 This pup" said one of the soldiers, | 'is a naturaliZed American and there | is no hyphen about him. He has en- | tirely forgotten all his Boche connec- | tions. 1 hope he gets a chance to bite | the kaiser.'
 As the correspondents approached | the trench lines over the she'll p;tted ground the enemy started breaking over
 the first line. This firing lasted but l a brief time, stopping as suddenly as 1t began. Immediately afterward came | detonations from the rear and the
 whiz of shells overhead as the Ameri-
 can batteries got into action Then smoke puffs suddenly began appearing over the German trenches. The infan- trymen looked cautiously over No
 Mans Land while the firing was going
 on, but as soon as it was over they | appeared to forget all about it.
 In a nearby dugout the men off duty
 had not even heard the racket. Their | principal worry seemed to be rats. One occupant of the dugout explained that there was sleeping room in it fol | 38 men and that 12 cats were kept 1T l it. Cats were everywhere, some sleep
 ing on folded blankets and some prowl- ing in dark corners or stalking theil prey. The men all appeared to be in thu best of health, although during thu
 wet and cold weather of previous day!
 several men in this unit had contract
 ed trench feet" and cold.
 While the sun was going down be
 hind the hills and the darkness wa
 coming swiftly scarcely a shot wa
 fired Just as the sun passed below tn
 horizon, however, the German batterie
 open up on one of the American bat
 tery positions with a hot fire, the higl
 explosives bursting with the regularit.
 of the clock tick-about one ever,
 second The bombardment lasted
 couple of minutes and then ended ab ruptly. Immediately the Americal
 batteries retaliated, flashes of orange
 colored flame stabbing the night, Tn