Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-20
G APE lDR D

The Hun who had gathered us in was n rough looking chap with a. close shaven head He wore his little round
 hat well down on his forehead He
 was not a bad sort of chap. He spoke English fairly well; in fact, he had been a waiter in an English hotel for some time He expressed great SatiS- faction at the thought of going back with US. as he knew that that would mean so many hours of comparative safety for him He asked us if we had , any arms We handed over our clasp knives and told him that was all the { arms we had He said: Your are
 English officers I take your word" ;"
 And so we moved on- The other pris- ! oners had been taken back long before
 this, and as we were alone we escaped
 the official examination and search.
 As We slowly picked our way across ] what had once been our system of de fenSe we were mortified to note the | havoc that had been wrought by the bornbordment- Nowhere did we see a piece of trench that had not been com pleoely obliterated. There were dead 4 everywhere In most cases they were q not lying on the top of the ground. but we could see legs and arms protruding here and there DRgouts that we had thought quite safe had been crushed in ! like cardboard boxes l was glad when we reached what had once been No Mans Land and had left this horrible Fscene behind
 Tn a German Trench.
 About half way up the German front line we entered . new communicating trench. which was being dug feverishly to join up their new trench with the
 old system I had never before been in German trench and l gazed with awe at the wonderful revetting work which was to be seen everywhere The walls Of the front line were built of logs laid one on top of the other. The n--e hays fire steps traVerses, etc. fr1Fv ct fcrIx- though they had been completed before the war began The communication trenches were remarkably deep ani just sS well constructed At short distances the were covered over by logs forming shelters under which men could take cover in case of shell fire Their com munication wires were neatly fast ened to insulators screwed into the log walls and had evidently been put there to stay. In one or two places only did we notice the effect of our own artiI- 1ery fire Even a direct hit seemed to do very little damage to these trenches,
 which were so strongly built
 The whole of the German system of defense at this point was constructed in a wooded section Of country which slOped gently down toward Menin-
 System of Sign Boards.
 When we reached their second line of defense we saw a large SignbOard painted in a peculiar manner which we learned later was to be found at every junction of a communication trench with the second line, and was a guide sn case a man did not know exactly where he was in the system. We found similar signboards painted in different coiors when we reached the third line At these junction points we could see the entrances to large dugouts evident ly full of men and at the mouth of which there was alwas sentry post ed. who acted as traffic control. We were going very slowly on account of our weak condition. but we soon over took one of our own men. who seemed to be making his way along as best he could clutching at the sides of the trench We wanted to stay with him and tzy to help him but our guard would not allow this He was evi- dently thinking of his own skin and wanted to get out of the range of our artillery. which was dropping shells along the communication trench. We met several parties of men going to- ward the front line. evidently to take over the trenches which had been newly dug
 Huns Were Nervous.
 They all seemed in mortal terror of a shell. and whenever one came scream ing overhead they would either flop" in the trench or rush for cover. We had