The Washington times., 1917-02-26
GERMANS DUGOUTS
OFTEN THEIR TOMBS
British, Raiding the Teuton
Trenches in West, Trap Men
in Their Shelters.
BOMBS WRECK REFUGEES
Fourteen Soldiers Of Kaiser
Dead in One Hole at Beau
mont-Hamel.
BOMBS WRECK REFUGEES

WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN
FRANCE, (By MalD, Jan. 1s.-The
dugouts Of the German lines, some
OF which have been marvels of un-
derground construction, are becoming
more and more frequently death traps
or tombs for their hapless occupants.
The trench raids which go on night
ly from one end OF the British lines
to the other are conducted largely
for the purpose of bombing these
subterranean chambers. No estimate
IL possible of the number of the
enemy killed in this manner.
When khaki raiding party
pounces over the parapet OF a Ger
man trench in the dead of night the
FIRST alarm OF their presence sends
the defending soldiers impulsively in
the direction OF their dugouts. Once
inside, however, their doom Is sealed.
Call For Surrender.
There is q call for surrender, q
reasonable wait and then down goes
q bomb, and as many more as may
be necessary to completely wreck
the place and set Il on fire. There
have been cases where dugouts have
Germans have. escaped through these,
but generally speaking the dugouts
stand alone. Crouching in the far re-
cess OF q gallery in one of these the
enemy soldiers very often will not
surrender when the first bomb is
tossed in, but later they are glad
to get out alive. Sometimes they have
to be dug out by their captors-
The story 10 told OF q French Can
adian who was in q mop up" section
OF the raiders one night. Approach
ing q dugout which looked entirely
deserted he stuck his head In the
doorway and called out:
"Anny person down there?"
No response.
'T say, II amy person down there?
Last call for amy person down
there"
Sent In . Grenade.
Again no reply. So the Canadian
tore the safety pin out OF q grenade
and sent It hurtling into the dark.
The echo OF the explosion had not
died away when he heard sepulchral
cries from below: "Kamerad, KAN
erad" Twenty-Five Germans were
later lifted out of the debris at the
0ntra ance 10 InaI cave.
In some Of their recent fighting, as
at Beaumont-Hamel, the British have
had to face two distinct battles, one
overland and one underground. They
have advanced to a point where they
suddenly realize there are almost as
many OF the enemy behind them as in
front Then comes the work of clean
ing out the dugouts. the cellars and
the tunnels. At Beaumont-Hamel these
underground works yielded thousands
Of prisoners.
Found Fourteen Dead.
In one Of the Beaumont-Hamel
duRouts the English found fourteen
Germans dead. Just how they had
died no one knew. 1t may have been
conclusion or asphyxiation. There
was little time for speculation. Their
Identity discs were taken on, to be
sent. ultimately to Berlin, and then
the dugout was filled in and sealed
up-a ready made vault for the men
who had depended upon its shelter.
There Is a well defined opinion in
the British army that dugouts on the
German plan are not conducive to
the best morale Of the men. In fact
many prisoners taken have frankly
said that after two or three weeks
or months in the comfort OF a dugout
they had no stomach for going back
into the trenches. They were only
too glad to get under cover at the
first sign of a bombardment. and
there many OF them were trapped
and surrendered.
The British do not go In very
much for the dugout idea. There are
dugouts for advanced headquarters,
but the men and officers generally
stick to the life Of the trenches.