Bisbee daily review., 1917-03-29
GRUESOME SIGHTS
 GREET BRITISH ON
 GERMANS RETREAT
German Front Line In Somme Sector Resembles One Long Open Crumbling Grav e With Dead Everywhere.
(From a Staff Correspondent of the
 Associated Press)

Associated Press)
 BRITISH HEADQUARTERS. In France, via London, March 2S.--Now that the desperate episodes in the i war, known in history as the battles of the Somme, have been definitely ended by the German retreat from Arras to the Aisne, it has been pos sible more leisurely to investigate the conditions which existed along the German front just prior to the back ward swing to the so-called Hinden-
 burg line.
 When the retreat first began more
 than a month ago, the British took over some old Somme positions held
 by the Germans and even the most hurried glimpse of the evacuated
 trenches indicated how untenable they had become and why it was de
 cided to run no risks of another al | lied offensive in this sector. Five miles of slogging along the old Ger man lines in the vicinity of Bapaume today revealed a picture of ghastli- ness which may never be seen again in this or any other war; The front line was a long open dilapitated crumbling grave which disappeared in the mud at times, but could be picked up further on by means of the bodies that marked the way.
 One realized with shudder how the men doomed to live in these trenches had been plagued by their own dead. It had been like passing through fiery rain from hades to bring up food and water to the living So the dead had simply been tossed out of the trenches, only to be blown back again by an exploding she'll Some for there were arms and legs, feet and hands, everywhere.
 Occasionally the grave had been dug in the sides of the trench itself, but the dead could not rest there At ire quent intervals the inevitable skeleton hands and feet protruded from the trench walls.
 Grim sights this war has had for the men who passed up and down these trenches during the long and bitter nights of winter.
 It has been an enthralling thing to stand by the British guns in the last three or four months and wonder what was the meaning of all their continu- ous roar. There was no set battle in progress and the gunners said it was O1a ba sIaf hot tnp t<1 keep Fritz unhappy. The hideous re- velations of the German trenches, however, gives the gruesome answer to what the guns were doing. In some places there were veritable mangled masses of what were once human be- ings. Neither by day nor by night had the Germans rest. Their cluster ed barbed wire, in which they always place such great reliance. had swept completely away over the thousands of yards and they dared not venture out to repair it.
 All trace of communication trenches leading to the front lines were wiped out and it had been necessary to bring up supplies and relief at night over country blown into endless shell holes. many of which were filled to such a depth with water that men were drowned in them. White bits of broad tape could be seen here and there attached to the iron posts These were for the purpose of guiding the men up to the front line.
 These pathways over the fields Of death also were strewn with frag ments of human bodies. Some of the dead had the looks of mummies. One of the fallen soldiers had his right arm thrown over his rifle as if his | last impulse was to protect this wea pon. But there was no defense against | Che constant smelling. Some pieces of 1 metal thrown about by the high ex- plosive shells must have weighed at ! least ten pounds; the result of hitting | man with a ten pound bullet can | easily be imagined.
 At one point in the trenches wasI