New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-21
(Special Correspondence OF tn
New York Tribune and Phttd-
%elphia Evening Ledger

%elphiq Evening Ledger
fcopvr,rht 1917. All rights reserved)
PARIS, Oct. lathe other day upon
the French front l was permitted by
nv officer escort to follow close upon
the heels of "les nettoyers des tran
chees," whose grim business is ver-
table cleanup; to smother a bonn
barded Boche position after an advance
with hand grenades, that any Boone
still on the premises, to put it mildly
be definitely placed hors de combat
For Won can no more trust living
Boche coming out from an aori than
YOU could rattlesnake in the open
not as much, perhaps, because rattle
snakes give warning, and many sur
rendered Boche has elected to die in
treachery, as the record shows.
The trench and abris in question had
been subjected to intense bombardmen'
with others on wider front. IL was
miraculous to expect finding any able
bodied living enemy within them. But
the miracle was there, for just as the
first trench-cleaning grenade had been
thrown two figures stood up at the far
end, holding high their hands and cry
ing "Kamarade!"
They were strangely different both IN
tvpe and through contrast. One was
second lieutenant. about twenty-eight,
and the other a private, about forty
FIVE: The younger was blue-eyed'
beardless. With something Of rose under
his dirty cheeks. He stood soiidly upon
his pins, his blond head bare. HIS
uniform was covered with mud and ne
was trembling slightly, the sweat thick
about his eyes as he leaned forward
with hands high.
Resistance Meant Death
His comrade was the extreme re-
verse. Tall, thin and sallow, with
sunken cheeks hardly covered by a
scrarely reddish-gray beard, he, never
tbeless. breathed something Of force
and something, too, Of only surrender
ing because there was no otner way
of saving his hide, of realization tnat
resistance meant instant death.
Tied TO his shoulders by cords under
tho arnpits was a shallow oblong bas-
ket such as are carried through the
Nord or the Ardennes by French peas
ar+s Az trench cleaning pollu
reached the prisoner, knife on high' ne
rinped the bagging cover from the
basket and three carrier pigeons new
out. disappearing in the gray. Inc
bearded Boche did not speak, and after
searching was sent to the rear.
His officer commander had trencn, a
rrencb full of errors, but understand.
able. And, contrary TO the general
rnie, he was willing to talk.
Az he walked back between my ofhcer
escort and myself. he said:
~ am Bavarian; the l02d Grenadiers.
Nv man and myself are all that IS left
ri nv company. surrender with good
grace. not because / am tired OF war
hut because | want to live. We had
hell in the abri and more before get
ting into it with your artillery nre;
never saw anything like 1t, and /
never want TO again.
1--WE are through, as far as concerns
making real offensives. That does not
mean we won't fight still. and fight
hard. But II will be a defensive fight
ing. a war Of resistance, for which we
are preparing all along the line. Our
cbiefs have outlined it. The tunnel m
that abri is one Of many all along the
front. We are through massing forces
In attack or even strong counter attack.
Our game is to resist, to be driven only