The Cordova daily times., 1917-08-29
IRE NCH LIFE |S MADE MORE
 BEARAbLE
(By Associated Press)

(By Associated Press)
 1 FRENCH FRONT. Aug. 29. - Dog. ems of divisions of the French army now sleep underground in comparative comfort, even in the front lines when the Germans are hurling tens of thou, sands of shells on the ground above them, thanks to the work of the com panies of excavators formed since the beginning of the war. The men chosen to construct these shelters, which have preserved so many thousands of lives, are soldiers whose age varies between forty-fiye and fifty, and who would have been unfit to take part Mn the active operations of modern battles, where quickness of movement and litheness of limb are absolute ne cessities. No matter what the nature of the soil. whether hard rock, quick sand, chalk or marshy land, these vet erans have overcome all the difficul. ties and have succeeded in construct. '''6 AOAAhiuobAS boilb pIOOI SueliCFS all along the line of the front from the North sea to the Swiss frontier. until at the present moment any fight ing unit arriving at almost any part of the line finds a habitable dueout awaiting it.
 The correspondent of the Associated Press has seen and been inside dozens of these subterranean cities - for such they may be termed - at many places, and even where al lthe natural conditions are difficult, has found ibe shelters commodious, we'll drained ard ssest ~svHtnRteu. Tn scnre c.=..s a hatsa talion finds accommodation in a single shelter, and each man lodged in it is provided with a simple bed consisting of wire netting foundation supported by wooden uprights. On this the sol dier lays his regulation bundle of straw and covering himself with his army blanket and greatcoat, can sleep with freedom from anxiety as to any bombardment in progress outside The shelters are provided generally with electric light or acetylene lamps sanitary conveniences, and in some cases with complete shower baths.
 First aid posts and dressing stations with all modern surgical appliances are also to hand, so that the surgeon attached to the unit may attend imme. diately to any wounded men brought in from the nearby battlefield
 So well are the shelters protected from the view of the enemy that, al though in many instances the under ground lodging covers an area of g. 000 square yards, not once in the course of the past year has one of them been destroyed by the enemy's fire. They have many exits. the plan being to provide one for each section or quarter company, so that in case one exit should be hit and blocked the men inside may escape through another opening.
 At the beginning of the war the sol diers actually in the fighting line made their own shelters, which were just holes dug in the ground and GOV cred with tree trunks and earth and affording very little protection, be- sides taking up much of the time of the soldiers and costing very much labor and money for transporting the necessary timber.
 It was then decided to utilize the older classes of the reserve of the ter ritorlal army who had been called to the colors, and who. despite their pre-. vious military training had been found unable to bear the strain of campaign ing. Several companies of them were formed and they were first given the task of constructing shelters in the Somme district and around Verdun. Their officers were chosen from the engineer corps and from men who in civil life were engaged in similar un- dertakings, such as builders and min CTS. Most of the men were peasants, used to digging in the fields, and their work was very satisfactory, but this kind of excavating work was differ ent and they suffered considerably from the unusual motion of having to throw the earth upward, or wheeling 1t in barrows up steep inclines.
 One of the officers overcame this trying difficulty by inventing an ap- paratus for carrying loosened earth or rock to the surface by use of cleo tric power. By this arrangement two men can do the work formerly done by ten. When the earth has reached the surface it falls into barrows and is wheeled away along the level and distributed about in such a manner as not to attract the attention of the enemy's airmen always flying about