Iron County register., 1918-10-03
CHAPTER iV-Ccntinued.

CHAPTER tV-Ccntinued.
8
III the communication trench you
f1ave to keep your distance from the
Imam ahead of you. This Is done so
tthat you viii have plenty Of room to
tall Gown In, and because II shelf
should find the trench, there would be
fewer casualties III an open formation
tJhan In ciuseC!. The German artil.
fiery II kcen On communication
trenches, end whenever they spot one
Shay stay NTH ii long time. Most
ri them nre calnouflagea alorg the top
t,nd sides, So that enemy aviators can
tlot zee anything but the earth or
PUSHES. when they throw an eye down
,f9n our lines.
4 We took over our section Of the
'front.' line trenches from & French line
Regiment that had been on the job for
IA Gays. That was the longest time
z have heard Of any troops remaining
s,n the firing line.
Conditions at the front and ways Of
Fighting are changing all the time. H.
leach eide invents new methods of
Eutchering. so when | try to describe
Fhe Dixmude trenches, you must real
re that st is probably just history by
,now. II they are still using trenches
Ehere they probably look entirely diff
t.erent.
But when I was at Dixmude they
frere something like this:
+ Behind the series Of front-itne
trenches are the reserve trenches. In
khis case five to seven miles away. and
Ftill farther back are the biiiets. These
$nay be honses or barns or ruined
fchurches--any place that can possibly
le used for quhrterng troops when
ptf cuty,
Troops were usually in the front
Pine trenches six TO eight days, and
fourteen to sixteen days IN the reserve
trenches. Then back to the billets for
1six or eight days.
We were not allowed to change our
elothlng In the front.line trenches
siot even to remove socks, unless for
Anspettlon. Nor would they let you
hs much as unbufton your shirt, unless
tshere was an inspection of identif1ca-
Fion disks. We wore q disk at the
1Trist and another around the neck
Eou know the gag about the disks. of
icourse: II your arm Is blown of they
Gan tell who you are by the neck disk
ff your head Is blown of, they do not
care who you are.
In the reserve trenches you car
thake yourself more comfortable, but
fou cannot 60 TO such extreme lengths
OF luxury as changing your clothes en-
Sirely. That Is for billets, where YOU
fpend most Of your time bathing
changing clothes. sleeping and eating
believe me. billet Is great stuff Il
q Ike sort Of temporary heaven.
Or course you know what the word
co"tics" means. Let us hope YOU
fTi'' never know what the cootics
themselves mean. When you get In
pr ntar the trenches. You take a course
fn the nntural history Of bugs. lice
Fats snd every kind Of pest that has
tever been invented.
II Is funny to see some Of the new
f'oners when they first discover q
fcoctle on them. Some Of them CRY
& they really knew what It was solns
70 be Ike they would do worse thar
hat. innybe.
Then they start hunting all over eact
Pther. lust like monkeys. They team
{lp for this purpose. ana many times |,
. IN this way that couple of men &c,
70 he trench partners and come TO be
pais for llfc--which may not he q lonr
fime at that.
In the front-Iinc trenches It Il more
comfortable IA fall asleep on the nara
'et hrs'stfp than In the dugouts. be
cause the coolies are thicker dowr
pe'ow. and they simply will not gtvt
Fou a minutes rest. They certaini,
gre active little pests. We used I,
fnake back 3cratchers out Of certaiv
fHehpons tha' had flexible handles, bu
never hHd time 10 use them when ",
heeded them most.
We were given hotties Of llQui,
which sinelled Hike lysol and were sup
fosed to soak our clothes In Il Il wa
fhousht that the coolies would objec
70 the smell and quit work. We'll
= cootle that could stand our clothe
without the dope on them wUuld 10
% bothered by little thing like TIL
Stu6. AlsO. our clothes got % sou
r hAs,AAA~ -. >sNS.- sknH No. Ass~