Evening star., 1918-02-07
BY THOMAS NJ. JOHNSON.
Copyright, 1918. All rights reserved.

l
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE. January 7.-On that day that
every one here hopes for. when the Ger
mans give way before an American at
tack and American troops enter German
trenches TO stay or, perhaps, to go even
farther. the danger will not be over once
, the attack is a success. The enemy we
are fighting possesses such ingenuity.
such diabolical ingenuity that. when he
has the time beforehand to do 1t. he soNs
the trenches and dugouts he is about to
leave with man traps Of all kinds.
Every American soldier who enters a
German trench or explores German dug
out will do so in momentary danger Of
being blown to pieces.
II matters nothing to the enemy that
this sort Of thing is treacherous and
peIfidious. With the submarines and the
Zeppelins, II is part and parcel OF his
method OF making war and is simply an
other reason why we are fighting him.
Civilization thought it had got away from
these things. but civilization did not
reckon with the Germans. Now. civilza-
tion must do what it can to defend itself
from such assassin tactics.
Germans Great Retreat.
Germans made their great retreat after
the battle Of the Sonme. British and
French troops. pressing after the retiring
enemy, found that evey evacuated village
was a death trap. Wherever they could
the Germans had planted concealed mines
and bombs, exploded when some unwary
soldier tripped over wire or perhaps
moved an innocent looking piece OF tim
ber. a favorite trick was to leave one
of the spiked German helmets that every
soldier
apparently innocently on the ground and
underneath a detonating device for
mine that would blow to atoms the soldier
who picked it up and any others who
happened to be about.
Death at Evern Turn.
In Bapaune, one of the largest places
the Germans were forced to give up
the Australians who occupied it found
themselves facing death at every turn
In fact. for some days practically no
troops We're permitted in the place. so
many death traps did il contain. Even
a month afterward. when it was thought
a thorough search had discovered every
one. a mine exploded and killed many
troops Bapaume was the worst. but
there were man traps in all the smaller
places.
British and French ingenuity was set
to work to combat German cunning. and
presently it was discovered that as
usual there was method in the Herman
homicidal mania and that there We're
certain set forms of man traps. Know
ing that. 1t was comparatively easy to
put them out of business. But when the
French attacked last October on the
Chemin des Danes and drove the Ger
mans to the northern bank of the ALL
cite, south of Laon,s they found that
with all the persistence of the maniac
the enemy had invented new devices.
These. too, have been investigated,
and most specific instructions issued to
French troops TO beware of them and
how to combat them. OF course the
into a German dugout or house once
occupied by German or touch any
thing a German has left without in
vestisating first" The methods OF in
scribed. but it would hardly do TO
enumerate them here. Suffice it that
for every illness there is a cure, and it
will be only carelessness that will cost
he follows instructions.
Information Is Costly.
All this Information. gained often at
the cost Of the lives of British and
French soldiers, has been turned over
to the American Army. We are fore
warned. and. as far as may be, fore
armed, so that when our troops enter
a village or a trench on the heels Of
the Germans they will have every pos
sible chance for their lives. They win
know that a loose board in a dugout is
a thing to be avoided; that bits of
equipment lying on the ground should
be left lying there, and that, above all,
wires should be cut first and stumbled
over afterward. Not impossibly there
will be specially trained units Of sap
pers and miners who Will go about
looking for various devices of German
ingenuity intended to take the life of
the unwary soldier
1t is possible to give partial list of
the new German man traps the French
discovered last October. While by the
time American troops get into heavy
fighting there will be doubtless new
refinements Of barbarity, these are
fairly typical. The most startling Of
all and afrording the best index to the
nature Of the enemy is the double
coffin ruse. Counting on the allied
troops desiring to give a decent burial
to any dead they may find in captured
places. the Germans place one coffin
atop another. The instant the upper
coffin is moved a charge Of high ex-
plosive is detonated and the soldiers
who supposed themselves about TO per-
form the last office for dead enemy
are themselves killed.
Clockwork Bomb Deadly.