Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-29

eecjaf Cable to Evening Public Ledger
C0Dvrtohf, 1918. bp Ner York Times Co.
fqr Correspondents Headquarters on
the Western Front, July 90.
The British have been making
ss 1aSsnber of small raids into the Ger
NAN trenches. discovering the enemy's
Y 1lrongth and dispositions, and doing
- much damage as possible in short
tlnfe English, Australian. Canadian
md New Zealand troops have all been
Making a share in these grim adven
s lures, and nearly every raiding party
\ has brought back a few prisoners.
~ In these hours of darkness. when
The men crawl into No Mans Land.
\, dropping into the wet mud Of the shell
Sraters and Lying doggo" when the
white glare Of German rockets makes
every strand of barbed wire black
etching against an incandescent light
- that a crouching man feels mon
strously visible among the old sand.
sbAgs and slime. there are intense emo
{fions which some men dread and some
Z men like, according to their state or
nerves and mental reactions.
y Nobody writes about that side OF
sthe war" said Canadian officer one
day. though it has been written now
and then; nobody describes what it
I xeels like when one drags ones body
Through the mud with a German ma
chine gun a few yards away and a
> bit Of trench and stopping to listen
4 20 some bricks that one sends clat-
eering down by a careless movement,
md when in the darkness one grabs
NJ dead boy-long time dead-outside
The German wire before the last
Y bounce forward. That is war. but not
sAs one reads it
This Canadian officer had a queer
.4xperience a little while ago. and dur
1mg the last few days another had the
same. He went with raiding party
INTO the German outpost lines and
!. Gtayed for two hours in the German
4tenches without seing a living soul
IN some parts Of the line, especially
N those parts where No Mans Land
- wide. the enemy holds his forward
f1ystem very thinly, with posts here
md there and trenches behind. So
q ~ happens that, sometimes, though
II rarely, OF course. as on the other night.
u 3ritinh raiding parties find themselves
z;61QnS within the German lines between
post and another.
III IN. Germans have been doped with
!NkoPies 1af the way in which the British
4 Xroated their prisoners, and II Is eN-
& ss6aordtnary that German soldiers of nor
nai Intelligence should believe these fam
fnokic Alterations. \ few days ago New
4 tEaaianders who brought back some pris-
.lVl3ors from a raid were amazed at the
&effors OF the Germans. which only dis
tppeAred when they had been we'll fed
4 Ana treated in the decent manner which
4 y the invariable fortune of all our pris
tnsrs.
4 = A. soon as their fright was over they
Z s&unfessed that they had been told by
4tIeIr officers that the New Zealanders
H6ra cannibals, who would first offer
/. HEM cigarettes and then eat them.
\ Elgnrettes were offered to them, accord
hGsto this prophecy. and the prisoners
Nh y man refused them, with signs Of
Ifteat uneaEiness, but there was no ban
y 1uet to follow.
Those red-cheeked New Zealand boys
TgH hugely enjoy the joke Of this rep
NATION, but 1t leaves one staggered with
8 thS credulity of the German soldiers
xeWelI. all those little things. these in
&idsnts that help to break the monotony
kf&f trench life and form gossip Of the
4 31upotts. have no more Importance than
N H1tvidual experience in war where
q 6ly massed battles count toward the
UNd They are counting down south.
nm the ground between the Aisne and
! Hho Aarne, where the armies of the
Grown Prince, in slow but steady retreat
6fe revealing to their own people the
fTeAtness of the disaster that has over
a &A1ten them. 1t will need a lot of ex-
fDlaining in Germany, for not all the
'eslkeA Of their general staff can stay
3he turning of that tide.
~ On the British front Haig's men stand
waiting and watching for the next
move OF Prince Rupprecht's armies, which
j are ready for an attack, but are bewil'
dared in their purpose by the events
esehat have altered their whole scheme o
E,4hings. It may be that they will nevei
q scarry out the attack that had beer
hlAnned. but from now until the end o.
y ne var will fight on the defensive il
the sreAt rear guard actions which Ger
( many will tight when the initiative |!
X Surs and until there is peace.