The Cordova daily times., 1918-02-05
No MAN, LAND
IS VISITED BY
NEWS WRITER
(By Associated Press)

Omitted Press Staff spOndence)
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES IN
THE FIELD, Dec. Is (by maiD Might
patrolling - reconnaissance - in No
Mans Land is something that every
first line soldier knows.
The constant surveillance of the en-
envy necessitates almost nightly exami-
nation of the blighted strip of ground
in front of the trenches; wire entan-
clements on the friendly side as well
as that of the enemy.
Men who find monotony In night
trenches draw their packet of thrills
from the silent games of hide and
seek" that can be played in No-Man's
Land on any moonless night. Trench
soldiers curse the moon.
Tonight is moonless The sky is a
speCkled dome Occasional bursts OF
enemy machine gun fire and nervous
grenade and rocket firing have ceased
9th trenches settle down to period
quiet which is customary at inter
walls over routine nights in trenches
where both sides have been at it for
over three years.
Give them a few rounds with the
mitrailleuse and see if they're still
alive" the company captain ordered.
4 r,ooI,iro ON, Iiou+oDo,,t cant q non
oramic sweep of lead out into the
darkness. A sheepskin-coated pOilu
silently occupying his little niche in
the trench next, obeying on order
dropped a grenade into the cup-likG
end of his grenade rife and fired. The
half-pound explosive slug left the cup
with a metallic zing and detOnated
with a roar and white smoke cloud a
score of yards in front. The pOilu
laid his steel helmet on the parapet
and deity heaved a hand grenade
which sent its pieces ringing from just
in front of the wire as everybody
"ducked." A parachute flare sky
rocketed up from a few yards away
and foated down, lighting up nothing
but the frosty tangle of wire and the
dull gray grass ahead Then it be
came quiet again. THE Boche is not
very hateful tonight" the captain sug
gests.
A soldier comes along the trench
with a steaming pail 1t is the night
coffee brewed back in the third line
rolling kitchen and carried up. This
kitchen soldier is the nights most vel
come guest With the coffee he brings
along the 'gnole," the French army's
ration of grOg. A pOilu explained to
night that American soldiers in thi:
trench some time ago called it booze
and drank it with a gulp and a cough
Most pOilus mix it with their coffee
though this poilu added that he found
it handy fuel when his regiment was
on the Chemin des Danes to heat tielC
ratiOns in a stove made of an upturneC
German Shrapnel helmet.
The night patrol is starting. Tit
trench has been warned not to fire a
| crawling figures in No-Man's land.
captain and lieutenant crawl cover thu
top" leading the way. They carr!
blunt little automatics in one hand 4
half dozen pOilus follow, two deadl!
pineapple" bombs in each hand, anC
the party picks it way cautiousl!
through the wire.
Traversing ordinary wire entangle
ments is an impossible task, but here
an almost invisible little path winds
it's crooked way over the dead gras!
carpet where the wire is lowest anC
occasionally detours to escape a shell
hole. This path will be wired. up tigh
again before daybreak. The frosty wire
rattles and tangs despite utmost care
in stepping high while STOPPING Low
and occasionally crawling. Sounds in
tensify and seem unnecessarily sharp
Bat to veteran ears they are just the
ordinary.
The first entanglements are passed
A short open space and then the next
A soldier stumbles over an invisible
wire, and the captain stops to whisper
'doucement." The second maze is
passed more quietly because it is mar
rover.
st always seems a long time the
first time you come through the wire,
the captain alphabetically whispers.
But he's telling polite little lie and
knows it, because his first sensation in
wire climbing was years ago in this
war, and now faded memory.
, You are in No-Man's land-waste Of
gray, grassy ground except for shell
holes here and there-some old and
overgrown with weeds and others now
black dirt craters. In front of you is
simply blackness hiding other rows OF
hostile enemy wire ahead. Behind is