The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-08-22
"OUIET SECTORS"
ARE QUITE ACTIVE
In Fact, the New American Troops Are
Inclined to Magnify the Events Into
Something Still Greater.

With the American Army in Lorraine,
Aug. % Correspondence of the Associat-
ed Press "a quiet sector" said an of.
fcer Of an American division holding a
position so designated, appears to be a
part of the front where nothing but
scouting, patrolling, Smelling and gassing
are going on, with little bombing and
flame throwing to vary the monotony.'
In quiet" sector the American sol
der gets his first experience of war
Some of the relatively small things in
this war look SO big to the new man that
he is inclined to take them for bigger
ones" said an American general" and it
is important for both the new soldier
and the young officer to get familiar
with the little frightfulness the Germans
send over so as to get the proper proper
tion between them and real attacks
Patrols are large contributors to the
war diary of the division in this sector
and the American soldier is particularly
apt at it. 1t is no secret for the Ger
mans that he is always at it and that he
is yenturesome enough to push into their
lines and into the villages back of them
The Germans find their wire cut in most
unexpected places, even live wire in some
cases. A patrol caught at this dangerous
work found itself in the range Of machine
guns and had to roll back under the wire
and across No Mans land with bullets
whistling over their heads. Another pa
troll pushing into German commanding
post and finding it vacant dragged an
officers trunk back over the shell holes
to their own trenches.
The patrol is expected to do nothing
more than bring in information. The or
ders are to avoid contact with the enemy
but patrols often meet and occasionally
are obliged to fight
One man of an American patrol, sep.
arated from his comrades and captured
by the enemy, had gained some interest
ing information that he determined Ia
take back if he could. His rife had been
taken from him but he had managed ia
conceal couple of grenades. Slyly re.
moving the cap from one of them as he
was being led across No Mans land, he
struck it against the other, let it drop
then sprinted back TO safety
Indian troops are rendering great serv.
ice in this work, getting over the ground
between the lines without seeming tc
touch thing that produces noise, and
bringing back most useful information.
Men in observation posts and captive
balloons furnish detailed information OF
everything they see going on back of the
enemy's lines. From their reports the
war diary registers a daily count of the
number of trainssand the number of cars
in each train seen on the lines Of com.
munication. A count is also kept of col.
umns of smoke, with the hours and min,
utes when they are observed
Working parties are counted and the
direction Of their movements noted
sometimes leading to the discovery Of
new emplacements for heavy artillery
An aerial photograph showed recently
where a battery found in this way had
been completely destroyed by our fire.
The men out scouting or on patrol, in
the listening posts or observation bal
looms quickly sharpen their faculties Of
observation, get better grasp of the
significance of little things and their re-
lation to big ones. Their sense of pro
portion develops and they are no Longer
to be misled as to the scope of the en-.
emys harrassing operations.