The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-11

cooperation with the allies wherever
pooling is necessary.
you will need it in hurry. You have
got to learn to get it out of the hol-
ster, take your aim and get a slug
through a. German with one motion.
Your own safety and the corraling of
the Huns scalp depends upon a thor
ough coordination of the hand and
the eyes.
you won't get many chances to do
any Deadwood Dick shooting. You
aren't going to order the Kaiser to
throw up his hands and then proceed
to trim his mustache and make the
Empress a lot of extra work by
shooting all the buttons off her hus-
bands coat.
you're going to be able to get this
'gat' out while the squareheads are
'hoching' the Kaiser and you're going
to account for six of 'em and be load
ing her up again while they're listen
ing to the tail end of your first war
Whoop."
And from the way this particular
class was shaping up, that is just
about what will happen. At the com
mand ''raise pistol" there was a slap
of flesh against leather and a dozen
pistols were cleaning black and
threateningly at the instructor.
They were ready for business in
flash and those who have so far fin
tshed their pistol training have vindi-
Gated the instructors assertion that
they are going to get weapons into
action while the Boche is thinking
ahout it.
40 Feet Under Ground.
From the pistol instruction we went
to the school of field Notifications,
where trenches such as will be found
on the battle front have been built,
No more desolate spot can exist in
No Mans Land than the place where
these trenches are located Their
deafness is accentuated by the snow,
which has almost covered them up,
but day after day the engineers con-
tinue to work on them, and by spring
they will be complete in every detail.
At present the men are doing most
of the work under ground. One main
dugout goes down 40 feet under the
earth They were planning to make
it so feet deep, but they ran into a
ledge of rock, and on this they are
constructing concrete foundations
that would seemingly defy the biggest
guns of which the Clown Prince
Willie can boast.
There must be more than a mile of
these trenches. Traverses and re-
doubts have been built carefully, and
the earthly sides are held up by
neatly woven gabions and fascines
that would do credit to any of the
war-worn heroes of the Allies.
Sandbagged parapets frown threat
eningly at the barbed wire entangle-
ments in front, and here and there
we'll concealed loopholes are placed,
through which machine guns will peep
when the sham battles begin in the
spring.
Down in the dugouts the men will
live for days at a time. Every ia
cility for their comfort and protection
will be provided and so thorough are
these field Notifications that they
might with perfect safety be subjected
to bombardment with real shells.
Provisions for trench telephones
and communication with the artillery
at the rear will be made, and here
there will be trench mortars.
Trenches Like the Real Thing.
The trenches run in zigzags and
| between traverses, loopholes lined
with boards have been built, so that
| if the enemy by any chance gains
a Footing in one part of the line, ma
! chine guns can be brought up and he
can be driven out of the captured
| trench without a man showing him
self above the top
Here and there the front of the
trench is broken by narrow openings
which lead out toward the barbed
wire. At the end of the narrow pass
| ages are little cubby holes, where a
man can crouch down and make him
self comfortable.
These are listening posts, and every
night they will be occupied, so that if
the enemy contemplates a sortie,
warning will be given before he gets
halfway to his objective point.
Just how these trenches are going
to be taken unless they are first bat
tered to pieces with heavy artillery
remains to be seen but with the
| warm "6dlIlGI udlly lSlALS III I4I01L
possession will take place, or perhaps
it would be more accurate to say
nightly fights, for it will be fatal
for the enemy to show himself any
where in the vicinity of the trenches
in the daylight. He would be helpless
and unable even to throw a scare into
the defenders, so good a job have the
engineers done.
And so, while all these schools are
in progress now and the students al
each school know little or nothing
about what the scholars at Other
schools are doing, in the spring they
are all going to find themselves to
gether in the same trench some day
and when they do, each will know hi!
own particular job and will be able
TO do it, and without knowing it
. perhaps, they will automatically fl
together like so many pieces of {
perfect machine.
t And this one will be a fighting ma
chine with a capital F.
West Springfield, Mass, authoritie
) l Ill