Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-11-29
CHAPTER lV-Contlnued.

In the communication trench you
have to keep your distance from the
man ahead OF you. This is done so
that you will have plenty Of room to
fall down in, and because If a shell
should nnd the trench, there would be
fcWer casualties In an open formation
than in n closed. The German artil-
lery Is keen on communication
trenches, and whenever they spot m
they stay with 1t n long time. Most
OF them arc camOuilaged along the top
and sides, SO that enemy aviators can
not see anything but the earth or
bushes, when they throw IN eye down
on our lines.
We took over our section Of the
front line trenches from a French line
regiment that had been on the job for
"a days. That was the longest time
7 have heard Of any troops remaining
on the firing line.
Conditions at the front and ways Of
lighting are changing all the time, as
each side invents new methods of
butcherlng, so when | try to describe
the DiXmude trenches, you must real
lie that 1t is probably just history by
now. II they are still using trenches
there they probably look entirely diff
ferent.
But when I was at Dlxmude they
were something like this:
Behind the series Of front-line
trenches are the reserve trenches; In
this case five to seven miles away, and
still farther back are the blllets. These
may be houses or barns or ruined
churches-any place that can possibly
be used for quarterlng troops when
of duty.
Troops were usually in the front
line trenches six to eight days, and
fourteen to sixteen days in the reserve
trenches, Then back to the blllets for
six or eight days.
We were not allowed to change our
clothing In the front-llne trenches
not even to remove socks, unless for
inspection. Nor would they let you
as much rs unbutton your shirt. unless
there vas an inspection Of identified.
ton disks. We wore a disk at the
wrist and another around the neck
You know the gag about the disks, OF
course: If your arm IS blown off they
can tell who you are by the neck disk
II your head is blown of, they do moi
care who you are.
In the reserve trenches you car
make yourself more comfortable, bu'
you cannot go to such extreme lengths
Of luxury as changing your clothes en-
tlrcly. That is for hillets, where yol
upend most Of your time bathing
, changing clothes, sleeping and eating
Z. Believe me. a billet is great stuff; |
Is like a sort OF temporary heaven.
! OF course you know what the wor,
"cootlcs" means. Let us hope yo'
will never know what the Cootie
, themselves mean. When you get I
or near the trenches, you take n cours
In the natural history of bugs. lie,
rats and every kind of pest that ha
: ever been invented.
II IS funny to see some Of the new
Corners when they first discover
cootie on them. Some of them CT,
Y II they really knew what it was goln
: to be like they would do worse tina
that, maybe.
Then they start hunting all over eaC
other, just like monkeys, They tea,
w for this purpose, and many times
v is IN this way that a couple OF men &,
., to be trench partners and come TO |
8 pals for llfe-which may not be a lor
b. time at that.
~ In the front-line trenches it is mo
L comfortable to fall asleep on the par
Pet fire-step than In the dugouts, b
IN cause the coolies are thicker dow
~ below, and they simply will not gi
you n minutes rest. They certain
/, are active little pests. We used
make back scratchers out of certa
weapons that had flexible handles, b
." never had time TO use them when '
50 needed them most.
We were given bottles Of a liQr
which smelled like lysol and were ST
posed 10 soak our clothes in it. 1t W
thought that the coolies would obj,
= to the smell and quit work, W.
u q coatie that could stand our clotl
i withrut tire dope IN them would
be bathered by q little thing like 4
gtu.t. Also. our clothes got so sc