The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-02-12
Thrifty French Already Cleaning
up Battle Ground to
Plant Grain.
TASK MOST DIFFICULT one
Removing Of earbed Wire Entanole.
hents 10 No Easy Matter-Nar-
row Gauge Railways Being
Torn UP and Trenches
Filled In.

front which marked the line of the op-
posing armies since the inception of a
war Of position.
Barbed wire entanglements are be-
ing torn up; trenches are being filled
in, 'camoufiage lis being taken down,
narrowsauge railways removed, and
shell dumps and, other depots for ma
terial being transported away. ~
This is the first time that any field
Notifications have been permitted to
he touched by. the civilian population.
Even after the Germans had been
driven from the Chateau Thierry re-
,gion south of the Marine TO north of
the, Vesle, the military authorities re-
fused to pernatt buried wire. to, be,
taken UP or eaithW0rks filed in. HIM
In most cases this work is being
ione:by civilians, bnt everywhere with.
he lelease Sofl the older classes OF
French soldiers and the numerous re-
'orlles--wo,lpde1 discharged, from the
lr0v.-thereSar enough men familiar
WITH field works to supervise the res
mossai OF: the,i....;t5,s', :, e-ef.
STl Difficult Work. r
TITS no easy matter for the novice
10 husI mi, barbed wire, and in places,
particularly In the Juvigny region
loril OF the Aisne, where the Thirty
second division fought with General
Nangin's superb Tenth army and won
cor themselves the sobriquet Of "'rhe
Tigers" the entanglements cover hun
.":t!s of acres; the belts being hum
lre,s of yards in depth. This wire
lates back from September, 1914, and
is rusty and dangerous to handle,
wing to the presence Of tetanus mi
crobes. The newer "giant German
WIRE" the strands of which are a
quarter OF an inch thick and which
'ristlo with barbs, is equally hard to
-s, 'r.e s',..-,v
-. The old wide trenches which we're
IN vogue earlier in the war befnre the
Development of the minenwerfer as an
a.Nc,lrate; piece: of ordnance, are .Ihard
20 .tilliin; as their l,arapets have been
. washed away by rains and blasted to
1hitsaof shcI|hre. They are like, great
:, iitches, furrowing the earth in every
direction, The newer, I, narrower
trenches, shored with timber and pro.
,iilGdw!th blackboard floors are easier
40 tiI' ia. File thrifty French first pull
ont the snoring and let the rain act
.Yin Tie trenches for 1; couple Of weeks
ri S+'hlcl' time they Invariably fall in,
, hen the; shove! over the top, smooth
ing it or, - ., ~ " ',' g. noG "
"a. No attempts are made to fill in the
dugoCts, the entrances merely being
boarded up yand covered over. In
many Of these German d,,gouts there
are internal machines and man traps
likely to explode when the first per-
'on enters. Loose boards on the stairs
Or bits~of string stretched across the
entrance set off explosives. In many
other dugouts, there are corpscs OF
friends or foes, killed underground by
bombs hurled down the exits.
All roads in the zone where the on.
posing armies have swayed back and
forth are lined with fox holes, as the
American doughboys call the tiny
shelter caves they are taught to dig
With bayonets and5.mess kits and
which provide uchAwonderful shelter
against shrapnel. Everywhere in the
belt of terrain marking the extreme
limits Of the passage of the fighting
troops there are endless rows of these
fox, holes dug into the bitches beside
the roads. They tell the silent tales
Ut bodies of troops on the march spled
out by enemy airplanes or captive bal,
looms and caught under concentrated
fire by many batteries. Then the men
are ordered to take cover, and since
there is none to take they must i'm.
provise their own shelter.
Dig in Quickly.
It is remarkable sight to see how
fast soldier can dig a cave that will
shelter his body with no implements
but a bayOnet and mess kit. They
loosen the earth with the bayonet and
scoop it out with the big, long-handled
tin cup, sometimes working with the
skillet in the other hand.
Only light, Decauville railways are
being taken up, all standard gauge
lines which have been laid since the
war remaining in position until such
time as the administration determines
what shall be done with them.
Few pieces of artillery remain in
their emplacements, nearly all Of those
which were overlooked in capture dur
ing attacks having been dragged out
Of their pits and placed inNthe public
square of the nearest French town Ol
village. But there are still hundreds
of thousands of live shells, hand
grenades and millions Of rounds OF
small arms ammunition lying about
everywhere. The earth is pitted with
holes made by "duds" which may ex.
plode the first time the farmers pillow
strikes against them.
Despite that, however, the thrifty
French are cleaning up their country,
preparing for the sowing Of crops next
spring.
Pythians Tonight
st. Elmo Lodge No. 4, knights of