Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1919-02-21
TASK MOST DIFFICULT ONE
Renewing Of 6arbed Wire Entansle-
ments 10 No Easy Matter-Nar-
row Gauge Railways Being
Torn Up and Trenches
Filled In.

ing torn mp. trenches are being filed
In, camouf1age Is being taken down.
narrow-gauge 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
be touched by the civilian population
Even after the Germans had been
driven from the Chateau Thierry re-
gion south of the Marne to north Of
the Vesle, the military authorities re
fused to permit barbed wire to be
taken up or earthworks filed In.
In most cases this work Ii being
done by civilians. but everywhere with
the release of the older classes Of
French soldiers and the numerous re-
formes-wounded discharged from tie
army-there are enough men familiar
with field works to supervise the re-
moval Of them.
Difficult Work.
It Is no easy matter for the novice
to pull up barbed wire. and In places.
particularly In the Juvigny region
north Of the Aisne, where the Thirty
second division fought with General
Mangin's superb Tenth army and Won
for themselves the sobriquet Of The
Tigers" the entangiements cover hun
dreds Of acres; the belts being hun
dreds Of yards in depth This wire
dates back from September, 1914. and
Is rusty and dangerous to handle.
owing to the presence of tetanus MI
crobes- The newer "giant German
wire." the strands Of which are q
quarter Of an inch thick and which
bristle with barbs. is equally hard to
remove
In vogue earlier In the war before the
development Of the minenwerfer as an
accurate piece Of ordnance. are hard
to ill In, as their parapets have been
washed away by rains and blasted to
bits Of shellfipe. They are like great
bitches, furrowing the earth In every
direction The newer, narrower
trenches. shored with timber and pro-
vided with blackboard floors are easier
to I'LL In. The thrifty French first pull
out the snoring and let the rain act
on the trenches for couple of weeks
In which time they invariably fall I'm.
then they shovel over the top, smooth
ing 1t of.
No attempts are made to fill In the
dugouts, the entrances merely being
boarded up and covered over. In
many Of these German dugouts there
are Internal machines and man traps
likely to explode when the first per-
son enters. Loose boards on the stairs
or bits Of string stretched across the
entrance set or explosives. In many
other dugouts there are corpses of
friends or foes, killed underground by
bombs hurled down the exits.
All roads In the zone where the Cd
posing armies have swayed back and
forth are lined with fox holes, AZ the
American doughboys call the tiny
shelter caves they are taught to dig
with bayonets and mess kits, and
which provide such wonderful shelter
against shrapnel. Everywhess 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
Of bodies Of troops ON the march spied
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 Inn
provise their own shelter.
| Dig in Quickly.
1t is remarkable sight to see how
fast soldier can dig cave that win
shelter his body with no implements
but 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 in the public
square Of the nearest French town or
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 ~dudss which may ex-
plode the iirst time the farmers pillow