The state herald., 1919-02-28
CHATTER Iv-ceetinusd.

CHAPTER Iv-ceatinpsd.
-
In the Communication trench you
have to keep your distance from he
man ahsad OF you This u done %
that yoa Win have plenty Of room to
shosld End de trench, there would Be
fewer casualties in IN opsn formation
than In . closed Ths German artil-
ley II keen On Communication
uenehes, and whenever they SPOT one
tAey say With II . long ume- Most
Of them are camouhaged along the top
and ades. % that enemy aviators can
no: zee snything but The earth or
bushes. vAsn they throw IN eys down
on our nneA-
We took over our section Of the
front line trenches from q French line
regiment that bad been on the Job for
"A days That was the Longest tms
] have heard Of any troops remaining
on the 6f1ns line.
Condit1nns At The front and ways Of
lighting ars changing al the dine, -
each side invents new methods Of
buteAerinG 20 when I ~ to describe
the Dixmude trenches. you must real
ise that 4 u probably Just history BY
now. II thay are still using trenches
thsfs thsy probably look entirely dif-
fersnt.
Bet when I was At Uxmude shey
were something Ike this:
Behind the series Of frons-line
trenches are the reserve trenches; In
this case i've to seven miles away. and
san farfher back are the bilIstA These
may be houses or barns OF ruined
ehufches-any place that can possibly
b used for qusrtering troops when
on duty.
Troops were usually In the front.
line trenches stx 10 eight dayA and
fourteen TO sixteen days In the reserve
trenches. Then back TO the biilets for
stx or eight days
We were not allowed to change our
clothing In the frout-line trenches
not even 10 remove socka unleas fol
inspection Nor would they let you
a much a. unbutton your shirt. unleas
there was IN inspection Of identinca.
uon diskA We wore q disk At the
Wrist and another around the neck
You know he gag about the disks. Of
eoWos: II your arm u blown OF they
en- ~ vAo you are By the neck disk
Il your bad = blown Oh. they DO no,
care who you aEs.
In the reserve tfsochn yua car
make yourself more comfortable. bu,
yod cannot 90 to such extreme lsagtha
q luxury - changing your clothes -.
ursay. That y for bGiists. whore you
p@d nost oe your tims bathing
enanginS ooeAss. Gespang and eating
Believe ne. q bilist 70 rsat stun; Il
y IKE q sort Of temporary heaven.
on courss you know what the word
Goodies" msanA Lst % hope yoc
VII never know what the cootisa
themselves mean When you get d
or near the trenches, you take q courss
In the natural history Of bug,. lice
rats and every lind of pest that has
ever been invented.
a. ~ Auhus " - bo9bs OF IOe new
eomers when they nrst discover Z
cootie on them. Some Of them ery
= they really knsw what Il was goinl
TO be Ike they would do worss thar
that. maybe.
Then they start hsntins all over each
other. Just like monkeys. They team
sp for this purpose. and many times II
" In this wny that couple Of men ge,
to be trench partners and come to bs
pals for life-which may not bs q loua
time st that.
In the front.line tfsochss it u more
comfortable TO fall asleep on the para
pnt nre-stsp than IN the dugouts. b.
cause the coolies nrs thicker down
oeisw. nnd they simply will not Givs
you . minutes rest They certainly
are active little pests. We used te
make back scrntchers out Of certain
weapons that had neI'sble handles, bu,
never had time TO use them when VI
needed them mort.
We were given bottles Of liquid
which smeiled like lysol md were sup
posed to soak our clothes 10 Il II wss
0oueht that he coolies would objsc,
70 the smell and quit work. Well
. eoos1e that could stand our clothes
without the dope on them would 10,
~ bothered By Q little thing like TIM
STUN. AiAo. our clOehSa sot N ann