The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-03-01
BAD STATE OF AFFAIRS
REPORTED AT BREST

IL the IOllOWIHg story Dy an eX-
soldier about conditions in the camp
at Brest is true, Marion county peo-
pie who have boys in France and
Germany may be glad to have them
start for home later and come thru
some other port.
Rain, Mud and Misery for American
Troops at Brest
Conditions in the camp at Brest in
january were worse than in the camps
behind the front lines during the
heaviest fighting" writes an ex-sol-
dier in the conservative New York
Evening Post, while more radical
journals call for an investigation of
this "rest-camp." which they de-
nounce as a "pest-hole" and dis
grace to the army. 2 It has been charg-
ed that thousands of soldiers whose
deaths were reported as battle cas-
ualties really died in Brest, victims
of such conditions as those described
by "Ex-Soldier," who is not the most
sensational of the critics of condi-
tions at this port. Men standing in
mud TO their shoe-tops while they
were fed, a martinez of general of
ficer who held one unit for fifty days
"extra fatigue" because three of its
members failed to render the proper
salute to a general officer, sanitary
conditions bad, and water, with the
exception of that underfoot, so scarce
that men went for days without
washing their hands and faces-these
are some of the conditions that make
the so-called "rest-camp" at Brest a
terror to the soldiers"
"Ex-Soldier" begins his Indictment
with a general description of the place
as it appeared only few weeks ago:
The camp. which stretches for miles
over hills and across valleys, was a
sea of heavy, sticky mud. dotted here
ard there with huge pools of muddy
water. Even the main roads through
the camp were virtual rivers of soft,
running mud. through which the
troops plodded on their way to and
from their meals and work. Most of
the troops were quartered in tents,
some with board floors, a few with
stoves, many without either, and all
without cots.
When the army took the site over
it was mostly farm land, and was
laid out in plots of two or three acres,
each surrounded by dirt walls six or
eight feet in height. These walls add
ed greatly to the difficulty of drain
ing the camp, which even without
them would be almost impossible TO
drain. Even the parade in front OF
the old Pontanezen barracks. which
were used as headquarters, store
houses, hospitals. and hath-honses
was sea of mud. This condition in
itself was bad enough. but it was
paralleled by an irresponsible method
of feeding the troops passing through
the camp and system of working
them day and night.
For the three weeks or more, that
most organizations remain at the
camp at Brest before leaving France
for the United States officers and en-.
listed men of all branches of the ser.
vice are kept busy doing the work OF
labor battalions. They work In day
and night shifts on roadways, digging
graves, latrines or drainage bitches
pitching tents. coaling transports
and doing other similar work. i
rains almost continually.
The average stay of troops at Brest
is between twenty-one and twenty
five days. Upon arrival at the camp
troops are quartered in tents. Aftel
two weeks time they are usual!
moved into barracks. While quarter
ed in tents the men make their bet
on the floor, if they are fortunate
enough to be quartered in tents witt
floors, or on duckboards in case the.
are quartered in tents without floors
These duckboards consist of two mar
row strips joined in the same fashion
as the side of a homemade ladder
with short strips twS or three inche
wide. The interval between thes
short strips is two or three inches
and consequently they do not MAX
very comfortable beds.
When the troops move into barrack