Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1915 — GERMANS WELL FED [ARTICLE]

GERMANS WELL FED

Soldiers Live in Trenches in Comparative Comfort. Well Supplied With Food and Clothing and Are Smiling and Contented —Health Conditions Better Than in Peace Time*.

Headquarters of a Certain German Army in France. —A correspondent of the Associated Press, during a week in the field of operations, has been the guest of General von Heeringen, formerly war minister and now commanding the Seventh army; General von Zwehl, the capturer of Maubeuge, and General von Emmich, the conqueror of Liege and Namur. Several hours were passed In the trenches in a picturesque old town where German riflemen and French legionnaires plan and play grim practical jokes of war upon each other from positions a scant 200 yards apart. A race of German troglodytes was found in one place on this front. Men, horses, supplies, hospitals and so forth were housed in hillside caverns, formerly stone quarries, which were absolutely protected by a 50-foot stone roof from even the most powerful shell fire.

The Germans are evidently preparing for an extended occupation. The French peasants, under the supervision and to a certain extent the mild compulsion of the Germans, have planted winter crops and are working in the fields.

Important bridges destroyed during the occufjfejdon operations are every* where permanently rebuilt with steel from Germany. The roads are being maintained as usual by French labor and In some cases factories are being reopened. A trip of inspection was made through a labyrinth of field fortifications and approaches along the Aisne, at Its nearest point to Paris, where the lines are normally 200 or 300 yards apart.

The soldiers even In the foremost trenches were found living In comparative comfort in their underground shelters. They were well supplied with blankets, food, water and clothing, and are in good spirits despite their long residence irf the trenches. Desultory infantry fire is always in progress here and the. rattle of machine guns breaks out now and then. The artillery on both sides has thrown tons of iron daily, but there have been no great fights of late in this section of the front.

Of all the Impressions of the trip one of the most striking is that left by the countless stacks of unthreshed grain, stretching for miles in every direction throughout this granary of northern France.

Over a hundred German threshing machines of the largest size are working In the region occupied by the array.

The army is not-'only living on the supplies of flour and meat derived from this section of the country, but Is actually sending wheat and flour back to Germany. The German soldier at the front Is smiling and well fed, as he has one more warm meal daily than iff peace time. The lean greyhounds seen after the dash on Paris are again rounding out into portly Germans. No trip to the front vould be complete without a visit to the field hospital. Health conditions are remarkably good, the surgeons state; even better than in peace times. There has been considerable typhoid, but this is now well In hand, owing to the vigorous use of the Antityphoid serum.