Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1915 — FRENCH FINISH 47 DAY FIGHT IN TRENCHES [ARTICLE]

FRENCH FINISH 47 DAY FIGHT IN TRENCHES

Soldiers Welcome Brief Rest and First Chance to Change Clothes. JOKE OVER THEIR PLIGHT Muacoated Infantrymen Tell of Their Life at Front—Only 11 Left of 250 in Original Company - Kill Germans to Get Clothes. By GABRIEL DELAGARDE. Correspondent of the Chicago Daily News. Amiens, France.—l have just passed two days In a tiny hamlet near the front between Arras and Albert, sleeping on straw and living on bread and sardines. batteries a few hundred yards away thundered intermittently. My companions were 190 French infantrymen, who were quartered there for four days to rest after 47 consecutive days in the trenches. By this time they must have resumed their old positions on the flrirg line. The first man with whom I talked when the grim, dirty columns broke . ranks and scattered .about the thirtyodd ffcrms which compose the hamlet, said: “Yes, monsieur, we have been 47 days in the trenches without once removing our clothes or even ouf shoes. Except for two old peasants we passed back along the road, you are the first civilian we have seen in all this time. But, you see, 1 we do not look too miserable. We even stood it very well, because we are Bretons, who are a tough and stubborn race. But we are rather dirty, are we not?” , Joke Over Life in Trenches. I replied frankly that I had never seen dirtier men in all my life. Their clothes were torn and covered with layers of yellow clay and their shoes looked like lumps of mud which had hardened around their feet. Y'et the men were laughing and joking happily enough. We entered the village inn, a picturesque tavern blackened with smoke, with strings of onions hanging from the rafters, while in the corner the aged grandfather was weaving on a hand loom. Over their coffee and brandy the soldiers renewed their Jokes at the expense of the “boches” (Germans), their own dirtiness and various features of life in the trenches. To the accompaniment of a distant cannonade they told the history of their company since the beginning of the war. They had participated in many battles and the cpmpany had been entirely reorganized three times. Of the original contingent of 250 men only one officer and ten men were left. Dug Holes Wish Their Hands. When they first took position at the place they still hold, they had to fight in an open field, for neither side had time to prepare trenches. The men sought to protect themselves the best they could. Those without pickaxes dug in the earth with their hands, trying to make holes big enough to lie In. Gradually, however, trenches were completed and a aubterranean village organized. Before the trenches barbed wire was string on which bell§ were hang which would ring when the wire was disturbed. Their monotonous life was interrupted only by shells that burst too near and occasional surprise atcaekß. 1 Ordinarily the men sleep in the daytime in restrooms, the straw in which la changed every two weejta- JJttle by little the soul and body became hardened until now they can look on the rain of deadly shells with indifference. Kill Germans to Get Clothes. Protection against the cold was not difficult. Woolen garments had been distributed liberally and In case these , iiwklng eenM alwsys ilml a chance to “snipe” soma German, steal

forth under cover of the darkness and remove his overcoat and shoes, as several men of this company had done. Rain is -more serious here in Picardy, where the clay holds water on the surface. Despite gutters and roofs rain always gets into the trenches somehow. “When it rains,” said a soldier with heroic carelessness, “you get wet. That is all there is to it." I learned that several men, ill from dampness, had been sent to the hospital. Death Loses Its Terrors. ' The following story illustrates how little preoccupied with death these men are: * ~ . One day the men in the rear guard trench decided to send a soldier to fetch water from a village two kilometers (1.2 miles) away. It was a fine, warm day and they wanted to wash themselves. An hour later the soldier returned with two pails of water, which all were eager to use, but they lacked towels. One soldier said he would get some from the advance trenches, where there were several. He went ducking down the zigzag passage which connects the trenches, and which, because of its length, is named Rue Lafayette, after the longest street in Paris. All the trenches are named. There is a Rue de la Paix, an Avenue de l’Opera and the grand boulevards. Killed, But Towels Are Saved, r They waited, but the soldier did not return and another went to hunt for him Finally he saw the soldier with the towels in his hand and his head bent to the earth. A call brought no answer. The man had rashly lifted his head above the ground and was instantly shot through both temples. The soldier who told this story took the towels from his dead comrade and calmly returned to wash himself. “What would you expect?” he asked. “It might have been my turn half an hour later. There was no use in wor- —— That night two men went and got the body of their comrade and buried it.

Mo Word of Rebellion. During the entire two days I lived with these men I did not hear a single word of anger or revolt. They questioned tie eagerly for war news, about what the people were saying in the cities and what the opinion was In the allied and neutral countries. They expressed the hope that the war would not last much longer, and some sighed when thinking of their wives and children, photographs of whom they showed me. But always they were good humored. It was as if new and simplified souls had formed within them adapted-to the present extraordinary circumstances. From the lieutenant and the captain, whom ts e mdh treated respectfully, as both were leaders as well as comrades: from the thoughtful young civil engineer, now a common soldier, who, one realized, was accustomed to a life

•f luxury and who dost)ties* would have been stupefied if he had been• told six months ago that presently he would be dwelling gayly a month and a hsif in a ditch without even, taking ofT his shoes; from (he workmeg and from the small shopkeepers, to the sergeant who was a genuine count of the old Breton nobility—all in their several ways expressed their Joy at being able to sleep in a good barn on thick straw, wash themselves and stroll restfully about Worried About Their Trenches. They did not seem to realize that they exemplified truly astonishing courage and hardihood. The only thing that really worried them was theifr trenches, which would be occupied these four days by" young recruits, who might, because of their inexperience, let the rain get in. The lieutenant told me smilingly that he had a luxurious room back there, the fitting of which cost him 25 francs ($5), and he was afraid that during his absence the rain might pierce the ceiling and even reach his library. He Reproached himself for having left behind some books which, on returning, he might find in bad condition. Meanwhile the entire company sought to make the best of these four precious days of repose, cleaning themselves and their clothes, greasing their rifles and eating and drinking. I am sure they returned to their arduous vigils in the icy trenches in better spirits than ever. Their orders are simply to hold, and hold they will, you may be sure, to the very last man.