SANDBAGS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2659, 3 January 1916, Page 3

SANDBAGS

THEIR USE AT TEE FRONT

TOLD BY AN OFFICER

A would be rather interesting to us out here to know what idea the ladies at home havo of the ultimate fate of the sandbags which' they make, writes a captain at tho front. To-day, in new* of an all-night fatigue party of which I shall be in charge, I propose to give some idea of the work involved in the upkeep of trenches, repair, improvement, and reconstruction. I summarise the whole subject under the title "Sandbags;" because sandbags filled with loose fine soil are the simplest and safest protection against bullets, and when properly built into a parapet give it wonderful resisting power. . _ It is said of the mother of a family that her .work is never done. The same is true of a battalion in the trenches. When a trench is excavated in the natural soil, its Walls forthwith'become subject to: heavy" wear* and. tear. Rain weakens them ; every man as he passes loosens the surface soil, be it clay, rubble, or. hard chalk; a single shell or the explosion of a mine will obliterate the trench for ten ' yards. ;. . Moreover, the simple trench, which is just deep enough to cover a man firing, is not, safe enough for troops in a permanent occupation. Hence behind the firestep—which is about 4ft. 6in. below the surface —a deeper passage must be made along which men may walk upright and yet under cover. From this deep trenoh passages lead to rear tranches, dug-out shelters of various sizes, ammunition: stores, and the liko. ' All this means increased disturbance'of the virgin soil and increased need for artificial strengthening. Upon this work it, is necessary to occupy a large proportion of the working time of every battalion -day by day and .night, by night. There are, of course, special units told off'for such lyork exclusively—e.g., the pioneer battalions and the sappers—but these units are not as a rule occupied with ordinary trench improvement and repair. . The result is that all the men who are not absolutely needed as sentries on look-out over the parapet and on the food fatigues inust—apart from a minimum l allowance of sleep—be detailed for tho duty of improving the trench. It will not begiving away anything to the enemy to say that there are more men available for this work/by: day: than by night. During the hours of light comparatively few men - are enough to watch the whole of a given frontage. At night, especially, when 'there is no moon, fewer men: can 1 be spared. As against this, however, it is only by Wight that we can tackle work which can be' observed above the level of the parapet. So close is the watch we keop on each other across the zone of -"No Man's Land" that the, throwing of a few shovelfuls -of earth over the parapet will often bring-a-shower of bullets or even half, a dozen shells. Though we;riiay.not see .a■'singlejCier-, man for idays, we should, without showing ourselves, notice the least sign of movement in their or a , single new sandbag or loophole in their parapet. Day work, therefore, consists in scraping away crumbling earth ! in tho trench sides, filling the hundreds of sandbags; which 1 are necessary 'to -re.place tne earth so removed, and building up 'as high as is consistent _ with safety. In many parts: no suitable earth is handy; it therefore": becomes necessary for sandbag parties to go far' afield, fill tlie bags, and carry 1 them back along tho trenches. It may well bs that a quarter of an hour is, so occupied for every sandbag placed in position —i.e., 250 hours for 1000 sandbags, a number, quite commonly handled in a day by a company M) 0 strong. .!■ . Nor is tho building-up. of sandbag walls an easy or a short business, The clumsy bag-shape must be Hammered into; solid ;oblongs with square sides; the'outside face of the wall must slope backwards evenly for additional security; the bags must be laid, like bricks in a wall, so that the joints in one layer are not immediately under the joints , in the'layer above and below. Really first-class sand-baggers are neoessarily rare in tho infantry battalions of the* New Army, and constant supervision is required. It is to bo hoped that all tho new recruits are being carefully trained in this important branch of modern warfare. • At night the men who are not posted as sentries work in shifts on those portions which are impossible by day. The most sedulous care must bo taken to avoid creating an appearance of new Work. Grass- and „other . Vegetation must remain in its natural condition.; the parapet must not be appreciably raised or'lowered; if the ■ sandbags are new an 3 light of colour they must .be smeared with soil to prevent their pre-

senting a conspicuous front to the sniper and to tho artillery telescoyos. Tho-other day a new machine-sun emplacement was severely criticised as being far too obvious, to the enemy. It was too late to alter it. The next day it had been smashed from end to end; tho sandbags lay scattered on all sides, slit and torn in long seams; so complete was the destruction that one could pass in safety only by crawling along on hands and knees. Probably the least-known function of tho sandbag is its use as a mere carrier of excavated earth. In the case of nowly-dug trenches all tho earth that is excavated is necessary for tho making of the fire parapet and for raising to a sufficient hoight the rear wall ("parados") of the trench. But in an old trench where saps arc being dug towards tho enemy's trenches, and especially where mining operations aro in progress, the earth that is dug out- must bo carried away, continuously lest it should accumulate and block the trench ; as I have already shown, once a trench is made, earth cannot he thrown outside it indiscriminately.. The miners fill the soil, into sandbags away down in their deep holes, and a continuous stream of men shoulder the bags at the sap-head and carry tliem off to a "dump',' somewhere in the rear. Where the Germans are very, close to us and it is vitally necessary to keep on mining and counter-mining at a great rate a huge amount of earth is evacuated. It is very ticklish work when each side can hear tho other's picks and the packing in of high .explosives: it is then simply a race ''as to whether we %an blow in the Gorman mine before it can bo exploded. I heard of a case somo weeks ago, which was so urgent that-it was necessary to string out somo 200 men at short intervals down a long trench, and to pass sandbags down and explosives up from hand to hand for nearly twelve consecutive hours l . Let no one underestimate the _ value of this work. It is not only, an inevitable result of the warfare...which has been thrust upon lis by the inventions of scientists serenely labouring in workshop and laboratory; in itself it calls for a high standard of physical endurance supported by cons'kYr-able moral courage. Where mining is : feasible at ail the enemy „is necessarily near enough to use bombs, trench mortars, rifle grenades, catapults, spring-guns, and. tiie like. Sandbag-carrying under conditions of this kind demands any amount of courage. Finally, the humble _ sandbag forms, a highly important addition to personal comfort in bad -'.weather! Half-a-dozen provide an invaluable, mattress on the clay floor of a damp, cold, dug-out. - A singl" Rondbag Will serve as a coverpif* for food,' especially ; meat and bread. Tied round the. knee it preserves onejs breeches from .'wearing out. and one's lfi/r from cold and damp. Let me con-, elude with a picture of a senior officer whom rliit.v comnpl'ed me to woko at *5 a.m. He was lying on . several sandbars, dressed in a greatcoat with the collar un to keep 'mice from running round his neck. A comforter concealed his head excent for eves and nose —and: his legs Were ipserted in a "air of sandhairs. Such is . not the olFioM, use of sandbags, hut who would grudge them