"THOUSANDS OF MILES OF TRENCHES"
■ WANDERINGS IN A LABYRINTH Mr. H. Warner Allen, Special Correspondent of tho British Press with the French armies, writes: — In tho section of the French lines that I have just beeu visiting there are already, on a front of just over ten miles 375 kilometers (or ■ slightly over 23-1 miles) of trenches. To make certainty still more sure, another 75 kilometers (of 46 miles) of other trenches are being dug,' so that by the end of the year there will bo in that neighbourhood 2SO miles of trenches on ten miles of front.
Elsewhere a certain division- has 250 miles of trenches to look after, while ascertain corps d'annee has <150 miles. Taking these figures into consideration, one will certainly be under the mark in estimating that there are twenty miles of trenches to every mile of front-, so that between Switzerland and the North Sea the British and French Armies have at least ten thousand miles of trench to guard and keep in order.
It is easy to understand that a man, even if he knows his own section of trenches thoroughly, can lose himself utterly in the labyrinth as soon as he leaves his own ground. Since the beginning of the war I have walked through trenches more miles than I could count, and I should be sorry to say how many times we have lost our way, although provided with the most experienced guides available. Thero are notice boards and' directions up at every turn.
One night an unhappy paymaster, full of zeal, set out with the pay for a regiment in the frost trenches. He was anxious that the men should have their sous punctually to the day, even though they were posted in a place where, to put it mildly," money has not its customary value. Accompanied by his clerk,, he started out at seven o'clock in the evening. He thought that he knew tile trenches, but the first thing ho did was to take a wrong turning. He .blundered on- as best lie could through the night, and was passed on from one section to another. He returned to his quarters in the rear at four o'clock in the morning, both he and his clerk utterly worn out, but after allHheir exertions .they had not found 'the regiisent they were looking for. Tile quick wits of the Frenchman have been set to work - andliis originality has devised any number : of machines and curious stratagems that must make the life of the German, a hundred yards or so away, a perfect burden to him.
Stirring Them Up, Describing a visit to tho. trenches ,the writer says:—
Eventually we reached a spot- where the, word went'round that tnere must be no talking. How near we were to the Germans Was shown by sentries on the parapets watching intently for any movement in the German lines."Now," said the General, "we will stir up the Gerrijans-'a little. It is lunch time, and they will be excessively annoyed." We 'vent to.a shelter whicil protected a new and simple appliance for throwing high explosives' into tho enemy's lines. A shell filled with a very comfortable quantity - of' melinite left the shelter. Then, a second or two later, when it had reached its mark, there came a' big oxplosian. It was followed by a second shell.
lhat will do," said the General, "We have stirred them up now, and they will be exceedingly puzzled, for two isolated bombs 1 are extremely uncommon, and they certainly will be unable to understand their purpose. Anyhow, in three minutes we shall get their reply."
We started back towards the rear, but before we had gone ,fifty yards there was a tremendous report. A lninenwerfer, a mine thrower, was engaged in explaining to the French that the Germans were much annoyed at having their lunch interrupted. Outtwo bombs called forth two minesirom the enemy, which shifted a quantity of earth but otherwise did 110 harm,. The enemy- then apparently returned to their meal, as there' was silence. But at this point'the French artillery behind 11s had-something to say. The position of the mine-throwers: had x been spotted, 'and it seemed an admirable occasion to shut them up for good. The result was what the Freiich call a rafale, or. perfect - blizzard of "75" shells. It only lasted about thrfee mill-' utes. - The 75's barked awav with their -ear-piercing reports like a pack of hounds that had suddenly gone mad-. Then, as suddenly ;as it began, the noise stopped.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160205.2.15
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
758"THOUSANDS OF MILES OF TRENCHES" Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.