AN UNDERGROUND FORTRESS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3150, 31 July 1917, Page 6

AN UNDERGROUND FORTRESS

9 Mar. Philip Gibbs says that the thing which interested him in the leceat British advance wa3 "tho revelation of tho German way of life behind tis lines— these abundant lines—his military methods of defence and observation and organisation, and tho domestic arrangements by which ho has tried to make himself comfortable in the field of war.

"As a builder of dug-outs the German soldier has no equal. But in a"dition to these trench systems, he mado behind his lines a series of strong posts cunningly secreted and commanding a wide field of fire with dominating observation over our side of the country. I found such a place quite by accident. "I suddenly looked down an enormous sand-pit covering an acre or so, and saw that it was :i concealed fortress of extraordinary strength and organisation—an underground citadel for a garrison of at least, 3000 men, perfectly screened by the wood above.

"Into tho sand-banks on every side of tho vast pit were built hundreds of chambers leading dee]>er down ' into a maze of tunnels, which ra*3 right round the central aTena. Before leaving, the enemy had busied himself with an elaborate* packing-up, and had taken away most of his movable property, but the 'fixtures' still remained, and a litter of mattresses stuffed with shavings, empty wine bottles, candles which had been burnt down on the last night in the old home, old socks, and old boots and old clothes no longer good for active service, and just the usual relics which people leave behind when they change houses. The officers' quarters were all timbered and panelled and papered, with glass windows and fancy curtains. r hpy were furnished with bedsteads looted from French houses, and with mirrors, cabinets, withstands,-marble-ton tables, and easv chairs.

"The men's mmrfers wero hardly lees comfortable, and the whole ylaeo v.-as organised as a self-contained garrison, with earner tors' shops and blacksmiths' sbcls, and a quartermaster's stores still crowded with bomb and noriiil tornedops-Wiou-eands of them which tho enemy had left b?hind in his hurrv—and Kitehons with great stoves and boilers, and a Red Cress establishment for first aid, and concrete bath-houses with shower baths and cigarracks for rtfficprs, Who emoke before*and after bathins."