"DUG-OUTS I HAVE KNOWN"
A SUBALTERN'S EXPERIENCE AN AMUSING DESCRIPTION ' The title of ibis article (says "A Subiaitern," in the "Westminster Gazette ) may sound slightly ambiguous; I hasten, •however, to .assure the reader that it does not deal with the human dug-out, although I have known many curious specimens of these in my time, but with tho genuine solid (more or less) variety that we used to live and have our being m, in the piping old days of peace-war-fare," beforo Pushes were an everyday occurrence, and goTng. over tho iop was a sort of gentle appetiser for breakfastin the Hun line. Now that we r.re, or eeom to be, on tho verge of open warfare I feel it a duty to say something about the Dug-out-so often ■anatnemntieed, so often hlessed-that used to form : Buon"'an important factor in the comfort (or discomfort) of our daily lives. I olass Dug-outs under four headings: ■Palatial, Bearable, Purgatorial, and •Boohe: we will deal with them in order <ii seniority. I reraemoer my first ii.tTo- ' Auction to the' Dug-out, when I first went ; out and it was n particularly fortunate • one! We-had just taken ovor a bit of iline from the French in what was then 'an exceptionally peaceful part of the ■ front—the sort of place where the opposI ing giinnors, before they, do anything, '•warn each other's infantry, thus: 'We '.'are going to send over one shell rignt behind your front line'at 3 pip emma today.) Please notify all ranlr to keep unIdor cover." It is a delightful arranp.ment, and one that has my -unqualified Buppoi't. If a rifle was let off in the right everyone rushed out of the (tugtouts «aying "Good heavens! What was Ihat?" '. • ■-.■. ; ,..., As' you see, it was a charming littlo snot. 'But to ''eturn to our, old friend the Dug-out. I.was positively amazed at' thesß. Of course, I had oome out with the usual hazy idea of the front line he. sng one continual sanguinary slrmrglo *or existence, with hand-to-hand conflicts .three time's daily; and when I viewed lor the first time tho Du?-ont.Palatial 1 ■was, as I say, astounded.. The particular one: I-have'in mind wns destined, for the second-in-command. It was sj-acious —for a- dnp-out; it was papered in the Jnorft superb and artistic palo blue; it ■had a couple of armchairs and a tablo with four whole legs; and the bed was a resulnr divan. In fact, as we remarked at the time; it was more like a boudoir ■than a due-out, tho whole scene being ■complete but for tho pictures which our . 'Allies had with: trrte courtesy left vs.
The "Dug-out Bearable;" The Test of the dug-outs were not quite ■feo magnificent, but were,very tine examples of the Bearable kind. They were large enough, possessed of about two wire beds apiece, and* with the usual etjuip- .,' inent-of a dug-out in Prance were quite 1 -happy spots. ; Tho : usual equipment of Lares and Penates of a dug-out in France is as follows—try and imagine it; it ia n. good study of Still Life-onß sometimes wonders that there is still life,,but that 'is beside the (point. In the. Average, or •Bearable, .type of dug-out you plunge down three or four eteps—that is if it Iβ tone of the very safe British dug-outs with ■quite two feet of mud on top., Otherwise you' probably mount up two or three 6teps to where Your, dug-out, rears 'its roof of corrugated iron above the level of the trenches defiantly and proudly. Haying stumbled' down, or up these -steps, you knock your head--with-'.con-siderable force against'-w.hat is known in. architectural circles, I believe, js the lintel,-a pine-log prolific , in knote -which ■forms the upper part of the doorway frame; Havfng wiped the tears of pain from your eyes and. relieved your feelings in the usual way, vou now, carefully fitooping, as you have learnt -wisdom, observo yourself to be in a small square or 'oblong cavity •'with'a roof of logs support ed by logs. Sometimes there is canvas or tarred felt nailed to this ceiling, sometimes- also the same materials cover the vails. This is quite a good stunt. The !walls do not'then fall in so obviously, and, behind, it .makes a nico little run-, iway. for the rats, boine almost as good as. oak wainscottjng for the purpose.- ''. ' As -you-enter.there'is' a spealnng behind this dug-outWainscotting. It is the rats. This squeaking continues steadily all day, and all night', too. It gets quite cheery in time, and you like it— ■ it makes it seem homely after a bjit. On .'.the floor:is;a table, also four chairs, one of which js complete and has a back. , .Upon the table is a barrel'of cigars, , ,some vtrench maps, .a' number of the "Sketch,", three-empty; glasses, a gramophone,, and the Message Block. -In.the obscurity of the upper end of the. Dug-out are two "wire beds or bunks, one above the other. On the lower bed a figure is lying with • its boots on, swathed and swaddled up ■with- blankets, and a .muffler- Trapped round its head.o It breathes uneasily,, and occasionally turnß over in its sleep and slaps-at-the. canvas on the wall where the rat-noises are coming from; Near the table, sticking out from .the .wall, is a shelf. On this shelf a cr.ndle j. cutters in . close proximity to. on . open ! jar of jam. Near the jar of: jam is Borne cheese on a plate, which a pouse ■has just been investigating—one gets to tolerate mice; there : are also a Verey pistol and some cartridges, a bottle of fine old Highland whisky, and a tin of milk. Hound tlfg walls are pinned indiscriminately pictures of Miss Gladys Cooper, Kirchners, and whole pa?es culled from "La Vie Parisienne." Upon the floor is a thick 6lime. Anything that falls'on the floor gets speedily covered with mnd. Everything falls on the floor. And there you have your picture of the Ordinary or Bearable Dug-out. ■ Another characteristic of the British' flug-ont is that it is never.by any chance (or never used to be, at any rate) safe. One of the'chief and most enthralling topics of conversation during a "strafe" is as to what exact calibre of ,ehell will he withstood Jut the particular flng-put you are in. "It might stand a whizzbang, and at a pinch a 4.2, but, of course; a 5.9 would come clean through," or "of course, we don't stand an earthly against anything heavier than a pipsqueak/' And then the 5.9 lands on the roof, cr near it. and bjows out the candle. Everyone Roes green, and then breathes afrain. and someone relights tho candln, and all feel much easier that it mil apparently stand a'S.9. Someone then suggests tl>at just, a little drnp all round would be a sound scheme, to which nil are agreed, nnd all have one, nnd all be»in in feel more cheery; but of conrao there is always the chance that tho next cne may come through! Purgatory! We come now to the Dug-out Piugutorial, of which I haveknown mauy. Of ' course, it is hard to say, but I think the consistently wet Dug-out is perhaps one ' of the most offensive. There is one that sticks in my memory, somewhere iu Flanders, that had from two to four feet of water all over tho floor always. Wo •used to have it pumped out occasionally when the water got too high and threatened our lives by drowning, but it was always nice and fnll again ./by'.' the next morning. Wβ used to have ,a floating trench-board in it as a sort of raft anil step on it in tho doorway and push off ■ to whatever part of the interior we wished to reach; but hats and papers were always falling overboard into it, and anything that once fell off the minute table was finally coneideit-d to lie irretrievably gone. One also had to excrciso csre in turning over whon .sleeping, as the board bed on which one reposed was somewhat narrow., and an 1 injudicious raovement might well precipitate one into the depths. Dug-outs- of this type .-.re 100 numerous to mention , . There is another one of a different type that I have always remembered with acute distaste in the eamo part of the.line. It was about Bft. in length, 3ft. in height, and about 4ft. in breadth, and was constructed in tho shape.of an arch. One conld not even At upright in it. but was forced to adopt a miserable half-and-half attitude of reclining, like an , ancient Roman at a feast You had to crawl on all fours, and getting out- was in my case Tifte extracting a peculiarly long cork from a champagne bottle. Tho only typo of Dug-out now remaining is the Boriie Dug-out, but this I think is too well known to merit description. The splendours of its r.umnroiis ' floors, electric '.it»ht, swimming baths, bil- / liard-roomSi gymnasiums, and smart clnvntor service have been too fully described before by the special correspondonte in tha Pws for my nalting pen to attempt the task.
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Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3199, 25 September 1917, Page 5
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1,505"DUG-OUTS I HAVE KNOWN" Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3199, 25 September 1917, Page 5
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