GRAVES OF SOMME.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 May 1917, Page 2

GRAVES OF SOMME.

CONDITIONS AWFUL. WORK OF BRITISH GUNS. A ala/V correspondent of tlie Associated Press writes as under in the Springlield Republican:— British Headquarters in Franco, March 28, by way of London. Now that tho desperate episodes in the war, known in history as the battlos of tho Sommc, have been definitely ended by the German retreat from Arras to the Aisne, it has been possible mora leisurely to investigate the conditions which existed along tho German front just prior to tiie backward swing of the so-called Hindenburg line. When the retreat first began more than a month ago, the British swept over some old Somme positions held by the Germans, and evsn th •■ most hurried glimpses of the evaluated trendies indicated how untenable they had become and why it was decided to run no risks of another Allied oficnsivo

in this sector. Five miles of slogging along the old German line in the vicinity of Bapaumo to-day revealed a picture of ghastliness which' may never be seen again in this or any, other war. The front line was a long, open, dilapidated, crumbling grave, which disappeared in tho mud at times, but could he picked up further on by means of the bodies that marked the way." One realised with a shudder how the men doomed to live in these trenches lad bean plagued by their own dead. Such a ceremony as decent burial had been wholly out of the question, and there was no means, of conveying the bodies to the rear'. It had been like passing through a fiery rain from Hades to bring up food and water to the living. So, the dead had simply been tossed out of the trenches, only to be blown back again by exploding shells. ■■' Occasionally graves had" been dug in the sides of the trench itself, but the dead could not even rest there. At

frequent intervals tho inevitablo skeleton hands and feet protruded from the trench walls. Grim sights thie war has had for those men who passed up and down these trenches during the iong and bitter nights of winter. THE BRITISH GUNS. ]./ It has been an enthralling thing to stand by the British guns in the last three or four months and wonder what jvas the meaning of all their continuous roar. There was no set battle in progress, and tho gunners said it was merely tho "daily hate" going on to keep Fritz unhappy. The hideous revelations of tho German trenches, however, give the gruesome answer to what the guns were doing. In some places there were veritable mangled masses of what were once human beings. Neither by day nor by night had the Germans'rest. Thentrusted barbed wire, in which they always place such great reliance, had been swept completely away over thousands of yards, and they dared not venture out to repair it.

All trace of communication trenches leading' to the front lines were wiped out, and it had been necessary to bring up supplies and relief at night over a country blown into endless shell holes, irany of which were filled to such a depth with water that men were drowned in them. White bits of broad tape could be seen here and there attached to the iron posts. There were for the purpose of guiding the men up to the front line. Those pathways over the fields of death also were strewn with fragments of human beings. Some of the dead had the look of mummies. One of the fallen soldiers had his right arm thrown over his rifle as if his last impulse was to plotect this weapon of defence. But there was no defence against the constant shelling. Some pieces of metal thrown about by the high explosive shells must have weighed at •least 101b; the result of hitting a man with a 101b bullet can easily be inftgjued. At one. point in the trenches was just the lower half of a German officer, identified by his boots and leggings he wore. His legs were crossed tailorfashion. Trench helmets of heavy steel had great holes torn in thein. Tho front line, of course, was seamed with the inevitable deep German dugouts, but even these had not been immune. There were hundreds of direct hits on top of them, which 'must have ■mado life intensely miserable and liazardous within. Around the famous Butte de Warlencourt the German trenches have entirely disappeared. The entire fury of the Somme fighting once swirled about this somewhat insignificant" mound of powdered chalk, just off the Bapaume road, which is generally believed to have been a prehistoric tomb. The Butte •now marks the death place not only of one supposedly distinguished prehistoric man, but thousands of young warriors.