TRENCH WARFARE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 71, 24 March 1915, Page 8

TRENCH WARFARE.

RESPITE OT TEE CAMPAIGN. (By WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD.), {By mail to New York.) CALAIS, January 16. His American rubber boots and his clothes were caked in the mud of the trenches, and you could smell horse, gunpowder and gasolene when he entered the compartment of the train. He was a human whiff straight from the battle lines, and he was so delighted with the prospect of his six day leave of absence that, in'i Zie of being an English major and therefore one of the most silent men on earth, he wanted to talk. He began about the weather, and from that shifted to the mud in the trenches. "These *merican rubber waders are the only things to keep out the water," he said. ''"Waders" is the English name for rubber boots. "The only trouble with them is that sometimes the water in the trenches is so deep that it overtops the waders, and you slosh around with them full of mud and water. They ought to come up to your hips." ICE FORMS IN THE TRENCHES. "How much mud and water do you really have in the trenches?" "My dear man, some of my troops have spent six days in mud above their knees. It was so deep that they could not lie down in it without drowning. "And what's worse, some nights it was so cold that a skim of ice froze over the water and the men stood in it. These men did not have waders. They were not protected* from the icy water in any way." "Don't they die of colds?" "No; it's most extraordinary, but the men who have had stomach trouble and had to be careful of their eating before, they went into the trenches, find, after 1 a week or so. that their stomachs become fine and strong. They can eat anything and as much as they want. They don't get much exercise, but the open air life makes new men of them. "You see, really we are in winter quarters. So are the Germans. "I don't suppose the generals of either side intended that there should be any lull in the fighting this winter, but nature had its way. '""We could not fight if we wanted to. Fve been in an important part of the line, and we have not done any real fighting for six weeks. FERE BLINDLY .AT NIGHT. "It's a wonderful sight, though—the trench country. All y<m can see are barbed wire fences. The trenches are so well made that you can't distinguish tiiem even from a short distance. There is utter silence most of the time. "It is at night when we have lively . times. Each side is expecting the other to pour out of the trenches and make an attack; the situation is always tense, in the darkness.' "Pm hot saying that men don't go to sleep* >.but."there are lookouts whose nerves, are strained to' high C all the time. "The slightest,movement of any sort in the direction of the enemy's trenches sets the outlook firing. It may have been only a weed stirring in the wind, but that's-enough for him. ''The men all jump and begin firing immediately whether they see anything or not. The firing runs down the trench some times four miles. This is because we are afraid the Germans may rush from their trenches and charge us. WHITE BOMB BEINGS QUIET. "Then the Germans wake up. They are afraid that all the noise means that j vre are charging them. They match us in making noise. They shoot into the darkness, even though they see nothing, i "This may go on for about ten or fifteen minutes, and then an astonishing thing happens—a great bomb of white j light explodes between the two trenches.' Thafs a bomb of good cheer, even if the enemy did fire it. It means that the Germans wanted to see whether we were charging or not. And it also means that the Germans are not charging. ""'Let's quit firing and go to sleep,' isi •what the German white bomb tells us, or what our white bomb may tell the Germans. "And the firing gradually dies out, silence falls again on the trenches, and it is not until daybreak that we really begin shooting again. "I've never been able to explain the shooting at daybreak. It always opens -up, whether the officers start it or not. The men do it themselves. I suppose, perhaps they do it to make good with their officers for -what's going to happen at 7 o'clock." KNOCK OFF FOR BREAKFAST. "What does iappen at 7 o'clock?" "Why, they all stop fighting until breakfast is over. One man after another lays down his rifle and begins to eat "the food that has been brought to him, via the communication trencs»es. And you can't hear any shooting until So'clock. for eating and smoking. "These English and German soldiers know each other by face and even by name. The astonishing thing is that they dont hate each other. "You can't keep up that feeling of blind, hatred between the trenches. You know that Christmas truce was a bad thing for the soldiers, from a military standpoint."

Then the major said an astonishing thing:

"If you wanted to end this war, all you'd have to do would be to let the men have another truce or two like that Christmas one.

"They'd get to talking to each other, and suddenly they'd decide that the whole business was d d foolishness, and they'd lay down their guns and go back home."