THE BRITISH OUTPOSTS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15269, 4 May 1915, Page 9

THE BRITISH OUTPOSTS.

LONDON Iff FLANDEBS. COCKNEY SPIRIT ABROAD. ■bourne "Age" Correspondent.) LONDON. March 12. -es the frontier of France, not far -bmentieres, but in the Flanders . lino, is a small forest known as , rteert Wood, which win lire in . ras the scene of some of %h» \ * fighting of this war. Tho Brintpost trenches ran. .through it, 1 ■c Germans face them a couple of ?u. yards away, on the wood's • Since Novem_or last there ha» fnuch strenuous fighting, for the Hon of this wood and the valuipver its wooded -surface affords., "i'ang counter-attacks have been nt on both sides, and the whole tVood is a cemetery for men.irho Wlen in the fights for its owner-. otitis now British, and is likely Mm British-until the Germans: »rned out'of Belgium with*their rdhaggage. • ; ' ' •Jjptowards the clow of last 3re«r Germans won this woo_; 'and an-

nounced the fact with much gratifica--ion in their official reports, and the citizens of Berlin celebrated the victory with much lager -3er> But tho British recovered tho \W)od after a strenuous fight, and buried a thousand j-ernians, afterwards. And, although .ho German wireless news was silent ibout tha recovery of tho wood and the -laughter that attended it, Plcegsteert Wood rifs ever since been .'British, witn .ho British trenches running right through the centra of it, and the Gernans enviously hanging on to the outer "rings—also in trenches —and hoping against hopo that the day will come when they will be able to regain this pi_c*e of valuahle cover. ' Of course.'the British troops in possession of the small forest do not cail t by its proper name. "Ploegsteert Wood" is a fine, full-sized mouthful for th G tourist, and makes an imposing aprvearance in a guide book, but it s altogether too ornate—or too difficult —for men whoso job is just plain fightUg, and not sjght-seeing of talking. 3o ' the British Tommios have willed it "Plug j&reet," and as Plug btreet it will li_ remembored by those who fought for tho right to occupy it., Every yard of it has been bought with British blood, and in its two miles of scrubby woodland thero are regimental cemeteries, carefully tended, where British heroes sleep; but that makes no difference,to the British' way of regarding their, temporary possession. "Pldeg-Btoai-t; >v*ood'' savours of "side" or af-7 febtaiion; 'Plug'street' is short, succinct md: easily pronounced. Plug street therefore.- it is. During the first hard fighting for tho possession of Plug street the troops had uot much time to think of anything except how to hold their property from the persistent Germans. But when the latter had been taught a lesson—--or, rather, several lessons —they were not likely to forget in a hurry, and sullenly retired from the wood in order to entrench themselves about 80 yards from the fringe of the trees, the British troops proceeded to make themselves as comfortaiile as the circumstances permittedv - The ground in which the ■rood. ■ stood Was boggy, marshy, and s-'Sst. The first thing to do was to make the trenches dry as possible— and when this was accomplished the next step was to construct cross trenches, smaller trenches, bomb-proof shelters, "dug-outs," and all the rest of the digging "and excavating necessary in trench warfare when an army proposes to abandon tho acquiretl methods of' civilisation and live .underground, like cave men. for a few weeks or;months, as the Avar may require., I So Plug street 'ytaal turned into a city—an underground city—but still a city, where thousands of men lived and ate and slept.- and went about their business—the business of killing Germans. . Approaches "to the front trenches were cut through the wood and* -'undergrowth • small trees were -bopped down, and used as barriers for the trenches. Gradually the work of turning a wooded moras- into a trim -nderground city was carried out. Tlif big trenches wore connected with smaller trenches, and the smaller trenches were bisected in every direction with connecting passages. And communicating with tho trenches, lines r>r passages were cut through the woods at the back of the danger cone, and gradually led up to the underground city itself. These wood lanes are al** most as safe as tho trenches them-S-lveSj-for they are latticod and boarded with the .rancho3 of the chopped trees, and aro covered overhead with ivood. It is characteristic of the British soldier that ho has imported the spirit bf his Cockneyism into his woodand city, and has christened the covered avonues and tho larger trendies with the names bf his. best-loved London haunts. Thus tiiere is Piccadilly Cir--us, with Leicester sauaro not far off. rhen they have historic Fleet street, which leads to Somerset House. Recent street- Oxford C-rcus, The Strand, and the Haymarket, all have their place in the environs of Plug street. Plug street is the outpost, or tho front line of the British Army. It is a position in close proximity to a formidable German position, and the German trenches, surmounted by sandbags, can bo seen stretching acioss tho centre of a~ green field which lies beyond the confines of the wood. Since the Kaiser's birthday—most things seem to revolve round the Kaiser's birthday as far as the Germans are oonoorned —there has not been very much fighting for the right of way of Plug but it is not to be assurred from that fact that its Piccadilly Circus ie as safe, as its great original in London. There is always somo intermittent fighting gome on in the vicinity of Plus* street. The Germans blaze away at times, and frequently let loose their on the wood; their snipers aro for ever on the watch to "pot*' anyone" incautious enough to sbov lum»»l- in the open. Tbe British, on .their part, are to return these.courtesies and amenities of warfar©; »t»4' J*- I ®*-- in' the outpdst trenches stand pati-ntty for hours waiting for any, sign* of fictivity. in the German hln«-----Ooking"';intO' the *;. trench peri-5-one*,' which reflect; as > in a mirror, the Bigns.ioF'any sinister German intention some -hundreds of yards* away. And, nt a signal from -them," the British rifles and ina<shin'e-gun3 speak in reply. Thus Jjfe, run's it** course'in Pliic st r est —th©-*fortified, en-ranched, sandbagged little 'underground city of the trenches, dugoutin-a-wood inVan advanced point of the great Western-front. "'"' ' ■ , ** " ■ ' ■ i " •" J