DUG-OUTS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2648, 17 November 1919, Page 7

DUG-OUTS.

ARE NOT HOMES FROM HOMES

There are many varieties of dugouts. They vary from the humble little "funk-hole,'/ dug almost vertically, to the vast, rambling works used as battalion and brigade headquarters. It having been the writer is privilege (misfortune) to live (exist) in three different underground shelters for two months, and it, so happened that they were of entirely different types, a description of them would perhaps cover most of the dugouts in France.

No. 1 was more or less a tunnel formed by the deepening, nnd roofing in of a-support trench. It was about twenty-five feet long, six wide, and only four feet high. The sojourn of ten men in this shelter for six days was not altogether delightful, especially for five of the party, who were six feet or over in height. Its name was decided within ten minutes of our arrival, for the first attempt to

make a fire at one entrance merely resulted in the happy home being transformed into a vast chimney ; and amidst and coughings, the cynic dubbed it "Dante's Inferno." It was a rude, rough edifice inside and out, timbered, without gas curtains, and with Mother Earth in a crumbly state for floor, walls, and roof. THE HOME OF THE HUM.

Our home for the next six days was infinitely better, being an old German dug-out. ("Jerry" always makes better underground works than the average British ones.) It was approached by an almost vertical flight of steps forty feet long, the dug-out itself being only about fifteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet high. Immunity against gas was assured by two gas-curtains fitted on the stairs. 'One great difference between this dug-out, christened by our litterateur "De Profundis," and Dante's Inferno, was its timbering, it having board walls, floor, and roof ; consequently, we were able to keep our temporary home quite clean. Some time afterwards, for a period of eighteen days, we occupied the "Warren," a large, rambling dugout, used by the Boche as battalion headquarters. It was truly a creditable piece of work, being a full five feet underground, and well timbered. Mainly consisting of a long tunnel, branching off into different rooms, it accommodated the officers' mess and sleeping quarters, the signal-office and signallers' quarters, the orderly room, and a room for battalion runners.

Even the "Warren" had its disadvantages, chief among which were foul air ; but we were all agreed that it was as perfect a home as one could expect within a thousand yards, of Jerry.

A country gentleman visited London to make some purchases. His wife, amongst other things, had requested him to buy an illuminated text, hut in ids hurry he omitted to make a note of the one she wanted.

He therefore wrote to her, asking for particulars, and got a reply by telegraph to save time. Imagine the astonishment of the telegraph clerk at receiving the following : "Unto us a child is born, three feet long and two feet broad. Am feeliug fairly well.—Mary."