STRUGGLE IN THE LABYRINTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 9 July 1915, Page 5

STRUGGLE IN THE LABYRINTH

FIGHTING under adverse • • CONDITIONS. XONDON, j?iy.7. Tifie "war m as tiomp4red* wit-H. the .struggle iii the-subterranean -passages of the £abyianth. The narrow galleries are feebly lighted by oil lamps, whe!re the adversaries are separated by ibags of said, which .they keep pushing towards "one another. The moment there't is ian opening a terrific fight ensues. The oiily weapons possible are hand grenades and l bayonets, although the Germans employ revolvers "and long\ knives, and occasionally vitriol. ; The tileries'are not longer than ten yards, the walls Ooze with water, and the odour' is insufferable! The French liaye ifeyer had a chance to remove, their dead, and have practically 'lived' amongst the .bodies. It took tmrteeib. days 'to wm T 6O yards o! gallery. The 'Germans erected 'barricades at every step, and built inany ingenious traps: - Thet French always risked falling Tipon the points of bayonets " placed in excavations "covered "with" a thm layer of sand During the ■whole period. they never saw .daylight, and never' stopped fighting. Despite their' sufferings, • many of the wounded refused, to leave the rank 6.