STRONG GERMAN DEFENCES ON THE EASTERN FRONT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16097, 10 December 1915, Page 7

STRONG GERMAN DEFENCES ON THE EASTERN FRONT.

SEVEN BOWS OF TRENCHES AND UNDERGROUND CITY. CONTACT MINES SOWN BY THE MILE. Petrogead, December 8. Remarkable defence works constructed by the Germans, enabling them to hold the front with very scanty forces, were brought to light by the Russian successes at Kemmera, •west of Riga. The field fortifications surpass anything previously seen. There were seven rows of trenches, and a whole underground city for shelter. A prisoner states that the Kaiser in October declared that the soldiers must dig. Men who did not dig their comrades' shelters must di? their comrades' graves. The entanglements in places were 200 yds deep. A portion consists of tough wattle, used in order to economise wire, and equally difficult to hack through. The Germans in the Middle Dvina burn off the forests and plant sharp branches as chevaux de frise. These fences are sometimes a mile aeross, and sown with mines exploding on contact. There are equally novel inventions for attack, including a steel barrier, breast-high, and 12yds long, on wheels, equipped with chipping, hacking, and sawing appliances, worked by mechanical arms. Prisoners boast that the inventions enable small numbers of half-trained troops to attack where strong forces' were previously required.