LUXURIOUS "DUG OUT."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11578, 23 December 1915, Page 4

LUXURIOUS "DUG OUT."

LIKE A SHIP'S CABIN. A soldier in a letter home gives somo interesting details* regarding the German trenches captured in the advance towards Lens on September 25. Ono decent dug-out belonged to the German machine gun crew, and wo collared this as our lawful prize. There was plenty of food inside, but. wo had orders not to touch it. I found a very decent box of cigars, cigarettes, etc. I took a German water "bottle to replace mine. The men in this line had heaps of souvenirs, as all dug-outs were there, and line dug-outs they were, too, like furnished rooms, with doors, tables, chairs, sleeping bunks, mattresses, look-ing-glasses., etc., and one even had a piano. Must- of the prisoners taken Avero found in the dug-outs—induced to come out by the gcntlo persuasion of a bayonet. Tltcy had dropped all their arms and equipment, and, although scared, seemed glad to give in. Four wero found calmly sitting down waiting to be taken prisoners. Wo must have looked fearsome objects—grimy-faced and Avcaring smoke-helmets with goggles over tho eyes. Our dug-out was well built, and must have entailed considerable labour. A shaft had been sunk to a depth of tAA-enty feet, and was well boarded up. Descending by means of a ladder, one found oneself in a room, high enough to stand up in, and lined Avith boards. In it was a table, a chair and four sleeping bunks, somewhat after the fashion of a ship's cabin. It was nice and warm down there, plenty of blankets, and safe from tho biggest shell. At the further end a sfeep staircase led up into another trench, but this entrance had been blocked up by a bomb thrown down when the trench was taken. At tho top of the shaft was a pulley arrangement for letting down tho machine gun into safety in tho event of heavy shelling. It "was indicative of the pains tho Germans take and their thoroughness in matters of this kind.