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Show MEN LIKE TREFsCHES . BETTEBTHAH CAMP- British Soldiers in Mesopotamia Meso-potamia Grumble About Moving. MAKE ANIMALS PETS Catch Anything Alive to Amuse Themselves With When Idle. Special Cable to The Tribune. LONDON, July 1. Writing from Abu Roman, Mesopotamia, Edmund Candler Cand-ler says that tho British in Mesopotamia Mesopo-tamia prefer the trunehes to their rest camps, and grumble when they have to leave the front. "The battle of El Orah, otherwise known as El Hannah, or the Suwaicha marsh, on January 21, when we found w the Turks too strongly intrenched to be W dislodged by an attack in the open, was f the beginning of trench warfare," he says. 'The conditions of France- were repeated re-peated in Mesopotamia, and there were constant affairs of patrols, listening posts and pickets in no-man's laud. This phase was continued on the left bank for two and a half months from January 21, the day of the battle, till wo captured the position on the morning; of April 5. Prefer the Trenches. V "But the area covered by our trenches was deeper than anything on the same line of front in Flanders. When our firing line was within seventy yards of tho enemy's wire entanglements, the whole labyrinth of parallels and communication com-munication trenches on a 1200-yard front was made up of some sixteen miles of trench and sap work. "In France one was glad to be out of the trenches into billets, but here there were no resources to rail back on in camp no luncheon parties. I heard a regiment that was going to be relieved by another grumble at having to pack up and move. "In the trenches there was always the mild excitement of a little sniping, and the Turks never bothered us much with their shells. When it rained, of course, one was glad to be back in camp. On our left was the river, our right the marsh. On the riverside one was a little " cramped in the trenches, but by the marsh there were open spaces, dead ground where one could breathe the air and stretch one's legs. Lake Floods Position. "By the end of March the lake had encroached on the Turkish position Hooding out 200 yards or more of trenches and leaving their wire entanglements entan-glements in the water. Ono could sit on l. ' the parapet here and enjoy the view r - almost within hail of the enemy. We were screened from frontal fire, and the ground on our right between us and the water had become too dangerous for snipers. "There were pools on the marsh side of the trenches in which the men used to bathe and catch tortoises. There was very little to do in the hours off duty when tKey were not digging or manning loopholes, and on active service the British Brit-ish soldier amuses himself with strange pets. He will catch and train anything that comes to hand, from a bear cub to a cockchafer, and he does not bother his head .about the natural history of the beast. "In Mesopotamia the tortoise is the companion of his exile. When captured a string is tied to his leg, and he is put over the parapet to graze. An animal who died under this diet, tho pensioner of a Scot, was solemnly buried with an identification disc. Patriotism in Names. "There is nothing frivolous in the jiomcnclatu.ro of the trenches, which begin be-gin with the designation of regiments and brigades, and as they approach nearer the Turkish lines end in a climax of patriotism with 'King street, 'Queen street,' 'Prince street' and 'Emperor street. ' ' ' in the neighborhood of the marsh there is a finger post 'To Kut, ' another makes it 'Two miles to Dundee The cuting to an ambuianeo is named 'Har- ley street.' "All this network of streets and habitation habi-tation ia empty now, deserted as Pompeii Pom-peii or, Babylon. The men who made them are digging oilier mansions underground. under-ground. The humors they have written on the wall remain, but there is none to read them save the incurious Arab." |