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Show Ml PRISONERS WORK Oil HMDS Accept Their Misfortune Philosophically, Weather Changes at Front SAINT POL. France via Pari! Dec SO 10 SS a ro Oer nan prisoners of war work cheerily at the a de of heir armed French guarO ans In repa ring the much damaged national hlchway In th s region Just to the rear of the colossal batUefront Tie p Isoners aro on t e best tern s with tholr captors who good naturedly share cigar e ea vl 1 s fron their p pes and other luxuries w th tore stwhlle foes The prisoners rema n only a -si ort time in this neighborhood As soon as a suf flclent number a taken to fill a train the oaptl es are d spatched to Home town on the coast or in the interior or em hi rkad for Algeria In this region there Is mucb activity fro a morn ng till tght on account of the passage of great supply convoys Inter spersed with co umns of troops, proceed 1 ig gal j to tho front to take their turns In the Lrencres The so d era wit l out ex eption express a preference for work In the trenches rather than remaining Idly at their bll let. While the men aro held In reserve at the rear they say that aside from the time nhen they are sleeping off fatigue, each minute seems I ke au hour The postal service Is uncertain. They rarely reoerva new. While the men are In tl e trenches, sometime only fifteen ards from tl e Germans they are always kept on keen edge Almost every day there la a change In the weather Today Is marked by a hard frost, turning the roads into long skating rinks on which the heavy motor trucks are almost useless. Pedestrians are obi ged to take to the fields beside the roads Thousands of men are engaged I throw ns; earth over the glassy sur faces n order to avoid Interruption of the transportation of st ppl es Before the fros set In the roads were like quagmires, on ng o tho frequent rains. T. nder he ext eraeiv n ng conditions that pre all t e men and tholr oorumand ers are rema kably cheerful and confl the battlefront. In the region of Arras and St- Elo the position of the troope has scarcely varied a foot from the tig sag lines which have been occupied oc-cupied for three months. The possession of Arras la of great importance to the allies, who are holding it with remark able tenacity although opposed by great forces of Germans, under the command or General Count von Arnlm. commander of the Fourth army corps, and the crown prince Of Bavaria. Every moment is a perilous one when Arras Is approached, since the Germans have marked accurately the ranges along the highways. Any movement along these roads brings a salvo of artillery fire. |