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Show STARFISH DEFENSES PROVE FORMIDABLE Major In Trench Army Explains Way-Progress Way-Progress at Champagne Front Is Slower Than Expected. Special Cable to Tha Tribune. PARIS, Jan. 22. An ex-member of the French chamber of deputies, now serving j as a major, glvte some interesting details j as to why the French offensive In Cham-j Cham-j pag-ne, which opened in September, has not progressed as quickly as might have been expected. It was only when the German second line had been pierced that the intricate nature of the enemy's defenses was made evident. At intervals of approximately 500 yards behind the second line the Germans Ger-mans had constructed underground strongholds which cannot be detected from the surface. They are known as "starfiBh" defenses, and their construction is most ingenious. About thirty feet below the ground ie a "dug out" of generous dimensions. In which are stored machine guns, rifles and other weapons. Leading from this underground un-derground chamber to the surface are five or six tunnels, jutting out in different directions, di-rections, so that their outlets form half a dozen points in a circle, with a diameter of about 100 yards. In each of the tunnels a narrow gauge railway is laid down to allow the machine guns to be speedily brought to the surface. sur-face. At the mouth of the tunnels are two gun platforms on either side,, and the mouth itself is concealed by being covered j over with earth or grass, as the case i may be. These "starfish" defenses are i also mined, and can be exploded from any one of the various outlets. On several occasions when the French endeavored to press home their advantage advan-tage they found themselves enfiladed by machine juns raised to the surface by troops who had taken up their places in the underground strongholds at the first menace to the second line. When one of the outlets was captured machine guns would appear at another, while, if the French troops attempted to rush the stronghold the Germans took refuge in the other passages, and met them as they appeared. In this way It was necessary to capture every cut, and, owing to their being concealed, con-cealed, this was a difficult operation. Involving In-volving heavy loss of life. Moreover, whenever the enemy saw that the position posi-tion was untenable they could blow It up before abandoning the last tunneL |