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Show PERSHING'S MEN WITHIN SIXTY FEET OF THE GERMANS TTni THE AMEEICAX AEMT IX ! "rf!AXCE. Friday, Feb. 1 (By the As- ! liated Press"). American troops in , renches on the French front at one : V.e are only sixty feet from the Ger-rr.sLN. Ger-rr.sLN. In another place a mile of ! ground separates the opposing posi- j tions. At this point, however, there j are a number of ponds, and neither side j apparently desires to occupy the water- i covered ground. ! The American trenches all are in j more or less marshy ground, makiug the use of "duck boards" necessary, at ali times except when the trench j water and mud are frozen. The trenches were shallow when the Ameri- cans moved in, but since then they 1 have been deepened and improved. In every dugout the soldiers work a!n:ost constantly at the pumps, keep- ; ing out the water which seeps in. But i the watery conditions are unfavorable ! for trench rats, and few of them are j . seen. j One unit spent more than a week in j the line before seeing a rat, and he, ; apparently, was in a hurry to get some j place where the ground was drier. Artillery in Mud. In some places the artillerv is on ; ground but little higher than the i trenches, although a number of our ; batteries manage to keep '"dry feet", most, of the time. The enemv artii- lery in some places is on higher ground ! than the American, and within sight of one of our positions there is a German Ger-man observation post overlooking much territory. This has been shelled repeatedly re-peatedly and doubtless has been hit on several occasions. On clear nights the nill uron which this post stands out j against the skv is illuminated occa- I tionally l.iv rockets sent up bv one side or the other, so that the men in the bne niay see the shadows which mean that the enemy is near. . The scene at night is thrilling and yinspmng. On the firing platforms the "O .stand near their rifles. Others V-through the trench, sometimes si!pp;. from the duck boards into water above their knees. Thev are probably going out on patrol, if the position is near the enemv lines hardly a word is ever spoken," and when a word is heard, it is spoken in a whisper. whis-per. White Light Thrown. Far away to one side of the position a white stream shoots up to the skv and breaks into white balls that throw a light as if from powerful electric, batteries. I he reflections show wire cutaiiglements and seruhbv bushes on .the hills near by, then tlie lights die All the while there is the. intermit-cnt intermit-cnt roiir of guns and n vhistlo as of , express t rains as projectiles of dilfer- cnt calibers go rushing over the American Ameri-can trenches seekim; H German target, line American soldiers have become ac customed to such sounds that now thev apparently pay no attention to theni. j Every now ajid then tho sound of a I shell explosion is audible, but most of I the time the artillerv targets at night are too far back from the trenches for the men to hear the projectiles explode. Everyone in the line at all times has his eyes open for two kinds of colored rockets. One is green and the other is red. The first means asphyxiating gas and the other calls for a barrage. And the green light to the men in the lines ; means more than anything else, for in I a gas attack they know that their lives : often depend upon the speed in which j the gas masks are adjusted after an alarm is given. j Intermittent Sniping. ! Intermittingly during this time there j comes from different parts or tho line : the single crack of a rifle as a sniper tires, or the rapid spit of a machine gun at some suspected point or object, tor the machine gunners shoot iirst and ask questions afterwards. In the daytime it is different, because be-cause tho men in the line can see what is before them and there are no deceptive decep-tive shadows. Also their eves can occasionally oc-casionally glance skyward as shrapnel I breaks there with a hollow-sounding pop. Xot infrequently during the dav a man looks skvward and then quickfv bends his head so that his shrapnel helmet faces in the direction of the bursting shell. During the past few days there has been no aerial activity because of the fog, but because of the clear davs preceding pre-ceding the bad weather the men in the lines winessed many thrilling fights in the air. German airplanes coming over at a considerable height on observation trips would be shelled vigorously as they came within range. Usually they fl in groups of three, but they separate sepa-rate when the shrapnel puffs begin to break among them. A trail of smoke from bursting shells follows the enemy planes across the sky .until they are out ! of range. If the Germans, after duck-! duck-! ing and dodging shrapnel, get back of ! the American lines, French, airplanes climb up after them, and every time the Germans turn tail and retire. Planes Keep Dodging. At other times our men watch French airplanes under the fire of German anti-aircraft batteries. The planes dodge this way and that if flying low, or continue straight on their course it they are high in the air. Some places the shrapnel bursts close to the plane, and if it is a German machine every man in the line forgets what he is doing do-ing for the moment, hoping that a piece of shrapnel will find its mark and the enemy will dash to the ground. On at least one occasion the men have seen a machine come down. It fell within the German line, but by the way it tumbled from the sky there was no mistaking what had happened to its occupants, and cheers and yells arose from one end of the line to" the other. Today the whole American position is bathed in white. Fog has frozen to the bushes, poles, wires and the ground. In some places tne icj coating is nearly an inch thick. The men apparent.lv are well satisfied satis-fied with the food. Two meals are always al-ways served and sometimes there are three. For breakfast the men frequently frequent-ly get a large bowd of oatmeal as the principal dish, while at dinner there is beef or some other meat and vegetables. vegeta-bles. Supper sometimes brings bacon, corned beef hash or canned salmon. There is always a good white bread made from American flour, and plenty of it. I Headquarters Back of Line. j The American regimental headquarters, headquar-ters, just back of the line, is estab- : lished in dugouts under the ruins of houses long time since knocked down by German shells. It is never known w'hen the enemy may again take a notion no-tion to throw a few shells into the j town, so the American commanders were determined their headquarters should be well protected. AVithin a certain radius of the front line every member of the American force is now required to wear bis gas mask at an alert position and never be without his shrapnel helmet. 1 Captain Eoald Amundsen, tho Norwegian Nor-wegian explorer, and Captain Oberdvng of the Swiss general staff, are visiting visit-ing the American army zone. Captain Amundsen came bv agreement with the state department for tho purpose of obtaining ob-taining information concerning the American expeditionary force for the newspapers of Scandinavia. Captain Oberdvug will remain for a week, visit- t ing all points in the zone. r Shrapuel helmets were issued today a to all clerks and other employees for their protection during air raids. |
