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Show HI TRENCHES NOT USED By YANKEES Americans Build Their Own Fortifications on Captured Territory. Entire Regiments Escape Unscathed Under Hellish Fire of Enemy's Guns. By HENKY G. WAXES. Universal Service Staff Correspondent, L WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY, Nov. "It's a funny thing what a lot of hell you can go through without gettin' hurt," said the sergeant major. "No matter where you put men, if you only give them about an hour or so to get themselves them-selves organized a Hi tic there's nothin' in the world to hurt 'em. "I don't care If you're fightin' a war in the middle of the Sahara desert, your men'll find some limber, some wood, some iron, some rocks, some sheet iron or some thin' to build themselves some shelters with and each' 11 have a cubbyhole big enough for himself and strong enough to keep out direct hits, too, unless Jerry is put tin' over awful big stuff, and he don't otten do that on the front line. He saves the big stuff for the guys in the rear with their cushy Jobs. ! Fritzes Leave Dugouts. "When we come up here the Fritzes .left lots or. nice little one-man dugouts dug-outs ail made an' cozy and invitin' look-in'. look-in'. Bui I told my boys not to be lazy and make their own bombproofs. They did, but the smart ones took the stuff that the boche had used for his, so tho only work they had was diggin'. I raado 'em all dig toward Fritz, so the force of the stuff would be behind them and they wouldn't be exposed to it head on. They all grubbed their way a couple of feet into risin' ground, always aimed straight toward Fritz. Then they piled rocks and logs and dirt on top and around 'the entrance, en-trance, spread their blankets inside, posted their, rifles at the entrance and all was set. "Not any too much time, either, for there were" three rockets went up from Fritz's front lines and in ten seconds down drops his barrage. He mixed it up, as usual, like a bartender making a cocktail sneezing gas, mustard gas, chlorine gas, shrapnel and high explosive. explo-sive. His stuff was timed nice, too. They had the fuses turned so they busted about forty feet off the ground. Except some of the gas shells, they plopped right down and broke open on the ground. Some of the shell fragments, though, especially from those 105-milllmeter H. E.'s, were good sized, half as big as a cigarette box. But they didn't get through the dugouts. New Defenses Bullet-proof. "In some cases the boys showed m splinters that, had stuck their nosea through into these happy homes a couple of inches, but didn't come right through. That barrage lasted twenty-two minutes, and I didn't have a casualty there. "But say, if I'd let them take shelter in Fritz's old dugouts I hate to think what would have happened. He plastered everyone of his old bombproofs and he plaster! them with contact- fused shells that hasted after they hit not in the air. Nearly every one of those bomb-proofs bomb-proofs was "nit and busted up right badly. bad-ly. The uoche had taken notes on where every one was and his field guns were registered exactly on them. "The French tipped us off to that down I In the east. Never use one of Fritz's trencnes after you take it away from him, and never set up your guns in his emplacements after you drive him out. Never have an y thing to do with Fritz's belongings. You'll not only get shelled pretty strong and accurate, but, what's worse, you'h get cooties." |