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Show I WHERE BRITISH I TR00PSH0LD (IN U Frederick Palmer, who is at the front in France for The Associated Press, sends the following dispatch: 4 British Headquarters in France, m March 27 via London. March 28 7:30 i P m. While the world is eager for 3 news, day after day may pass at the m front with no news exeppt of desul- . a tory artillery and rifle fire, which 18 j the normal existpnee suve when somi' I jfl supreme effort is made. 3 Next to having witnessed the bnt 9 tie of Nt!r'p C!iapelle. the most In X tercstinp: thing to a correspondent is jS a night spout In the new British lin" .J of works which defend that section of M the shHl-torn earth that thf British ' Ton and hold against all German ef- I forts at recover? M Such visit, made alone without au- 2 tomobile or other accessories, proved fl h no id;. 1 of peaceful security A The Germans were gh en a shelling W along the avenues of approach to the 'M British line at the edge of the il- t lage; stray bullets cracked against a ihe shattered village walls, and wIipii Jjl the correspondent left their coer he Ji was within 300 or 400 yards of the jf German breastworks M. Cheerful In Trenches. M Yet the most cheerful spot where 9 the British fiag fires is here Though B rumors come from London of com I 9 ulaint over the heavj cost of the vic- I ,1; tory, the officer or man at the front 'jM who takes that view is yet to be found ''3! They know the situation and are pre- -M pared to pay the prlco which success I requires. The point they make is ;'m 'hat they have been able to make a - jj pain without any heavier losses than S the Germans, who yielded. :- ll "A 'ot of our fellows were killed." . I .' said a soldier. "But this time it was in pushing the Germans instead of trying to hold them back. You can't realize, sir, unle66 you have been in it from Mons: how that bucks you , up 1 My host in the breastworks was a ; captain who. the previous day, had received a shot through the arm and although officially reported wounded, remained in his mud-spattered uni -form on duty, with no bed except a rubber sheet laid on the wet earth. His relatives In England may worry about him. but he does not worry about himself, although when the war is over he says he is certainly going to have one real bath and one good meal in London, no matter what the cost. Without Blankets When it was noticed that he had no blankets In his dugout the captain ex plained that the men's blankets were not up yet, and he wanted to enjoy no luxury they lacked. Faint aureoles of light showing above the line of the German breastworks, breast-works, rose from their cam pf ires, which were the counterpart of the British braziers, made by punching holes in nn sort of bucket to be found. Around these the men oft dm gather to keep warm and fry their bacon and make their tea. Time sped rapidly as one moved from group io group to chat everyone keeping his head below the parapet to avoid German bullets. We ,-ire standing on dead Germans" Ger-mans" said one soldier. "We turned their trenches in to make graves good trenches they were, too " When a fusillade broke out in a distant part of our lines at the algn of some movement, the Germans in front of us burst into yells of derision, de-rision, like the outcries from baseball fans when a nmthrow to first lets in a run. Later in the night these same Germans saw the same phantom in the darkness and began firing fever-ishn, fever-ishn, when It became our turn to laugh. Bnntc- Each Other. At a point where the trenches are cnly BixtJ yards apart, an English-, speaking German asked when Kitchener's Kitch-ener's army was coming "I wojit this war over." he declared loudly, "so I can go home." "Don't get downhenrted. my dear," Tommy Atkins called back; ' you're j already started, and you'll know when the new army comes because you will be going faster than you want to." At this point one could distinctly hear the Germans taking the commands com-mands of their offieers and the driving driv-ing of stakes as they strengthened their works. German rifles, helmets, caps and dairies were plentiful in the Hritlsh breastworks. In the moonlight, dark patches with points like bloodless human faces were visible on the field between the two forces wherever you went along the front. Under the light of the German Ger-man flares they took the form of masses of prostrate bodies, and bj de.vllght one could see the attitude (f each as he fell, Including thnt of a German soldier with an unezploded nnnd grenade lying where it dropped Ironi Ms fingers. Across this field the Germans made Miclr main charge to recover Neuve ChapeUe Xo for want of courage did they fail The German official bulletin stated that the German losses at Neuve Thapelle were 6000, but Hi Is could hardly Include the known killed and 2000 prisoners taken, without -.ounting the wounded. Bodies Remain on Field. Though the Germans shout badinage in i heir trenches, they have ssked for no armistice to bury their (had and on previous occasions when the Iiritish asked the privilege to bury Ihe Uriilsh dead it was refused. There-foie There-foie the bodies remain This shows how grim is the actuality, despite occasional oc-casional sallies of Wit. A breastwork jester takes care nol to show his her.fl when he makes his quip, lest a bullet make it hi:; last. It is shrewd calculating war every ev-ery moment fiom the parapet, and camp fire comradeship under the pro-tectlon pro-tectlon of the wall of sandbags which bullets cannot penetrate, There I? plenty of admiration for the skill of the Germans nr soldiers heard from both officers and men, but there is confidence also that the Germans have shot their bolt Irishman's View. Coming to an Irish regiment, an Irishman said, I have three brothers In the states, and I am going myself after the war The Germans need a licking, and when anybody needs a licking that's the placo for the Irish." These Irishmen insisted that the correspondent have a cup of tea, and w ouldn't he try a slice of bacon which ,as sizzling In the pan while an oc caslonal bullet sizzled over the para pet' The wounded captain, my host, going go-ing beyond his own bailiwick chatted chat-ted with fellow officers about breastwork breast-work making rnd other business de-taile. de-taile. They referred to this and that friend who had been ktlled since they last met as if death were a familiar thing to all. Not one lauded war or found any glory' in It but all had no thought except to continue until vie tory had been won. If I got a few yards ahead of ray guide, some soldier Instantly demand-j demand-j ed to know who I was, anil If there had been no one to Identify me. I should have been promptly apprehended apprehend-ed and sent lo headquarters under suspicion of being a spy. No Night for Sleep. It was after 3 o'clock in the morn ing when my host and myself lay down In his dugout but not to sleep, for there were many things to talk about Twice, when the desultory firing fir-ing became heavier on both sides, he went out to see what was the cause e nave not settled down on this front yet." he said. "The Germans are pretty grouchy over their beating. beat-ing. Both sides begin firing on the slightest alarm, they don't want to risk any night attack getting started." At dawn, as I said good-bye, I expressed ex-pressed regret to my host for having hav-ing kept him awake all night "Oh, no," he replied. "I ataj awake always at night My time for sleep Is from 8 until 1. By day we can see the Germans if they try any trlck3." In leaving the lines by daylight, care must be taken against the open Bpaces, visible to the German aharn-bhcoters. aharn-bhcoters. who may not make a miss the second time. If they do the first Only Hashed Bricks Remain. To see Neuve Chapelle by daylight , is to see the most fearful example of the power of modern artillery fire yet w itnessed. No village is left-only left-only hashed bricks and mortar, with the exception of half a dozen houses which were hit several times After knocking the buildings to pieces, the British shells kneaded and pulverized the remains Yet two objects stood virtually unharmed un-harmed amid that low sky-line or ruins effigies ot Christ on the cross of the type familiar to travelers in France. Eight-inch shells had excavated ex-cavated enormous holes on either side of the base, of one. While other trees in the town had heen cut In two and splintered and gashed, four small evergreen ev-ergreen shrubs around the other effigy effi-gy had been undisturbed. Many soldiers sol-diers remarked the curious phenomenon phenome-non indeed, the soldiers talked much o! it In going over the ground one read! ly visualized how this battle which has stiffened British confidence, had been fought. There were the remains of the old frontal and roserve trenches trench-es the Germans had occupied when the battle began with a burst of fire from a multitude of guns fired on signal Pen Picture of Battle. One could realize how jn the crash ol explosions and the rending of earth, there could be only insane confusion con-fusion in the German trench which the British infantry rushed, how that terrific blast of gunnery wan carried cm to the next defense, aud the infantry in-fantry charged again lo get possession posses-sion of another few hundred ards of ground; how In the streets of the village parties of Germans surrendered, surren-dered, and others, desp erately, in ihe pandemonium tried lo return and flrt back The Germans were taken utterly by surprise Neuve Chapelle war. a slaughter for them. The British, Brit-ish, advancing into the town with little loss, suffered most of their casualties cas-ualties later, when the mist did not let their guns support them aud they iried to carry their advance beyond ; the present line of trenches Nothing i in the war has been more satisfactory 'to the British army at the front than the rlctorj at Neuve Chapelle. "It has given us confidence in our strength," say the officers, "tested our organization for the offensive tac- tics required In this kind of war and j demonstrated the power and precision j of our artillery." As I W88 leaving Neuve Chapelle an aircraft gun began shelling a Brit lsh aeroplane, which appeared over tho German Maes at a height of 6000 feet. Firing wildly at first, it at length forced the piano to turn, and pursued by a siring of shrapnel puffs against the blue sky. It disappeared above a fleecy cloud, only to turn around and reappear once more over the German lines Then one shell burst so near (hat the plane seemed to oereen, but it raanagnd to retreat successfully. |
