R A DRIVE ON THE SOMME
British advancing over the captured German trenches, after heavy
artillery fire had reduced them to tangled ruins and crushed their
powers of resistance.

Ever since the outbreak of the war, the French troops in Lorraine, after
severe experiences, realized rapidly the advantages of the German
trenches, and began to study those they had taken gloriously. Officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men of the engineers were straightway
detached in every unit to teach the infantry how to construct similar
shelters. The education was quick, and very soon they had completed the
work necessary for the protection of all. The tools of the enemy
"casualties," the spades and picks left behind in deserted villages,
were all gladly piled on to the French soldiers' knapsacks, to be
carried willingly by the very men who used to grumble at being loaded
with even the smallest regulation tool. As soon as night had set in on
the occasion of a lull in the fighting, the digging of the trenches was
begun. Sometimes, in the darkness, the men of each fighting nation--less
than 500 yards away from their enemy--would hear the noise of the
workers of the foe: the sounds of picks and axes; the officers' words of
encouragement; and tacitly they would agree to an armistice during which
to dig shelters from which, in the morning, they would dash out, to
fight once more.

Commodious, indeed, were some of the trench barracks. One French soldier
wrote:

"In really up-to-date intrenchments you may find kitchens, dining-rooms,
bedrooms, and even stables. One regiment has first class cow-sheds. One
day a whimsical 'piou-piou,' finding a cow wandering about in the
danger zone, had the bright idea of finding shelter for it in the
trenches. The example was quickly followed, and at this moment the
----th Infantry possess an underground farm, in which fat kine, well
cared for, give such quantities of milk that regular distributions of
butter are being made--and very good butter, too."

But this is not all. An officer writes home a tale of yet another one of
the comforts of home added to the equipment of the trenches:

"We are clean people here. Thanks to the ingenuity of ----, we are able
to take a warm bath every day from ten to twelve. We call this teasing
the 'bosches,' for this bathing-establishment of the latest type is
fitted up--would you believe it?--in the trenches!"

CHAPTER XVIII

STEADFAST SOUTH AFRICA

Wh