EXPERIENCE OF A FORESTRY ENGINEER OFFICER 



IN FRANCE 



BY MAJOR FRANK R. BARNS 



COMMANDING NINTH BATTALION, TWENTIETH ENGINEERS (FOREST) 



OUR arrival at the mountain village which was to be 

 headquarters had been anticipated by an advance 

 officer from the adjoining district so that despffe 

 rain, snow and separation enroute from our tentag^, 

 ranges and rations, we were able, through his practiced 

 direction to secure billets, food and a large English truck, 

 which though clumsy and worn, was a veritable life- 

 saver during the first few days. 



Our troops, through the kindness of a local manufac- 

 turer, were soon quartered comfortably in a factory 



units scratch for themselves, like a wise old hen with its 

 chickens except on actual essentials and the supply 

 officers were the busy little persons while learning from 

 vyhere and from whom the various supplies and equip- 

 ment should come. 



When finally the special forestry equipment and the 

 pioneer Engineer equipment, packed and boxed by us with 

 . so much care over there (in America) arrived, we were 

 all most heartily glad. The distinctive green stripe around 

 the boxes and crates originated by our Hibernian Sup- 

 ply Officer, had a homelike 

 and intensely satisfying look, 

 and the axes, saws, cant 

 hooks and other woodstools 

 were greeted with cheers; 

 likewise the rubber boots, 

 gloves, tarpaulins and other 



building, which luckily con- 

 tained several stoves, run- 

 ning water and beds. 



Some used tents arrived 

 in a couple of days, and the 

 troops moved to their site in 

 the mountains ; but the en- 

 tire tentage caved in about 

 ten o'clock one night under 

 the weight of an especially 

 heavy snow fall. The men 



then took possession of a large barn close by and slept 

 in the hay until the arrival of new tents a little later. m 



For six weeks we had daily rain or snow storms with 

 hail and sleet thrown in for good measure. Mud ankle, 

 and in places knee, deep. 



However, the sun finally appeared from out of the 

 mists, dried our tents and the ground and put better heart 

 into our rain-soaked woodsmen, who had worked con- 

 tinuously under the conditions mentioned. Our Head- 

 quarters had adopted the plan of letting the new Forestry 



THE STEEP, INCLINED ROAD 



Tliis shows a section of the track built up one of the mountain sides in France. The logging is done at 

 top of the mountain and the load is sent down a 72-degree drop, to the bottom for milling. 



woods necessities provided through the experienced fore- 

 sight of our organization purchasing officer in the U. S. A. 



The trees came down, our horses, harness and log 

 wagons arrived, and gradually organization and operation 

 began to take shape. As weeks passed the piles of cord- 

 wood, ties and other hewn material grew; legs were 

 banked around the mill site and logging trails. 



Soon the mill machinery began to arrive, was placed, 

 the mill frame went up and our saw sang its way 

 through the first log and cut some good one and two 



