A FORESTER AT THE FIGHTING FRONT 



BY P. L. BUTTRICK 



French and German trenches and in "No Man's Land" be- 

 tween was so striking that when a French "75" "went off" 

 concealed nearby, the report subconsciously interpreted it- 

 self to my mind 

 as a dynamite 

 charge set off 

 by the stump- 

 blasting crew 

 working on a 

 new cutting. 



The boom of 

 the exploding 

 shell and the 

 column of dust 

 spurting into 

 the air in 

 Boche land 

 across the for- 

 bidden zone 

 even more 

 easily became 

 in imagination 

 a fallen pine 

 raising a snow 

 cloud as its 

 spreading 

 branches h i t 

 the ground. 



After the 

 Battle of the 

 Marne the Ger- 

 man retreat be- 

 tween Rheims 

 and Verdun 

 stopped at one 

 place just out 

 side a little 

 village called 

 Prones. This 

 village is about 

 half way up 

 the western 

 slope of a 

 small valley. 



The French 

 first line o f 

 trenches were 

 just below the 

 village and the 

 German's a lit- 

 tle lower down 

 in the valley. 

 Photogr.fh b, p. I.. Buttrick. -phe valley on 



WOOD IS USED EVERYWHERE , , V) ' 



It is not mertljr in regular trtnch work that the product of the forest is utilized in building trench defenses. DOth SlOCS WaS 

 Thia pictnre ihowa reaerve trench built up with baakets of pine boughs niled with sod. Such defenses are covered with a 



YOU have seen in winter bare New Enj-lard or we.st- 

 em hillsides from which all the timber has been 

 cut, except a few struggling, undersized trees and 

 a few old snags 

 and over which 

 a fire has 

 swept, burning 

 up the slash 

 and blackening 

 the snags and 

 remaining 

 trees. Over this 

 a light snow 

 has fallen, not 

 heavy enough 

 to form a com- 

 plete mantle, 

 but sufficient 

 to cover most 

 of the surface. 

 Roughly fol- 

 lowing the 

 contour of the 

 hill and here 

 and there run- 

 ning up and 

 down across 

 them are little 

 ribbons, which 

 stand out 

 some what; 

 skid roads, 

 roughly h o 1- 

 lowed t r a ils 

 made in get- 

 ting the timber 

 down the slope. 

 Such too fa- 

 miliar scene of 

 desolation 

 greeted m y 

 eyes when I 

 first came out 

 in the open 

 from a young 

 pine forest and 

 looked out 

 across a valley 

 into a section 

 o f reclaimed 

 but devastated 

 France. The 

 resemblance of 

 the desolated 

 country about 



no 



Photograph 



Under-wood & Underwood, Mew York. 



WELL HIDDEN TRENCH IN 



THE BRITISH LINES 



It is safe to assume that the German forces would have difficulty in locating a trench as well concealed as 

 the one here pictured. The timbers still carry spreading boughs and these give an effect that would make 

 the real purpose of the trench hard to detect at a distance, whether viewed from an airplane or from 

 the ground. The picture was taken as an official war photograph. 



