While it is necessary to accept the evidence of all prisoners with caution, there is a change in the views expressed by some officers captured recently which appears to be genuine.  They admit the failure of the German strategy and profess to take a gloomy view of the future.  At the same time it must be confessed that as yet there is no sign that their view is that generally held by the enemy, nor has there been any definite indication of a lack of morale among the German troops.

The highways of Northern France are crowded with men responding to the various mobilization orders issued by the French Government.

Thousands of such troops were encountered in the course of a short automobile trip.  The strange procession includes a curious mixture of types.  A considerable proportion of these new drafts are composed of middle-aged men of good physique and likely young men from the countryside.

The change within the last few days of what may be termed the atmosphere of the battlefield has been marked.  The noise of the cannonading has now decreased to such an extent that for hours at a time nothing is heard but the infrequent boom of one of the heavy guns of the Allies, the occasional rattle of machine guns, and the intermittent fire of snipers on either side.  So far as the use of explosives is concerned, the greatest activity is found in local attacks with hand grenades and short-range howitzers.  The enemy has practically ceased his efforts to break through the line by assaults, and he is now devoting his energies to the same type of siege operations which have been familiar to the Allies since the beginning of the battle of the Aisne.

Subterranean life is the general rule in the neighborhood of the firing line.  Even those men not actually engaged in fighting live in underground quarters.  Some of these quarters, called “funk-holes” are quite elaborate and comfortable and contain many conveniences not found in the trenches on the firing line.  They communicate with the firing line by zigzag approach trenches which make enfilading impossible.

Attacks are made on the firing line trenches by blind saps, which are constructed by a special earth borer.  When this secret tunnel reaches the enemy’s trench, an assault is delivered amid a shower of hand grenades.  The stormers endeavor to burst their way through the opening and then try to work along the trench.  Machine guns are quickly brought up to repel a counter attack.  Most of this fighting takes place at such close range that the guns on either side cannot be fired at the enemy’s infantry without great risk of hitting their own men.  Bombs have come to take the place of artillery, and they are being used in enormous quantities.