At the back of the German trenches shelters were dug for non-commissioned officers and for the commander of the unit.

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 ‘boches,’ for this bathing-establishment of the latest type is fitted up—­would you believe it?—­in the trenches!”

Describing trenches occupied by the British in their protracted “siege-warfare” in Northern France along and to the north of the Aisne Valley, a British officer wrote:  “In the firing-line the men sleep and obtain shelter in the dugouts they have hollowed or ‘undercut’ in the side of the trenches.  These refuges are slightly raised above the bottom of the trench, so as to remain dry in wet weather.  The floor of the trench is also sloped for purposes of draining.  Some trenches are provided with head-cover, and others with overhead cover, the latter, of course, giving protection from the weather as well as from shrapnel balls and splinters of shells....  At all points subject to shell-fire access to the firing-line from behind is provided by communication-trenches.  These are now so good that it is possible to cross in safety the fire-swept zone to the advanced trenches from the billets in villages, the bivouacs in quarries, or the other places where the headquarters of units happen to be.”