WITH THE BRITISH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8305, 25 November 1915, Page 2

WITH THE BRITISH.

THE LINE OF SUNSHINE

(Official* Australian Correspondent at British Headquarters in Franco).

The Deadly, Gunners

The country behind the lines., but | within range of the shells, has become more dangerous as the war progresses. Tho gunners have their ranges adjusted to cover every cross-road and house and other points of importance. lou indicate a . well-worn track leading across the flowered countryside. xlie guns are silent; the trenches arc out of sight. '"You may take it if you wish/ says the stall' officer; "but I wouldn't send my worst enemy there, unless it was on duty." ,But during the summer. months the general /use.'f of communicating' trenches has made life behind fairly ■ safe and tolerable. When in winter you advanced to the trenches above ground in the shelter of the night, you now traverse a mile or_ less iof winding trench, and, get peeps.of the 'sky through an overhanging tangle of pretty weeds and grasses. With re- ; collections of the hideous conditions last winter, you. marvel at the lighthen rted manner. • in. which the troops 'regard the near retiim ol another season, of cold and rain and interminable nights.-1 ;.;r( Trench life. in summer, is disturbed Iby swarms of flies, and often tho lico 'are troublesome; but men who have lived for months .up to their knees in freezing muck, and rubbed albday and night against sodden, dripping walls look upon the evils of the warm weather as trifles. The second winter will not, perhaps, be quite as horrible as the first, but still it.will be extremely hard on the men. No ingenuity or, la-, bour can make life tolerable along thousands of miles of trenches cut frequently through low-lying soil, and where all the work is carried on under. the ats»ition of the.. enemy. .Bricks and timber have been freely, used < by both sides for,flooring, everything possible has been done towards keeping the communicating trenches open during the winter, dug-outs have been greatly improved, and parapets strengthened. French Concern For Life. The French and the English have taught each other much at the art of making trenches. You never cease to wonder at the achievement of the ..j French along this line. Apart altogether from their fighting, they accomplished a physical miracle in. establishing within a few weeks a safe line of entrenchments,more than 500 miles long. They excel in dug-outs and communication trenches. They built tens of thousands of big dug-outs on the same design. Each lot of occupants have exercised their fancy at decora-tion:,-sometimes in simple woodwork, sometimes in little beds of flowers. Their line of communication trenches would be • creditable if their construction, had been .the. work of many years, _ instead of "a few > harassed . months. There is in. all a note of permanency which might: be almost sinister and' depressing. • ..'••■■ In every French village and town within range of. the enemy's guns great caves have boen excavated, and arrows direct your flying footsteps when the 1 first shell?4vnnoun.ces a renewal of the " hate." t Once our men are clear of the trenches they are disposed to regard the-tisk and strain as temporarily over. Th*ey regard casualties behind the lines in a sporting way. Perhaps., too, the French have been preparing for a x longer stay in the trenches than we British expected. They had the war nenrer to: them, and they also had a higher opinion of the fighting and enduring qualities of the enemy. They have talked little of swarming across the Rhine and marching gailyMnto Berlin. They intend to reach the Rhine, and tlie.y may reach it; but they allow time for their task. The Happy Soldier. Go into the trenches once, go 20 times, and the experience is 'similar.; To-day there might be some excitement and casualties from shells; to-morrow, on the same ground, all might be quite well. You look over the parapet ,or through a periscope, or you fancy, and see, 20 or 100 yards away, or perhaps half a mile, the crooked network of the enemy's trenches showing red or white or brown, according to the nature of the soil, against.the late summer colouring of the weeds and grasses.' Tho ground may be flat or undulating; the trench might be in a green wood I slashed with shell-fire, or in the midst of a wide stretch of cultivated land. Except for the grass and the leafage it was the same six months ago as it is to-day. The lines do not move.- They stand still and grow stronger; they j seem to grow' more and more perma-! nent as time goes on. But you do not feel desperate or even gloomy about it. On the contrary, you come out from the trenches refreshed and confident, infected with the spirit of the men who have in hand the job of resistance and advance. Men seem to grow youngar on this terrible work. The British army is young in years and younger still in bearing. It is at heart an army of boys; and all are in perfect i physical condition, all are volunteers, "all animated, and sustained by the highest physical courage, all taking their new life in the trenches happily and carelessly, and yet all are '-homesick'and yearning for the villages and toWjUS across the- charjiiel. They ) fight gladly'and mightily to-day, and to-morrow they bury their dead and still their grief, and are ready to fight as gladly the day after.' Except that they look very tired, they are the same to meet after a heavy engagement and a. bad, chopping* up as at any other time. They seem almost able to close up the great gaps in their ranks and at once to forget. They talk not at all ( of the issue at stake; theirs is not a talking job. They sing cheap j new songs to old, cheap tunes; most of the verse is "made up" in the trenches, and, like the old ballads, never written down. The jingo song and the washy sentimental song of tho South African!war is rarely heard.

From ,'a dug-out I heard an old-fash-ioned fellow, with only one note;,in his register v .begin dolorously to y/groan ' (Rule Britannia," and at: once there came a loud chorus of "Cut it," "Stow it," 'fWhat's;gone wrong with the lad?" Their"avoidance* of personal or patriotic sentiment is absolute. They seem, to think .rather/ of their own towns and villages than of Britain as a whole; their parochialism is intense, strange ;as that may seem in a race of unparalleled Empire-builders. They smok« incessantly; without tobacco we should -lose tho war. They work harder than any navvies. They shave regularly, and so you miss the air of paternal responsibility and gravrty which there is about a lot of heavilybearded young French soldiers. They swear- freely but cleanly. While they

would have it summer , all the time, they tell you with much laughter of their adventures in the swampy trenches of last winter. They would like the war to be over., but they are not at all depressed at the thought that-it might go on for, years. Pass along near tea-time, and every young officer will beg of you to share his special cake from homo. Their sense of humour alone ensures them victory over the Bosche. The other night, at one of the variety shows behind the lines,-'at whj/'hvmost of the performers are professional entertainers who have taken to thu trenches, a comedian be- | gan his patter with: "You can't bluff j me. I was with you when you ran away from Mour. I shared a horse with three or four of you." Officers and men laughed heartily. The recollection seemed tho best joke in the world. We speculated as to how German officers would have taken such a sally from a private.