ST ELOI SUCCESS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8464, 1 June 1916, Page 18

ST ELOI SUCCESS.

BRSTi!SH GAIN 600 YARDS. CAPTURE OF 18th JAGERS. I havo just seen and spoken with eomo of the 200 German prison era who wero taken near St. Eloi, at the south of the Ypros salient, at the End of March, writes W. Beach Thomas in the "Daily Mail." Some of them had jusfc been dug out of the earthquake mess, and search was still going on for others under vory difficult conditions of salyage. Tho more careful of the men wc:e taking off their great overcoats and spreading them to dry on a hedge; and they disclosed underneath tho green coat of tho original Jager battalions—that is, men specially trained in riflo shooting. The guise, demeanour, equipment, and sentiment of tho men had'particular interest. I doubt whether more prisoners have ever been taken in relation to the extent of the attack; and better fighting men in higher fettle you. would not often find than there"'lßth Jagers. Of course they were in many cases badly shaken. They were dirty and unshaven., Sonic wore hastily devised caps made of sandbags, some the round, green-bandod cap proper to tho Jager, Home,,th6 new shrapnel helmets of the Germans, a green metal thing pinched in at the ears and covering them liko a Dolly Vardon. But in spite of the general Vaggedness they had the air of fine men. They were well clad. Their boots, of which the "uppers" cover the greater part of the calf, were super©xcellent. They .seemed very happy on tho whole, smiling and talking naturally— I speak, of course, only of the men, not the officers —and their chief desire was to get the preliminaries over and reach their ultimate camp. Perhaps they had been encouraged in their desire to, reach England by the one cheerful member of their community who was in a sense going "home." Before tho war he lived as a waiter in one of the great London hotels. Perhaps, also, they had less reluctance to bo entertained by tho British because many of them hailed from Schleswig-Holstein and along the Danish border. On tho whole, so far as it was articulate, their point of view on the war seemed to be distinctly . unprejudiced. They thought it would be over this year and that that side would win which, had the. most guns and men. The prophecy,is at least as plausible as any advertised by the professional prophets. The ago of the men, which I should say averaged between 25 and 30, saved them from excessive pessimism. The exact total of prisoners is even yet not certainly known. Tho immensity of the explosion," which even blocked the' communication trenches of the enemy, "blocked many: dug-outs, which it', takes time to clear.