THE SENSATIONS OF BATTLE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 29, 3 February 1900, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SENSATIONS OF BATTLE.

Major Arthur Griffiths, who served in the Crimean War, contributes an exceptionally interesting paper to the I Christmas number of " Pearson's ■ Magazine " describing how it feels to be under fire. Touching on his own experiences, he writes : "We were a set of silly luckless youngsters in the Crimea, and chafed much at the enforced inaction that was so often the rule for long hours together in the trenches before Sebastopol. A favourite game with the more dare-devil amongst us was to brave the dangers of drawing down fire simply for a little variety. One method was to show above the trench by standing on top ; another was to go out into the open in the rear, and the fun was to wait \mtil the place became too hot to stay in. It was not a game that could be quite commended, and the players when caught at it were severely rebuked by their superiors. " Demeanour under fire is very much a question of nerve and temperament, but it depends also ( upon ignorance, and not a little, too, upon teaching and example. It is generally understood that new troops, who have not experienced the effects of fire, who know it only theoretically, think far less odi it than the veterans who have borne it on many hard-fought fields. It will be a point of honour with the latter not to duck their heads when the death-dealing missiles sweep over them. : But they will not like it. No one does who has tried it—that may be safely asserted —and the old hand who stands his ground like a hero will not hesitate to tell you he was in a ' blue funk' all the time. " The tyro, moreover, is occasionally liable to fits of excusable discomfort when first exposed to the risk of being shot. By far the best illustration of i this is the historical event in the early I career of Colin Campbell, afterwards the famous Field Marshal Lord Clyde. He was a raw ensign newly joined, a mere child in years, when he first saw fighting in the battle of Vimiera, in 1808. His captain, an old camipaigner, noticed his unsteadiness, and ; promptly applied his own cure. This j was to take the youngster by the i hand, and lead him out well to the I front of the regiment now fully en- ' gaged, and walk him slowly up and down under the hottest fire. " Colin Campbell soon gained complete confidence, and never suffered from nervousness again. His later career was crowded with fine feats of daring, of bold leadership, and un- ! daunted pluck. When seriously wounded in the assault of San Sebastian he would not leave the field, nor when in hospital, disabled, would he stay there I but hobbled to the front to take his ! place in the ranks on hearing that j Wellington had invaded France." I ♦_