SOLDIERS BOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 60, 11 March 1915, Page 5

SOLDIERS BOLD.

BRITISH DARING. - HOW TWO MEN HELD A. '"" ; ". TRENCH.' ' **'--• V •',. , , ... CTimes and.-Sj-dney Sun Services.). --" '-j - LONDON, MaTch 3.7 The .latest-" fe'port ." by "Eye-witrieas**. with the British ;headquarters,_which7is dated February 26; does not reveal. anything that has ,m ' tie official communiques, but it supplies a fuller narrative of. the ."events-' with which it' deal.s. ' Continuing his -story from the.stage at which .he lefty off in his last report,:-"Eye-witness*"7saysi—- : "On -the. previous 7 Monday the enemy filew up'a short line of trenches east of I Ypr.es, and occupied 40 4 . yards. '.His' efforts to. advance beyond this'were, prevented only hy-.the boldnessjand daring | of British officers aud men. -Tin..order to check 41ie enemy's onslaught a"~machincgun detachment dashed forward-into the open under, a terrific fire, and brought the guns into,action-at a" point-blank range, and .almost oh'the brink: vof . a, cavity "caused by an.explosion.* TJie German infantry attempted to advance dow some.. communication r trehehes7 \7 v At. - a turn in 'one of -these narrow passages a sergeant and a private took their stand .and "held .the trench . unaided, shooting i and bayoneting ', the Gentians- ras, they rounded the corner in confusion.^"..,. "'-' J I* . IN 'A TIGHT COBNEB- "

"A British officer and a corporal, found themselves alone within a. few\yards of a German trench.. To go either;forward or back, was imposiblc, so they threw themselves flat on their, faces../ Fortunately there -was a slight' dip7in •- the. ground that. was\just beyond, reich; of th.c German, buflcts,. but. these fell" so ' close that* both men ;were. scarred- and; bruised all-over, by the stones'that; were I thrown 'up by the w bullets striking .the ground.; They'lay from. 11 djeicofcin the morning till' 9. !o'clock7 at night,7 when j.they crawled hack to .the lines. ' -. '"The aspect 7of'the narrow strip of country between.the lines of the woods round. Ypres' defies ''description. 7 The reader must imagine what a wood would look of the. : treeß-.eithcr. felled, or half-sawn through,']ying7with their tops on the ground. Further, imagine ar wood .'standing in soft, muddy clay, in which every few yards there is ; a.pit.several feet deep. . _■_ "..' ..; .7 • AWFUL ZONE OF-DEAD. 7

"Further-' picture the. whole \of this tangle, of dead vegetation and mud-pits heaped from end to- end with German corpses, the majority of which- have lain ; there since November,; arid - you will ■ gain 'some idea 7of [the appearance of this awful zone of dead that, lies between us and the enemy.-

•/For-the last three months no serious effort has been made to -penetrate the British lines, nor has any great concentration of Germans taken'place on the front. Such activity* as "nas been - displayed has been merely, that of an'active defensive."

• Proceeding. "Eye-witness" describes the topography • of" the country;-and> a series of small, engagements,that led, at the end of January, tothe British -comsteady progress in the La Bassee area.

He similarly describes' Ypres and its surroundings, stating that-the enemy's nearest approach to town was at an old rampart two miles away.

.--- NEW"IiBVjEBS DISTRUSTED. ' Tn : this district, he does on, the latest activity has been shown in the shape of attacks, not' carried out by the masses, but by small.bodies of mcn v _The last attack-was -made after fresh drafts- had been received by the-enemy. Many of these men had never been in the trenches before, nor were 'they warned that an. advance was-intended until 10 minutes' before the time appointed '- for the assault. . 'This seems to shpw,'^.?Eye---dtne»-sr v points out,-'.that there is some distrust of "the new levies^when.going, wider fixe