WARFARE UP TO DATE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 309, 29 December 1915, Page 6

WARFARE UP TO DATE.

TRICKS IN THE TRENCHES. THE INVALUABLE PERISCOPE. "The Turks and Germans are full of tricks and dodges," 6aid a wounded private who Lad made his debut on Gallipoli with t 1 c Fourth Reinforcements. "Still, 1 reckon we were quite as good in that line," he continued, "and the Turks weren't ashamed of copying some of our dodges. The periscope rifle is one of the best things ever invented for trench fighting, and it must have saved scores

of lives to us, besides losing even more for the enemy. These rifles were a bit hard to uso at first, but most of the chaps got into the way of it soon enough. One had to lift them carefully on to the parapet, not too fast, or the Turks would probably smash it with rifle fire. It really took two men to work each —one to fire and the other to observe the effect < ■( the shot through a separate periscope. Tlie reason for tfhis was that the rifle used to jump when it was fired, and the man who held it could never 6ec the effect through the sighting

periscope. 'The Turks brought out a rifle of much the same sort after a While, as we expected they would. Often as I was observing through my periscope I could see rifles pointing over the top of the Turkish parapet, but never a man's head, and at the same time anything that showed above our parapet was pretty sure to get hit.

USELESS IRON PLATES. "We had got to the 6tage when even loopholes were no use. 1 remember they brought out a new type of iron loophole, made of two heavy plates riveted together, with a movable door over the opening, which was just big enough to take a rifle barrel. The Turks soon spotted these iron plates, and took to firing steadily at them, round after round. Even hard steel couldn't stand that sort of thing, and after a while the plates used to get so worn that the centres would drop out, and they had to ,be given up. The Turks were cunning, and planted their bullets in a circle round the aperture. In this way we got to using nothing but the periscope riles in the daytime. IN THE DARKNESS. , "Night work used to be a much more ticklish business, because it was necessary to stand up and fire over the parapet. Perhaps the most trying job was observing at night. We always had a man on the lookout, night and day. At night he would have to put his head up carefully every now and then, and it ! was in doing this that a lot of boys got shot. The Turks used to take pot-shots in the dark at anything that looked like a head, and often knocked our fellows out in that way." Speaking of night work in general, the private said that there was a ceaseless whine of bullets, very trying to the nerves. Occasionally a general alarm would occur; perhaps a post would see something in front and open fire. Then machine guns and artillery (mountain-guns) would open out, and in a few minutes the whole line for miles would be firing into the darkness. This sort of thing would continue for about a quarter of an hour, and then all would be comparatively quiet again. BLOWING THEM UP. The mining and counter-mining operations carried on under the direction of the Engineers provided a certain amount of interest and a good deal of hard work

for the infantry. The Engineers' chief difficulty, it seemed to him was guaging ing the exact distance to the enemy's trench. As observations could only be made from a few inches above ground level, it was very hard to say how far a tunnel ought to be driven to give the desired effect when tlie mine was exploded. Occasionally some peculiar accidents used to occur. One night he was sleeping in a tunnel beneath which a mine gallery had been driven. The two were connected by a couple of ventilation holes which were covered at the top by a few loose boards. He was sitting on these when the mine was exploded. Evidently the mine blew back, for he awoke to find himself dazed and covered to the waist with earth which had fallen from the tunnel roof; his rifle and equipment were all buried, and, as soon as he felt well enough, he had to set to work and dig them out. He considered himself very fortunate in not having been buried alive.

Probably the worst trial of all was the Turkish bombs. Wire netting was rigged up over the parapets as a protection, but in a Bhort time the Turks learnt to lob the missiles over the netting and into our trenches. The traverses and communication trenches were some protection, but very often there was no time to get into them, or else the bomb itself blocked the way. The only thing to do was to throw a Back or overcoat over the missile and lie down with your head as far from it as possible. You ran the risk of getting wounded in the feet, but might escape with nothing worse.