Sidelights on the War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 31, 5 February 1916, Page 15

Sidelights on the War

A Burnley recruit under the group system weighed 19 stone, and had a chest meajnreineiK of 50 inches, with a 5-inch, expansion.

The smallest British soldier is said to be private John "Waring, of the sth King's Own Boysl -Lancasters, who stands only i feet 1 inches.

A prtva*te--cf the Middlesev Regiment, who was charged at Highgate as a deserter, gave his age as 15 years and 4 months. He bad, te said, been a private for five months, jnd when be enlisted be stated that his age -was 13. The clerk remarked that the jase ought to have been taken to the mil-dren's-Conrt.

Bristol has only just discovered that a soldier who has been paying out the State's 2/9 to Derby recruits is a millionaire. Private Brian Cavannagb. aged 24. was a voluntary helper at Colston Hall for three days. He owns 250.000 acres in Australia, teas wounded st Gallipoli, and has been In hospital at Bristol.

Report!- from Chicago state that Federal agents have seized all the documents belonging to the "Irish Voice." a pro-German paper published in that city for a brier period last summer. The action is stated to ha.-pe "seen taken on the complaint ot Canadian, officials that those responsible for tie prod-action of the paper hud violated .American neutrality. "CRAZY ABOUT SOLDIERS." At the Sussex Assizes a woman was fenteDced'fnrmarrriiis a married man, when Private James Moore Boyd. Royal Irish Bifles, was charged with bigamy and Kate Grinstesd with aiding and abetting. **V*ien in camp at Kas-tbonme Boyd met the girl, and it was said, although she knew he bad a wife, she married him. Mrs. Boyd, of .Belfast- knew of tho affair by reading a letter written by the ixirl to Boyd while he yas on a visit in Ireland. Boyd promised teetotal and was bound over, but ia «enteneing Grinstead to a month in prison the judge said that she appeared to be one of a great many young women who bad ©one -crazy about soldiers. V.C.i SIX TIMES REJECTED. Among the las', batch of V.Cs. were two Enningha-.-u Lieutenant H. James. 4th and Private A. Viekers, -nd Warwicks. '.Vicke.-s. when he got home to his native tow.n. said that he never thought much about hu= cutting of the wire entanglement;: at F.'ulluch. though he received the French mi'itv-ry medal. He was just going to sieep one night in a ruined house when some of his friends ran in and said: "Give ns your hand. 'Midge,' you've got the V.C." Lieutenant James is 27 and was intended originally to be a schoolmaster. Six years ago he enlisted In the 21jst He was wounded in the foot at Gallipoli. Private Vickers is *>4. When the war broke out he tnea six times at the recruiting office before he was accepted, on account of his short height. GERMANY'S " FIGHTING MAC." Some myths die hard. I find (.says an English writer) that the belief is quite current again in some quarters that General fir Hector Maedonald is alive and actually •"■gaged in the present war. At an EdinfiTjnrgh recruiting office I overheard this pma-Etrro- rtrmour disenssed in aG seriousBess by a STo-a-p of recruits of the labouring class They alleged that the missing hero was no other than Mn-ckenssn. "Hector," declared one, " made it a condition ■wi' the Kaiser that lie widna' fecht against the British. That's •wiry "he's been 'hammering at the fioosians and Serbians. Noo that the Serbians are cleared 00l o' "their country and the Germans and 'Bulgarians are np against oor men, Maekensen's awa" hame again, and the Kaiser "las thanked lin* for what he's done. It's as plain as a pikestaff. Maekensen's nae other than Mac' " It is of interest to note in this connection that two of -Sir Hector MacdonaM's nephews have been fig-hiing on tbe Western front in the ranks of the IxjEQon Scottish. HINTS TO MALINGERERS. At the military hospital attached to the barracks at an English town all soldiers •who wish to see th-e doctor assemble each morning at the door of the doctor's surgery. There used to be a great deal of malingering, or *** swinging the lead," as the soldiers call it. among the sufferers. This has been effectively stopped by the following notice which has been affixed to the Surgery door: — Hints to those who, for one reason or an(•ther, wish to "' go sick." (1) Don't spring smartly to attention and .Talk briskly up to the medical officer when Jon have chosen an injured knee-cap. (2) Don't forget that sprained wrists and ankles are always swollen. (3) Don't on emerging from " tbe pretence," let yonr friends shout " Any luck?" !»ose wishing for further advice should apply for my various illustrated pamphlets, pace 6d each. Tbe most popular are:— X . How to raise and lower your temperature, 2. How to strengthen and weaken your poise. 3. How to get a bad tongue. 4. How to get a very bad long*? (price SW. 5. How to make joints swe'l. 6. Paienes.=. 1. Useful .llnessej, tbeir duration, symptoms, and remedies. AN AMERICAN ON PEACE. The best military opinion in the United fitates has noT been affected as regards the eventual outcome of the war by developments in the Balkans (says a New York correspondent). It rests unshakably on the conviction • that the Germanic Powers are toomed to be decisively defeated.

After predicting at least another year of "•■""r, a writer in the New York " Tribune " Eposes of the empty peace rumours in the following passage:—" There is no basis for Peace now. Germany oaxnot and will not amsent to give up all her mighty conquests °Wely for peace—a peace that would bring staggering and sterile debt. Germany's fees cannot agrre to peace while their very *="dstence is in danger.

"It took Europe ten years to dispose of vg> Napoleonic menace. It will take a Sorter time to dispose of the German be•Juse it is Napoleonism with Napoleon left •"t Fortunately for France and Great Britain and for tbe world, the peril of comAte German success has been disposed of. frsnce, Russia, and Great Britain keep the Ig4 with growing power and unshaken will. % blood tax on Germany has begun to r*S The Br;tish naval noose has been 1 08 to suffocation. The German ad*Mce his terminated in the east and west, and only lv the Balkans is there still process. "AU doubt of the outcome of tbe war as • Wiltsry protein has passed. But one, Perhaps 1.-.,,, years more of war are seemIng! v i : , ( .. i-.-t1,!,, for peace is impossible *MS Mite; «I o rule Germany cling to tne ueltet Hia! ,1 <i within their power to or(*itfr Hi-m-i.- and dominate tlic lesser

A large number of public-houses to two newly developed nfunrtion areas in BugaCqUlre<i on benalf <" «- 6 State by the Central Board of Liquor Control. The houses will be managed by the

After having served through, the South African War, Mr __ a grocer _ of Merrow, Surrey, who haß oul y one leg, wrote to the War Office offering his services in any nseful capacity, and has now been given a position in the Army Ordnance Corps. The widow of a soldier killed at the Dardanelles appeared at the Blackburn recruitattest 6 a f Dd ***** ttat ***« s °°- -vho attested a few days previously. mlght be ~r l •„ aS he Was the eldes * four obi!, wh? i 2 -T J M y6ars of a - se " The lad. hU mr * tr ° DS aDd WS f ° r ' Ms *»«S-*«d Jis mten-uon of avenging his father's death, 'won* r' d - t " U ' e Armr refus « »'» **<- :ztnT the - Na^His «• It is stated that a man with a cork leg hu^dredJT fn BrOUSQ tQe formalities which nundred* of thousands underwent recently. «ntra" eiV l. h the K CUStomarj - 2/9 to seal tne v*' Thou S» Possessing an arUflcial limb the recruit walked so well that his -Physical unfitness was not detected Tht paymaster has jocularly remarked that le neath 0 th MDk K,° £ aa a £ ueath the table to tap the l eg 3 * recrm ts. SOUJIER OF FIFTEEN -1. isoo, and left the elementary fn thel- TfS at B ° WUn S «"**- servn: \ ° BSt his «-"->* is r ,„ I, "' 0n le »v*ng school young Can- worked in a sawmill till last March. «*en he enlisted in [he 2/ stb .Vorfolks. TaU and sturdy, he passed for 10. IHe was one of tire first to step forward ,wien volunteers were invited for Imperial service, and was then transferred to the l/sth Norfolks. in July he sailed for the Mediterranean, being then 14 years and seven months old. He survived the fighting at Suv+a Bay, and continued serving in Gallipoii Peninsula for a couple of months, when he contracted dysentery, and was conveyed to iMalta. and thence to England. He has heen home on sick leave after 'being iv a convalescent home at Eastbourne, but. haTing had a slight relapse, has had to return to hospital. He is now progressing towards recovery. GERMAN TYRANNY. A nentral who has just returned from Belgium gave an interview to a Central News representative of life under the German heel in Brussels. The conditions in -Brussels to-day. he said, are simply terrible. Tbe ualortonate population would appear to b": caged in a rao-trap. Every man, woman and child is a suspect, and woe to th" one who falls into the clutches of the H*ra. "Cest la Terreu-r" is the cry of the people, and they yearn for the bonr when they shall be freed from their oppression aud persecution. No ruse is too despicable to terrorise the inhabitants. In the general post office, for instance, it is a favoartte practice of the Gergan agent to «'all aloud all of a sodden, "I am robbed." The doors of tbe building are immeditely closed, and ever-yone within searched. Invariably a dozen, or two dozen arrests are made, and the ianocents are pitched into prison for no oCEence whatever. To make life moreintolerable. German police officers frequently throw English newspapers into the; j letter-hoses of .private houses, and then execute a raid. The result Is that who'.e families are arrested and penalised just to satisfy the German thirst for tyranny. GERMAN FAT FAMINE. Mr. F"rane!s Gribble, the English author, recently released from Ruhleben after nearly a year's internment, discusses the German food situation in the " Nineteenth Century." On the strength of evidence constantly reaching even interned prisoners. Mr. Gribble asserts that the Germans have been " feeling the English blockade, feeling it badly, and feeling it all the time." For many weeks before the Institution, of the recent No-Meat and No-Fat days Ruhleben Camp was aware, from numerous indications, that practically all food in Germany was lamentably short, except potatoes and green vegetables, and tbe stringent "regulations " adopted by the Government regarding potatoes were proof that even that great popular comestible was not overplentiful. Englishmen at Euhleben have beeu noticing far a long time that un- | watered milk v.as; hardly obtainable for any money; that pliced bam purchased for the canteen arrived with all the fat cut away; that " substitutes" for this, that, or the other commonest household necessity were increasingly becoming the order of the day. Germans, " long accustomed to gorge themselves with pork." have been paying 3/- a pound for wretchedly inferior quality, because pigs are being fed on deleterious fodder. "Facts'" known to men ln Euhleben "who knew Germany best led them to say confidently that the Germans are playing a gigantic game of bluff. Very likely they will bluff to their last man, their last shell, and tbeir last potato. But, say what they, wiil, they cannot stand another winter campaign." YON HUTCH'S TRIBUTE.

General yon Klnck. who commanded the right wing of the German army on the West front, bas given some interesting impressions of the war to the Berlin correspondent of the Vienna Journal "Die Zeit." Asked his opinion of the quality of tbe British troops, he said that their bravery and tenacity mnst be admitted.

"And especially," -le continued, "the old j long service men were very serious opponents; many of them had served twelve years. Everybody who knows British military history never underestimates tbe British soldier. For he has proved his worth in all ware. Remember Waterloo. To suppose, as many did, that in the Boer War. and especially at the bet-inning, tbe British troops did not accomplish much, was very shortsighted. One under-estimated the difficulties of a colonial war." Speaking of the difference between a trench war and operations in 'tbe field, the general declared that the former was decidedly harder. "It is," he said, "a sort of siege war on a more extended front and of unlimited duration. And this is always much more wearing than operations on the march. For in the latter there are skirmishes and battles on particular days. In between are long intervals when, though the troops must be on the march, yet they enjoy a certain rest and recovery. But in the trenches constant activity is demanded. In former, wars, moreover, winter campaigns were unknown. But our troops have gone through all the hardships of one winter in the trenches, and now stand before a second. As to the continuous strain on the men. the present war makes fai greater demands than former wars, and as the troops have held -»*'»**"£* wonderful manner, It is proof that pbys !e oii y, mankind la more capable of endur-

A SERB'S ROMANCE. A romantic story, told blm by a Serbian comitadji (volunteer!. Is related by Mr. W. G. Shepton. special correspondent of the ■ United Press. "Six years ago a young Serb | fell in love with a girl. She -promised to marry him If he would go to the States and bring back some money. He wenl to Portland iOregi.nl and saved i4<Xi in Aye years—a little fortune in Serbia. He bnr- | rled back home, but found the girl had married, lip spent all hi.i money, and joined the comitadjl.*. Fellows like him are tougb fighters. They don't care what happens to them. GERMAN "BAG" OR BRAG. The following message has been Issued ! by the German wireless stations and m. ! ceived by the Wireless Press:—Berlin—The I ••Daily .News" states that the activity of i English submarines in the Baltic and the \ Gnlf of Bothnia will shortly be rendered | very difficult on account of ice. This ls a j recognition that England wiU have to give | up her submarine activity. As ag.Unst this. I the German and Austro-Hungarian submarines have up to now sunk DOS ships— | in all, a total of 917.519 tons. INGENIOUS RATION "WARMER, j An ingenious aud inexpensive device. I which might merit the attention of the I British War Office, has been invented In I Italy for warmiug the soldiers' rations. This scaldaranclo, or "ration warmer," as it is called, is composed of old newspapers. These are rolled together as tightly as possible, and the edges gummed, so that they form a compact stick of paper. This is then steeped in paraffin and cut up into segments, one of which is sufficient to heat a soldier's rations. All over Italy old newspapers are being collected for the scaldarancio. Thus (caustically remarks a Rome correspondent) the Press, even In these days o£ the censorship, may be of use. BATTLEFIELD REVENGE. A remarkable story of the battlefield revenge of a sergeant in the Border Regiment, whose wife and children were drowned through the sinking of tbe Lusitauia, is narrated by an officer in tbe course of a letter from Gallipoli. "An extraordinary incident," the writer remarks, j " occurred here on the morning o£ November S. Our tiring Hue varies from 120 to 50 yards from the Turks. Sergeant Cooper, who had left tbe army and came back from America to rejoin ou the outbreak of the war. was posted to us. His wife and three children were ail lost in the Lusitania, and he wanted ibadly to get a hit of his back. At about 5.30 in the morning he told the men near .to stop -firing, aud, jumping over the parapet, he went at a steady double over to the Turks about 120 yards away. Arriving there, he found three having breakfast. He shot one. The others tried to escape, but tumbled over one nnother. and he shot them. Thezu turnip to his right, be shot a man who was almlng at him, and then a fifth. And I after that he toddled back! All the Turks near by were so excited that they got np -oreast-high over the parapet to fire at him and the men in our line bagged several more. Cooper was not toucied. It was an c-STtraordiniry incident. No I one- can ordinarily put his hand over the top by day for ten seconds without getting a bullet through it or near it."

GERMAN " DEVIL'S WALL." Nearly slxreen years a:o Mr. Walter Basshaw, a prominent Yorkshire engineer, Invented a wheeled shield, which he offered to tlie War Ofijrc for use during the H-oet War. H was rejected, but the design having been published in a technical Journal, the shield has now made lv. nppear.ij-.ee il- "the latest achievement of German military science." - Cacfcj r 1 KAISER'S MOURNFUL SPEECHES The German Government Is alarmed at ; the mournful tone of the Kaiser's recent speeches'. German newspapers, it Is said, are forbidden to publish them, as they arc filled with allusions to the Kaiser's anxiety and to his preorcupations, and there is no dt-sLrc to allow the enemy to Imagine that such a feeling as anxiety, regarding the outcome of the war It! possible to the German leaders. It Is also said that during the ' three days' confercnee which the Kaiser held with Field-Marshal yon Hlndcnburg he I was exceptionally outspokeu with regard lo the gravity of the situation In the northern portion of the Russian front, and to the danger to the German Empire with it Involved. German newspaper*', is-nys the . "New York Herald"! hint that jthe lesson [of the Kaiser's receut travels and his extraordinary speeches reveal a condition or ' mental confusion on the part of the GovI ernment and an inability to decide on the right measures to adopt. Many newspapers give warning regarding serious Internal ! troubles, and even the censorship no longer is able to restrain them from publishing their opinions with unprecedented frankness. They assert that the hopes frundixl ou the B-alkan campaign with regard to the removal of auy prospect of famine in Germany are now seen to be entirely without foundation. The newspapers add that the greatest danger which Germany now has to face is the increasing spirit of demoralisation which is spreading over the people. IN LOVE WITH PRISONERS. Disgust aud Indignation are expressed by Austrian newspapers because of revelations made In connection with conditions at Im*t and Sautens, where large numbers of Russian prisoners are held, l'oung girls and women, they assert, have fallen in iove with Russians, big,- handsome feli lows, and are corresponding with them and meeting them clandestinely. Every trick and ingenuity of feminity are resorted to iv order to smuggle dainties to the Russians, so much so that the Government has taken the matter in hand and will !n future keep the prisoners under such a strong guard that no women wiU be permitted to have access to the barracks. It is asserted the Russian prisoners are a menace to the morals of the community. On the other hand, the chaplain of the camp at Wenns, in a sermon in his church, frankly declared that his observations have demonstrated that the Ruselan prisoners have iv no wise encouraged the attentions of the young women, but that he I must acknowledge with regret and disgust that young girls in his own school In the town were guilty of offences against modesty and decorum in openly flaunting their affection for the Russian soldiers. Physicians In the barracks also voice their indignation In the newspapers. As a result no woman can now approach the camps, and any correspondence or dainties sent to the Russians will be confiscated.

"THAT'S ME." A STORY OK A WOUND. "Mc" Is an officer of the Royal Naval Division, wounded In the Dardanelles and elsewhere, fk. that he has at prea?nt no use for "seats for theatres'or concerts.'* He write- j witty letter, published in the "Dally Express," describing how he was hit. "1 am sure you will all be glad to hear ihat at last I have been mentioned ln dispatches. Yes. turn to lan Hamilton's last report, aud you will find a paragraph j stating that the casualties In the Dardanelles are so many thousand and so injny ! hundred and thirty-one. That's me—the upright, slim little figure at the end of the ' group, reading from left to right. ! "And how did I get my wound? Gather round In the lnglenook, children, and your great uncle Ivan will shoulder bis crutch ' and show you once again . That's how the yarn will 6tart in after years, but, of course. 1 haven't had time to work it up properly as yet. You will just have to be content with the bare truth. j "Weil, one evening, at the close of Ramadan, as we say out here. I was on top of n parapet trying to Hand like a real , little crusader, with my 1-gs crossed like tne fellows In the old churches, and exhorting my men at the same time. i " 'Men of the R.N.D.' I said ln an impassioned peroration, "you have a desperate task before you. Quit yourself like heroes, nnd when It is all over drop mc a line to my dug-out.' "My men—both of them—wrung each others hands in what might be a last farewell, seized their trusty spades, tied on their respirators, and started ln to bury the box of obsolete eggs whi> h Aunt Emily 6cnt mc last moll. I "The hou. and gallant member, having spoken tor half-au-hour and five minutes was then about to resume his seat when a Turkish shell came along and strafed j h '"it was a fairly well pitched shell, with any amount of swerve on it and a deuce of'a break from the off. Absolutely unplayable. Must have been the work of some new change gunner the Turks have discovered ln their second eleven. ••Having gone through a few little move meats to make sure that my one-step action was not Impaired. I balled a pacing stretcher, and told the hearers to take tne to some hospital where they had really first-class gramophone records, and where the nurse wore those jolly pink uniforms. ' "And now I am in Cairo, where the Egyptian cigarettes don't come from, doing vcrv nicely, thank you. and quite j able to raise my head from the pillow oc- _ caslonally and toy with a couple of steaks." I