Sidelights on the War

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 174, 22 July 1916, Page 15

Sidelights on the War

Soldiers billeted at High Wycombe, Busts, aro tilling and planting the allotments'of about fifty local men serving elsewhere.

Arthur Heywood, a 'Bolton labourer, w&o was drowned in the Leigh Canal, left a letter saying he had twice been rejected for the Army, and Tvas sick of lite.

Sir T. Vezey Strong remarked at the City of London Tribunal that the number of unmarried men was "growing Binallcr t>y degrees and beautifully less."

A man was excused at Harrow tribunal for "exceptional domestic circumstances." He said his wife had run away with the Joager and lett him to look after live v children.

Old Lady: "And how did you get wonuded, my poor fellow?" The Hero: "By not minding my own business, and interfering in this blooming war!"

inn Gilmore, 'the wife of a Blackburn spinner who has four sons at the front, . committed suicide by cutting her throat & few weeks ago. 'Her fifth aud only remaining son had beeu called up.

Two German girls, one 15 and the other 17 years old. have -been sentenced -by courtmartial at Ulni to a flue of £3, or iv default to one month's imprisonment, for "having lore affairs with two French prisoners of war employed on a farm."

As the result of an operation for appeudidtis, Private Aitkeu, Durham Light Infantry, of Jarrow, has recovered both speech and hearing, which he lost in the battle of loos.

The Iron Cross has ueen 'bestowed on the seventy-three-year-old "war volunteer" I'ricdrich Pakutz, a Rhiuelander, for "gallantry In action" iv the eastern theatre of war.

The Sew l'ork "Evening Mail" is the authority for the statement that "a young British mother of patriotic tendencies aanied her new : baby 'Dardanella Gallipoli.'"

Leipzig has decided to set an example to German cities which are looking for fresh sources of -war revenue by instituting a .tax on bachelors. It will take the form of an income surtax.

Hγ J. A. Whitehead, proprietor of the Whitehead Aircraft Co., entertained his employees to celebrate the firm's first inaiverEary. 'He said a year ago he borrowed £200 to start his business, and now his pay roll was about £1000 a -week.

HOW A DISGRACED TOMMY MADE GOOD. Sγ fiobert Siunro, K.C., M.P., the Lord

Advocate, toid the General Assembly of tic United Free Church in Edinburgh how a disgraced soldier got back to the Army. Tie man was discharged vrith ignominy while with the forces iv India. After cominj into contact Tvdth a minister and reforming he tried to re-enlist, but was refnsed od account of his record. He wrote a letter to the King, -whom he addressed « "Dear Kins," and as a result was tatea back to the Army. After great sallantry in the no-man's land between the trenches, lie died trying to save ' otters. THE "KINDLY" GERMANS. "Highly organised font brutal despotism which seeke the destruction of the prinwhich the British Empire repre- , seats," was a phrase used by Lord Meath '" a letter to tie Cumberland Education Committee. Cinon Rawnsley said he objected to the importation of feeling on the Mcislon of the celebration of Empire Day ®U? Btr ° nsly of tho °P inion "at oratal should not be brought in. A Member: "I agree with Canon Rawnsley Idon-t thlak we gbmM call them brnt^; " er Uye acted Tery kindly-the- GerJnaas." (Laughter.) A EUCLID OF WAR. 'The Ljonian," the organ of the Lower fcfcool at Harrow, has tho following proPfcitions in the current issue--*XtaT. b ODe who has positloa but •WWWt! , * COmmDJlJ<lue lies e 1 a "lly on sticks. WUICh LaS leDSth ' «*£?* eflUal t0 * Tommy ls e « ual t0 i^oM fl f rC M oUble the Prlce of tbe s " m * Offlceco o^" 6 elSeWhere ' " " a W " IX4UAN GIRL'S VENDETTA ON AUSTRIANS. The Swiss Alpine troops on the Btelvio «n?, S T the Gene ™ corespondent of the ,2 ress ." noticed for several days * slim Italian girl, aged about eighteen, cZT* W " h a rifle ' elimbin = the snow! Oao of th • pent wost of thu da J'eae w f VISS SOidlers iu 'l u red what ateT S - T lta,,au sM lie,l ■ iroth y have killed n y two ™aew and my sweetheart. an<l I am J mnk ! Lave knied eb.ii ns, I,ut tllat is not enoii"h I shooting uutil I am myself UNCONQUERABLE TRENCH. prtsoner - wriUns horne > s *ys- *« J? taUlre<l Prisoners J«st arWere th t^"™ 1 " fr ° m Verdun res ' on ' »°"l e den°c ecU The US aU - e 'er.t"n i™ *** Relieve the meu having lived v «tt S ~ - What a dlfferßnee . Jtii we Boehes, .who have had enough of

OH THE BATTLEFIELD. «t Stonf d^ o ™ any ' beiieve ln tbe angels fen a t T F D 'Ken to His mother at .Eastbourne a AnT J a ° De ° f the b "«alious of >-c; ■o» ,n the sky. It Ba |led along until "hour, the m ° 0U - X thiuk «ee n r caW a,,d f or about ten or Tiere T eS tbere W,IS not a shot flre<l - -β-was absolute silence on both sides. *c hlrT erlnS IVhat tbls Tlsion mei,ns - lave t " TOTy hot four d ?y g . and u7j em f n ln the tren chee another to-tk. ha?e aeTer heen 80 close «*o?t "" we are now - are taui-r,. ° r Bilty yards awa y> and we cw "I", m talklDS <lnlte Ptatafr, and see them iwortla? away."

HORRORS OF WITTENBERG. AS ENGLISH SOLDIER'S STOKI Off SUFFERING. The experience of Private Arthur Green, "*° w f mounded and taken .prisoner in * carl > r da ys of the war, and underwent Lhe horrors ot the Wittenberg, detention ! camp, are graphically described in a sma'l volume entitled "The Story of a Prisoner I "war," juet issued by Messrs. Onatto ana ; W Indus. (1/ net.) : A machine-gun bullet struct him In the thigh, and He had to drop behind in the retreat. ' " That was the last I seen of the regiment. I suppose I'd .been there about an hour when I heard voices coming about 40 yards off which I knew were foreign. Weil, they came—four men. The leader says, • Sprakeu German? I says, ' No,' so as he could speak a bit of broken English, he was asking mc questions, and he got some good answers to some, I can tell you. Well, one of the men who seemed a ruffian, threatened mc with the butt of a rifle, ana 1 kuo.iv I done a foolish thing at the time —I laughed at him, so he Tips and takes abart oO paces off. I seen ho was loading and I only prayed, and prayed out loud, saying, • p ray God U(J may fire stralgJlt ... A corporal iv charge of the squad lntcrveued iv the nick of time, however, aud Private Greeu was loft to himself for the night. •■The cries of the wounded were like going into a zoo when all the animals are angry. Oh, it was horrible." After an interlude, during which he reeelved kindnesses from the -Kreudi and some English ladies, •' They catne-tbe Germans, I mean—and took us off to the train bouud for Germany. I'd only been an hour in the train when a Deuch officer came aud look my overcoat off mc, and smacked mc 'Ji the face with my tobacco pouch Every time we stopped, people would come and jeei- at us, hold their lists up, and spit at us. There were about 20 English. We had to sit on forms on the platform. They kept us there three hours, then packed us in wagons, with all the town (Darmstadt) following us, flinging etufC and shouting. " It did not take long to find the ropes " at the Darmstadt prison camp. " No sooner would an Englishman go out than— bluff! with n rifle in the 4)ack°of the neck or §,« hit with a stick; but the French were not to be touched. They were ■ comrades' to the Germans. We had only .been there a couple of days wheu some black niggers came from Africa, French troope, and the orders were for two uigs and an English on two beds. Our chaps would not have it, but at night they made them do it, so they got as lousy as cuckoos."

There was never a moment's rest from the brutality of the guards. Private Green could move but slowly on account of his crutches. " I only had one leg to stand on, so as I would not say I wae American, they called iue all the ' English swine ' and English other things they could think or, and gave mc a punch in the mouth. My monkey was up in a minute, 'but I'm "lad to cay I took it as a Joke. When it came to march back, there was about 80 to 100 kids outside, and I had a lively time, all of them shouting and flinging, aud the guard laughing." The first of the horrors of Wittenberg was starvation:—" We never wasted v crumb. We'd try and save a bit of bread for supper; but no, you could not. Sorile were for chancing getting away. They did say a 'bullet was better than starvation." A lit of ague added next to bis misfortunes, and he was removed to the camp "hospital." " The place was filthy, the lice were in millions; you could see them climb up the wall. There was a Russian carried out, like a bag of bones. Hie blanket, what was over him, looked like frost on it; but I could see it was lice in millions. . . . of the Rifle Brigade weut out to hospital the week before with hague (sic). The , first thing he had to do was to linve a cold bath, with the men ecrubbing him. Well, he died next day. Twelve men went out to bury him, and got hooted by the people when they were carrying the coffin.'" After the Germans had deserted the camp for fear of contagion, a new party of English arrived. " They hauled them out of the trucks, hitting them with, sticks, bells, swords, and anything else they hail, and then drove them down to the gates, and they came in at the gates .like a lot of mad bulls." Prisoners were dying "at an average of 30 a day," and the conditions were indescribable. " They were burying them two in one hoi —take them straight down aud lay them alongsld one another. There was no roll of who was who until March. No one knows now for certain who died before then. The Germans would smoke and lay on their tiQee when the corpses were going by."

GERMANS FIGHT AUSTRIANS,

ARTILLERY QUELLS BATTLE. The Miusk correspondent of the "Bourse 'Gazette"' reports that a big fight took 'Place a few days ago between Gorman aud Austrian troops ill the district of South •Polesie, whe.ro the German and Austrian lines unite. Austriau deserters, he says, give the following account of the affair:— All the German fronta.l positions being flooded, the enemy's troops were compelled to change their positions. In this process the Germans began to push the Austrians forward, making thoni occupy all the vangnaard places which were inundated. The ■Austria ns protested vigorously, and armed encounters took place, in which a large number of officers and men participated, and which culminated in fierce bayonet aiid revolver attacks. ' Butt-ends of rifles were also used, and many of the combatants were killed and wounded. Fresh troops who were een-t forward to put an end to the fighting 'took sides with the rioters, and at last the Austrian commanding staff were compelled to use cannon to part the combatants. The noise of the artillery gave rise to the impression that an offensive against the Russians had been ordered, and the news caused an immediate cessation of the conflict, In which hundreds of Germans and Austrians were opposed to each other. Subsequently many ojlicers were arrested. Ttoe affair was reported to the Aiohduke Frlcdxieh, -the Commauder-in-Chief of the Austrian forces on the eastern front, with the result that the Austrian soldiers In- ! volvcd were replaced by now men, and several Austrian officers are -being tried by court-martial. Deserters report that illfeeling between the Austrians and Germans is now very acute. JAPAN AND THE WAR. The "Corrierc della Sera" states that a Japanese deputy asked a question of Count Okirmo in Parliament ns to 'whether Japan <li<l not Intend to participate, -with certain limitations, in the -war in Europe. The Count replied that he could uot reply to , the question.