HEROIC WORK OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 57, 23 February 1918, Page 13

HEROIC WORK OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS

BBrBGE-BUILDXNG TTNBEI*. SHOWERS OF BOMBS FROM ENEMY AIRCRAFT. It is one of the most harassing tasks for the Engineers to build bridges over the numerous canals and streams of Klanders and France, in order to keep the roads open for the constant flow of transport-lorries and other traffic going to and from the fighting line. Often the work has to be done under shelltire, or, as in the case here illustrated, under showers of bombs from enemy aeroplanes, while, to. add to the hardships of the situation, many of the men have to work standing up to the waist in ice-cold water. Often bridges aro destroyed by the enemy, who wait until they are nearly finished before delivering an attack, and have to be rebuilt at top speed. In spite of all these dangers and difficulties the men of the Royal Engineers carry out their work with unswerving endurance and courage. During the battle of Cambrai, for example, they did splendid service, as Sir Douglas Haig mentioned in a Special Order of the Day, "in the maintenance of conununication, the development, extension, and repair of roads and railways." Describing the advance of the t'lstermen on the Canal dii Xord, Mr. Perry Robinson writes:—"With the help of the Engineers, who did some extraordinary work in building a bridge over the Canal, they got across and worked up the trench lines on the farther side." Our drawing gives a typical scene on a similar occasion. —The "Illustrated London. News.'*