Sidelights On The War

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 71, 23 March 1918, Page 15

Sidelights On The War

Sixty per cent of the Czechs resident in France enlisted in the Trench Army at the outbreak of war, and many of them have been decorated with French and Rnseian Orders for bravery. "Vorwarts" says that an 15-year-old German "workman has been sentenced to six -weeks* imprisonment for calling out to a passing- detachment of soldiers: "Throw your rifles away and make an end of it." A German financial journal. "Die Bank.*" ■ays:—"The Rumanian petroleum wells have been so thoroughly destroyed by the Allies that there is no chance of the company owning them paying any dividend for many years to come." In reply to the congratulations of the German Association of South Sea Traders -upon the appointment of a "Governor of Xew Guinea."" Dr. Solf, the Colonial Secretary, expressed the hope that "the German flag will soon be flying again over our fine South Sea colonies."" so that German enterprise could open up these promising "possessions" as "energetically and successfully as hitherto." PAPER VELVET. "Paper velvet" v the latest substitute in dress goods in Germany. A patent has been granted for a curable paper fibre which, upholstered with flickings of wool <"*wool dust*). is supplied with a surface resembJJcs velvet. HUNS AltD OUR WOUNDED. Lord Denbigh, speaking at the Mansion House, said that a repatriated oflScer told him that amon: tlie English prisoners in Germany was a man with a wounded arm. "As he went along he was singled o*it for the special sport of the German oflWrs. who grabied him by the wonnded arm and pinched him until he cried with pain. KAISER'S AUTHOR SON. Prince Adalbert of Prussia, the third son of the Kaiser, has just published a book called "With My Battalion in the Front-T.iT-e Trenches." It deals, with his experiences as commander of German marine troops on the coast of Flanders, in the neighbourhood of Zeebrngge. The Govern-ment-controlled newspapers publish gushing reviews. OFFICERS' FTTR COLLAR*. Now that women are being ruthlessly reproved for indulgence in fine apparel. Is exemption to be granted for the fur collars with which Army officers increasingly deck their British warms and even rainproofs, asks the "Daily Chronicle"? It is a fashion greatly affected by flying men, even when they are travelling an the Underground, and a brigadier was noted the other day with a sable collar on his mackintosh coat. LOOTED ART TREASURES. However we interpret "reparation" it Is Inconceivable that peace terms will leave Germany the art treasures of which she has stripped the occupied territory of Italy. "Sapoleon was equaHy unscrupulous In the looting of conquered towns with a view to enriching the Louvre, and in September, ISK, the Allied Powers stipulated for the restoration of the plunder as one of the conditions of peace. Commissioners attended from 14 different States, and 20*55 pictures were claimed and removed. KAISER'S ' TANK PARADE." The German Press gives prominence to what is grandiloquently described as "a tack parade," organised recently on the Western front in honour of the Kaiser. The "parade"* consisted of a "march past* of the British tank said to have been captured at Cambrai. and which is now on exhibition in Berlin. Three columns of eff"*srs-e descriptions detail the appearance of the "monster" and its •'ponderous evolutions"* before our "much-Interested Supreme War Lord." SEAGULLS AS MIHE SIGKALS. Gulls as detectors of floating mines have saved a British ship from destruction. They calmly perched upon the horns of the deadly mechanism! Two Instances are known in which they have revealed the presence of submarines, flying low over the wateri as the hidden terrors travelled near the surface. The explanation was that they apparently mistook the boats for whales. It is more likely that they were in search of fish stirred up by the passage of the vessels. But as mine-signals the birds have a new significance for the sailor. SOLDIERS' NERVES. The commonest of all forms of "nerve*" among men at the front in Europe Is, perhaps, the longing to be alone. It would be difficult to say how many men have had to be invalided out of the army because they cannot live near other people. To «cci. theatres, crowded streets, the buss of conversation in a "room, the proximity of people in a train or In an omnibus become tortures that are almost unbearable. There are men who have taken to solitary huts in the forests), to tiny homes by the sea, where they will live like primitive men until something; happens in their brains to jerk them back into the old routine of life. THE AUSTRALIAN'S RETORT. Discipline in the Army, by all means. but there is no need for it to percolate into every cook and cranny of social life at home, says a London paper. Many officers, in passing through the London streets, dislike the everlasting salutes which they have to acScnowledge. Others there are who stand stiSy by the convention. One of these, a major, a few days ago sharply rebuked an A*istralisji M.C.. who passed Mm on the street without saluting "Hasnt your colonel taught you to salute your superior officers?" inquired the irate rjajor. "So." was the reply of the unabashed Australian, "but be has taught us how to fisht." J 'WILL THE BRITISH FLEET ATTACK ? Whether Germany is lately to witness a British, naral attact on her coasts in 1918 is discussed by Captain Fersius in the "Berlin Dally Paper." He says: — "in attempting to pierce the gioom of the future, two essential questions present rhnn-seites—What successes ate our Übo=ts likely to have during the coming year, and will the enemy's fleets risk ac attack ;a omt North Sea harbours? The answers to these questions arc interdependent. As long as the U-boat war cannot Imperil enemy shipping, and thereby conduct of land warfare, so seriously i« to require desperate measures, just so long—to judge by the policy of the British Admiralty Urns far—trill there be no atteaipt to destroy our U-boat bases from the seaside because the risk appears tco grave." Reviewing the "activities'* of the German Fleet in 1317. Persius says that they were confined to "frequent cruises in the Baltic and the North Sea without, however, any Important engagements."

"It will be one of the first peace tasks of the Turkish Government to find ways and means of making the Armenians to forget the sufferings of the war."'—Djavid Sey, Turkish Minister of Finance. A new method of carrying loads has been introduced by the Canadians on the Western front, and, is based on the simple principles of the head strap or tump line used by Xorth American Indians. It enables a man to carry the ordinary load of two men with less fatigue than one soldier can carry his own ordinary load, and greatly increases marching capacity. * AST EMDES ECHO. j Lieutenant-Commander Lauterbach. prize officer of the celebrated raider Emden. who escaped from captivity in Singapore, has just written the story of his adventures in a book called "0.000 Head Prize—Dead or Alive." A FIVE TEARS WAR. We are all familiar with Lord Kitchener's prophecy that the war >vould last for three years. But from an account la the "Forbes Magazine" of an interview between Mr Charles Schwab and the late War Secretary, we gather that that was an inside estimate:— It was to be a long, titanic struggle. Kitchener confided. He counted upon It lasting five years. 9e may well prove to be a truer prophet even than we had imagined. CHANCELLOR AND FASHIONS. In the midst of war the German Chancellor finds time for the foioles of peace. Count Hertling icas just sent the formal I Mes=ing of the Herman Government to the I Association for Creating German Fashions."' This "Is the organisation founded to wean Germanic women from "slavish dependence" on Paris styles. An exhibition of "exclusively German creations" has just been held in Switzerland, and the Chancellor's benediction was called forth by the alleged success of the show. A HOVEL INTRODUCTION. The other day (says a writer in the "Daily Express") I witnessed a pathetic incident while washing my hands in an hotel. Two young officers entered, strangers to each other, one with his left coat sleeve empty, the other with his right arm in a sling. They looked at each other, and one of them said with some diffidence —"Shall we wash hands together?" Whereupon each washed the other's handi dried it, and after this novel Introduction they went off to lunch together. NOTORIOUS HUNS LET GO. Mr James Hope, answering questions in Parliament, said Captain yon Muller, late or the Emden, and Lieutenant yon Tlrpltz were among the German prisoners of war recently returned by us. and were now interned in Holland under the provisions of the Hague Convention. Their internment enabled them to avoid being in captivity. There was no question of setting one officer against another. All our earliest prisoners had gone to Holland, and he believed that the German Government followed the principle of priority of capture, as was done by ourselves. WATCH REPAIRING—A NEW INDUSTRT. As in England, maimed British soldiers at present In Switzerland a.c being taught new trades. Before the war Britain imported immense quantities of Swiss watches, but did not know how to repair them, and had to send them abroad. Now. however, with the direct assistance of the big Swiss watch-making firms, we have started at Seeberg. near Lucerne, a big school for training watch-repairers. One hundred and arty English watchmaking firms (Mr K. Sefton Delmer writes in the "Dally Mall ") are contributing to the expenses, and will give the men employment as watch repairers on the close of the war. Swiss watches will henceforth be repaired in England. MUNITION WORKERS AT THE FRONT. Sir Douglas Halg himself is responsible for the decision to arrange for visits to the Western front from representative workmen on a scale larger than has yet been attempted (says the London correspondent of the "Yorkshire Post"). Large parties of monition workers hare been shown over the battle area, and smaller parties of officials of trade unions connected with vital industries have also been taken: but It Is only now that the invitations are being made more generaL Sir Douglas Halg has made a feature of letting Labour men see for themselves what is Koine on at the front. He thinks that the best way to enlist the support of the workers for the neW effort ahead is to let those men study the conditions 1b France, on whom rests the responsibility of deciding what additional sacrifices shall be made. TOMMIES' RATIONS.. An amusing story of Tommy and his rations was told by Major William McKenzle. Chaplain of the Forces at the front, at a Salvation Army gathering at Westminster. Speaking of the need and utility of the Salvation Army canteens, both In and behind the lines In France. Major McKenzle said the following was a favourite song, which was sung with gusto by the men in his regiment:— The Brigadier likes turkey. The Colonel—he gets duck. The officers have ham and egg* And think themselves in lurk: The Sergeants they have bread and cheese. And mop up all they can, But all the poor old Tommies scet Is bread and blankey jam. There was no such monotony of Tommy's fare In the Salvation Army ranteens. Major McKenzle added, for both in variety and quality the food served In them was tip top. 5,000-MILE U-BOAT CRUISE. Germany's first submarine hero in 1918 is Lieutenant-Commander KopnameL a Üboat captain who returned to a twine port after a voyage of 5000 miles. His chief feat, however, •-onslsteff of bringing back with him 'J2 tons of copper for the German munition industry. Kophamel. who already had several remarkable U-boat exploits to his credit, has been given the Pour Ie Merite Order by the Kaiser for his latest and most successful achievement. His 5000-mile cruise took him to the Cape Verde Islands and back. a trip estimated by the German Admiralty at 2300 miles each way, "or about the distance across the Atlantic as far north as Canada." Kophamel's booty is said to have Included a destroyer ("probably American"), 9 steamers, and 3 s-"iug ships. The cargoes of the merchantmen destroyed consisted of "at least 10,0u0 tons of munitions, in addition to coffee, leather, wheat, copper, steel, nuts ana rubber." The Berlin Admiralty claims that both the C-boat and its crew "weathered the nnprecedentedly long journey In first-rate form, thereby furnishing fresh proof both of the good training of the personnel and the seaworthiness of our submarines."