THE MEN BEHIND THE GUN.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15219, 5 March 1915, Page 8

THE MEN BEHIND THE GUN.

A SURPRISE FOR THE GERMANS. FINE BELGIAN FEAT. (Melbourne "Ago" Correspondent.) LONDON, January 15. The Belgian soldier fights differently to any other soldier in the field. , He alone in this tremendous war of machinery and machine methods, has rip;- • gedly adhered to the old methods of fighting, and retained his individuality. When, strategically, the Belgian army ' was supposed to be on the defensive, j each Belgian soldier was individually on the offensive, ever on the watch to exact an eye for an eye or a tooth ] for a tooth from the brutal barbarians 1 who had overrun his country, and 1' trampled underfoot everything ho held i dear. "What was military strategy to men whose homes had been razed to i the ground, whoSe dear ones had br-en murdered or assailed by the ruthless j Huns? (. Consequently the Belgian campaign has been market throughout by incidents and surprises, by sudden charges, by dotached affrays, waged with primal fury, man against man, horso against ?K>rse, in which quarter was neither given nor expected. Such an affray occurred recently a little to the west of Dixmudo. at an advanced post of the Allies , line, lightly held by the Bel- 1: gians. The Germans thought the point t< so weak that it be broken, and q they despatched a small column of men r to essay the task. . _ " c They were sigli-ed by a- Beljpan out- t post patrol—a mere handful of a dozen t' men. with a machine-gun. Obviously t

the proper thing from a military point of view was for the patrol to have fallen back on its main body and given

warning of the German attack. But the little band of Belgians did not look at it from that point of view. They decided to bar the advance, and let the sound of the fighting warn their comrades. A small deserted farm-house

commanded the road the Germans must take, and thither the Belgians betook themselves, with .their machine-gun, which they posted at a window, commanding the open .road. The Germans came on—2oo or .more —never imagining that their advance was to be disputed. They marched on .steadily, and the Belgians, in the farm-house, withheld their fire until they came within close range. Then they opened out with ttiefr rifles and inac'hine-'gun. The stolid green-grey line of advancing Germans was thrown into confusion by the vinexpeetea attack. They stopped short in dismay, and, while their officers . endeavoured to urge them on, the Belgians in tho farm-house kept the' machine-gun incessantly at work, aVid picked off the Germans with their rifles. .At that' range it was almost impossible.to miss. German after German went down, and finally the whole column 6ought inglorious shelter in the ditches beside the road, while the officer in" charge sent a hurried message for some artillery reinforcements. For several hours thegal-

lant ifEHe band in the farm-house kept the.foe at bay. picking off every German helmet thnt showed itself, and

all efforts to rush. the farmhouse. At length the German battery came up. and opened a murderous fire on the farm. The end of the Belgian narty inside- would have been «swift, but the noise of the firing brought up Bolgiau reinforcements 'just at the right foment. When the Germans made their infantry attack on the farm under cover of their battery, they were met witli a terrible volley, and a party of Belgians cam© forward on the run with fixed bayonets. There was a short, fierce struggle; then the Germans, unable to face the cold eteel. turned and find in all directions, pursued by the Belgians. . The band of defenders of the farmhouse suffered heavily. Four of them had been killed, and nearly all the remainder had been severely wounded. They were taken back to the Belgian lines, and thence to a.bas« hospital, where most of them are- now on the fair way.to recovery, and looking forward to another encounter with the hated enemy.