BATTLE STORIES FROM THE WEST FRONT.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16209, 11 May 1918, Page 6

BATTLE STORIES FROM THE WEST FRONT.

GETTING ON WITH IT

(By "Z.")

'•it's <|noor the way the case is aitered on tlie Ridge." said a wounded sergeant belonging to an English Regiment. "if u*ed to bo the case that the Germans looked down on us, and could tree all we did. We were under observation all llu- time, ami no one can say that's a oointoitable fooling. Now, we sue on the ridge, and from the top ot it we can see old (jerry sitting light bung in the ltiiddlo of a big pond. It's ail morass and lagoons where lie's holding—he must feci sick.

'•Passchendaeie is just a big lump of mud, and up to the Kidge we've had no v-.id of work to put tnings straight. We've hail to lav trucks and roads, and we've had to uo a lot of draining. Hut one thing about our labour chaps is the way tliry put their backs into it. You see* a bare piece of country one night, nothing but shell-holes lull of water, or a .sea of mud, a.nd then noxt morning you find a solid track running through it. The next morning again you'll iind the road doubled in width. It's the Sappers that do the job of laying these tracks made with big logs of wood, but tho metalled roads further back are done by the Labour Corps. They work nearly as quick as the Sappers now.

A GKIiMAN SODA-WATEIt FACTORY. "UllO way ami auoiuer we've iiad to UO a «"■ lll tr<o lu g J'OUIKI auuiil —couSU*lnili.Litg tllO 11110. Ulia lliUtYlXlg it C(JUI- - Liiijiu. »30iiic muiois

I,llc Ltuiuouuig, aim tnoy nad iwie a. OotiiiiiJi botia-tiuior lactory. it nad b.-on covonu up by 1110 buellLnjij Out, v. <id 111 working oiuv t. 1110. o wro a lot or ..bout tlieplace, lull or soda-wiiter, ii -.i everyoouy luuuii waa unnkmg luo .stulr 111 loss than no tunc. Now taey've got the lactory 1 h«>. !(•»■<?, ajiti supply the units louiul about. it jnaKt'.s mo t« think ot the way we've clone Inn Gerries. YVo'vc not only pinched his hit;h ground, but we've collared his soda-water, white he si Is down there in the puddles and sneers. "1 hear Jio's thinking ot' coming back at tis pretty scon. jr ho comes back at that bit of tlic line, lie's for it. "We've got tho prettiest little bits of enfilade lire roacy tor ni.u hy way of a. inception. 1 wouldn't be surprised if lie t:oes come back at lib somewhere on tho lront. Ho s pretty sick with us lor all we've done to him during last year, and bo will want to get back liis military reputation. lie's sullen about it, too, trom the way be keeps chucking shells, big ones, into the villages behind' the linos 1 rom his longrange guns.

"I -don't think he'll do much against us if wo only get enough men. The German soldier can't come up to our chaps, man to man. There's something the matter with his fighting, a sort ol' want of heart about it. I'm not saying that because I'm a British soldier myself, I'm just saying it because it happens to be true. Our chaps are comics. Thoy do tho funniest things without thinking, and they're always cheery. I've never been over tho top yot without' seeing something to laugh at with our chaps. I'll tell you a thing I once saw. A PRIVATE REHEARSAL. "It was in the last push I was in. My cro vd wore in reserve at first, and we'd gone, forward to occupy tho advance reserve position on the new ground. I ■was sitting at the corner of a communication trench, an old German one, when one of the men belonging to another crush came down the line with a German prisoner. He was walking along on top, in the open. He stopped suddenly as if he'd forgotten something. Then he turns round to his prisoner. " 'Go on, you—do the Kamerad business.' he says. Up goes the prisoner's hands. 'Ivamerad! Kamerad 1' says no. " 'That's all right, cocky.' says the Englishman. 'I've seen *it in tins papers, but T wanted to see for myself how it was done. I'm now out hero, I am. Here, have a cigarette, 1 lie says. "And the funnr thing about it all j was that the chap was dead serious, really in earnest. I had to laugh. I'm always glad when we get a new comedian into the platoon, somebody to keep the men cheery. But you'll sometimes find that these born comics are a nuisance in rest or in billets— they get up to their pranks at tne wrong time. THE VALUE OF CHEERFULNESS. "These jokers are a bit of a problem to the officers and n.c.o.'s. I know myself I haven't the heart to tick a man off for doing in billets whp.t we're damned glad to see in a tight corner. But it's awkward when one of these fellows starts kidding .-it the wrong time. They're usually as plucky as they make 'em and willing workers in actual fighting. We lia 1 one in our platoon of the sort. Ho never was at a loss for a word, and it seemed that the heavier the strafe tho brighter he became—sort of put on his mettle. Of course it was good for the rest of the men. and many a time I've blessed that lad. "He did the running for the signal officer in one of the last shows up on the ridge. He must have carried messages through the shell-fire. baeK to supports, two or three times a day. The Germans were putting over a barrage between us and our supports, and it was very heavy. We were holding a very isolated position and had lost touch with both flanks, but we had orders to tako that particular objective and to hold on. My officer md I knew that we were on the rifht .spot, though we couldn't tell what Vhe particular value of it was. Anyhow, ifc was U P to us to stick it till we wore told the position. "Still, it was necessary that word went back to the battalion about whut we'd done and to get orders for carrying on. seeing that our flanks were exposed with the chaps to the right ind left held up or gono astray. The officer asked this lad to take a message back, just casually asking him if he could do it. The lad said lie could. So he went off. When the men saw him go you could hear them say, 'There's Jimmv off again—it'll be Fill right!' You see. they trusted that lad. "He got back all right to the battalion and "was just coming away from FLQ., with orders fornnts t when a noserap took his arm almost off. He came Dn all the same and gave us our orders —we were to come back a bit if we irere losing too many men. The chap 3idn t faint even after he delivered the message, and the officer himself zave him first-aid. When the officer said how well he'd done and how soitv ie was about his arm, all the lad said -I heard it myself—was, 'It's a °ood hmg Jt wasn't mv leg or I'd have iaken longer to get back, sir!' 1 -bin!- that takes a lot of beating for iheer pluck, and there was a chap* who vas a prize kidder and a bit misance outside in the trenches. He rot the D.C.M. for that job, and lie teserved it." fith feet eoakeo in a mustard bath, 'oor Grandpa crouched beside the hearth, .nd gasped 60 hard and looked so glum, lespite three lota of eteaming rum, 'hat Grandma, acxioua grown for him, Exclaimed at laet to Uncle Jim— Thin dread suspense I can't endure, '11 send for Wo-xls* Great Peppermint ' Cure." 17