THE HUNS HAMMERED.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 79, 7 April 1916, Page 7

T HE HUNS HAMMERED.

ATHLETE'S NOVEL ARMS. ..fITI'ING-On'" EXPEDITION. . M .,[i'in "I : < titMith which I have •i,(| has been the starting :;>oint of V f tineM and cr>pest cutting-out exSition l« trench raid) in the war P- ,)„. .spec.a I corresnondent ol <*[' |) ;l ilv .Mail' from British headers' EraiiceJ. Exactly how it was 'CipM'ed ::w\ how various the ni'i ,„;v it is not necessary to sav; f,'| am allowed to give some of the ~ human details of this most dashf',,,,l well-organised attack, in which f (M-riiiii lust in the proportion of '"tiic i"- 1 " " ;IS when two ,„>s ( .r Uritish soldiers slipped over ? pirap-l— As they left they shook *]' „i,|, their general, who gave fc , .toil-peed and saw them dance /"••inth ill" gaiety of schoolboy*." °i „,..,. hilarious at the prospect. if v !,;„| stood in trenches off and on ~,,',> month.- doing the journeyman fo y ilut exciting work of war. At last 'f ■ wit" .-lir">ed from the leash on a IIIV -rcaiiy woith a jn.rney to fj], "I 1" w, ' l ' t ' selected men. all ,i,i.L „r .■xpert.s in some game or oc.i,n M'-t <>f them could "kill a f ", with then- fist, if they had no Dl ' on " ~.-. air admirer said. But I (.•li'ci'iiess was more remarkable ,kn the muscle. The fight they were *";,;,, for Ikh.l come at last. Though ![>'detail "' tn(> ilttar,< . Vils Phinned '„,. ui-c and characteristic individual ;,.,.. ,v;i- "iven. Each man was per-S;;,-,vas:n,deed.asked T tocarrythe vtniiiieni or weapon that lie preler*]Smiie chose that of Richard Coe.ir 1 Lion -oine of Hercules. One mall t in ~ .special plea for a 21b hammer. ■(seems that in his trade he had been H \ „, wielding a -lb hammer, and i f felt thin in the night time in a (I r n i,„ ( . tiviich it would feel familiar. i„,;,!,[ •■come up nicely." as they say ,f;, cricket bat. Ho Ins request was trained. ■' I "l >'"' efficacy of his choice J a ' s [ understand, well proVed before the dawn. S T|{()NGI-Y-HEFJ) TREXCH. Umv tlie "-<'!»• which exceeded 100 vard>. «' l|s cros.sed. how the wires were tit how the Gcrnran sentries—one of tlieiii Mifteiing to his. peril from a haekinir ciiii^li--were tricked, and how the tjiVli was entered, may be left to the jmai'iiratieii- All was done as arranged. Early on a Monday morning tn/two iiarties entered, each its part of the front German trench, a deep, dl-uiiide trench. More than this—it to very strongly held. It seemed full

of nu-n. . Apart from sent ires \v;il ki n<z tin and down anil standing to attention, men crawled out from dug-outs in their sleeping ufsif. cloaked with blankets and iiTth'eir stockinged feet. A.s soon j 5 the alii mi «'iis "ivi'n all sorts and kinds of colored lights were t-eiyt tin by theenrmv. and rifles and machine guns rattled out along the line. Rut nothing made any difference to the men in"tliose crowded reaches of the trench Are hand-to-hand fighting took place end fMch man was uking his favorite tool. One officer, after using up all tV dips of cartridges -which he had taken for his revolver, seized a Cerman rifle, nidieil in on a group of men belinj a traverise. and bayoneted three. He liini-clf escaped .scot free. All the talis were spent in a few minutes, some thrown into the trench, some skim.: it. ,somr into dug-outs. A short end sharp time-limit had been set to this venture. Sound, win rid the clarion, fill the fife! To all the sensual world proclaim. fine erowded hour of <doriout> life Is worth an age without a name. The- '•crowded liour'' within the trench was limited. At the due iw.aent tlie men cleared for home. Imlaer.iatoly the Oerman.s lit a great flare, and the neighborhood became as light as ;i town street. Hut tlie 1 acliine 151111.1 had been blown up and a part«f the imerviil wa.s dead gro.tmi. Tlie iiiiirauders escaped from the trench ami made lor home with such lucky sliced that not a man was tailed . One group .muist be excoptwl. They were conducting (lermnn priMiners iiml one of our wounded. The passage took more time, and during it. tile (iermai, pi isoiiers were killed and two of ■ !ir .1 v:i rounded. Imme !ia':elv after tlie turn's n turn <iiir arti!' • ,- \:.(\ turned on <> t!,. Oernvau trench w'u-re tie fighting 'en! been, and .soon tl'o Willy's artillery began a nurely fiutlfes reprisal. How niatiy Ocrinaus were killed cannot he known for certain. -Men retain" from Midi ;l passionate fight 'an wairelv n ,unt coollv ; but some inliu'dnal t;i':,s are known', and all left 'itli the iamression that thev ahan™«l a ticiich filled with dead. Certainly the official estimate i.s careful "io nioilisi. Of tin' prisoners taken "Be. a« ! have. said, were killed by wfitf of their own men.