A CHAPLAIN'S STORY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 215, 30 May 1918, Page 4

A CHAPLAIN'S STORY

FACING THE GERMANS.

The Rev. ('. T. Parkinson, C.F., who is with a. battery of- tho R.F.A. in France, in n. private-loiter lo a. New Zealand friend, gives an account of his cs-y-eriences during the. early stages of the German offensive.

"The war, of course, is going pretty badly for us just now. us everyone expected after iho Russian debacle, but we are far from despairing," lie says. '•Tiie spirit of the Army has gone up by leaps nnd hounds since it has found itself really up against big odds, and in n tight corner. Curiously enough, onehears far less grumbling than before, pud I believe the folks in England are playing up far better now. My division caught it very badly in iho bis shnw on March 21. Via lost nearly all our guns and n great many friends nnd good fellows. Largely as far as we were concerned the casualties occurred on the first day of the attack. -The Hun broke through the division on our left, and got right round and on top of our guns in uie mist before anyone saw him. Wo lost a lot of men captured. Also the bombardment was very perfect and severe 011 infantry, trenches, guns, roads, and villages for over four miles deep en our front, nnd those of us who got away were very fortunate

"I was at the wagon lino at the time, about three miles behind the front line, and we had a pretty good pummelling and a lot of casualties in men and horses. It was very tKriiliiiß and exciting. I was awakened at 1.30 a.m. by the whine of shells and the roar of the bombardment, and the battery captain and I lay in anxious anticipation of what wns to come. Shells weie bursting on a railway embankment above out heads and on the road, and in the lines ail round us, ami we tfaliseti in a very sliotf. tune that the offensive had begun. We v-ere soon up and busy with bandages, and a Hundred and one job's, and many a time congratulated ourselves on the protection of the embankment behind which our shade was built. All the morning the roar went on, but we got no news at all of what was happening— k was a,very anxious time. About midday wounded and unwonnded infantry besjnn streaming past witli all sorts of tales nni rumours, and then transports went !>y at the gallop, littering the roads with badly fractured bundles. Every now and then more and more of them were Tut. About 1.30 we tiled out of out lines and retired, and were Mucky in getting across a certain canal and into the safety area without further casualties than we had already had in tho camp.

"I found that I could bo useful in heaps of ways, and for the time being became- almost a combatant officer leading tho wagons out of action, finding new lines, reporting to It.A. headquarters the batteries' new position, and so on. For eight days and nights we had very little sleep, and never took off clothes__or even boots, and were constantly moving, tho guns fighting a rearguard action and the wagons keeping In touch. Eventually, we retired into tho Frencli army and came under a French general, 'It was very interesting. . . . Wo wcro withdrawn at last, and after a long march, found ourselves living in a very comfortable chateau, tho battery being lefitted and re-equipped for battle. Tho (•bureau is deserted—all sort of beautiful furniture, beds, carpets china, and glass left behind.' . . . The streams of refugees moving along tin, roads with their belongings piled on to great carts, cows, calves, and sheep following behind, are most pathetic.