BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 259, 20 July 1918, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Conan Doyle's Great War History.- j ; The tliir,! volume of Sir Artluiv Conan ! ' .Ooylc-s "History of tlio British Campaign i < in l< raiic-B mid i'landeiy" i.; l 0 hind from ' ilio piiWisliors, .Messrs. Dodder and '. Ktougliton, nnd is l>y far Iho most in-tei-cstinir instalment of that important worlc tlmt hns yet appeared. It (loals, almost exclusivply. with tho great battle, or series of buttles, fought on Iho .Somnip in MIC. How colossal wjis ilic slrujijjlo may bo gauged from tiio tact that it opened with an offensive in u-liieh :>:iO,000 Jiritish trooys wore engaged on a tweniy-fivo milo front, and irom first to last nearly three million men were citified. Llie total casualties aniouuting to ,',t lenst tliroc-qnarlers of a million. Of this truly titanic; struggle tho author gives_ a well-planned ami richly detailed description, a special and most useful featuro of which is the conciso yet (.•raincntly cleat' way in which tha work of eai'li. division—and of eacli of its component l'ogimoflts—is followed in.) and described. U is a narrative which no good Briton can ponise without a thrill of pri'.io that ho is of the same raco wiionoo sprang tho men whose, glorious deeds are here chronicled in so painstaking and | fs.<oinatins n manner. The British losse?, concerning which Conan Doylo Rives full tlotails, woro heavy. M GonimcßOiirt, for inslaiice, on July I. 11)11), . the 'Ifith Division Inst 27f1fl men in a fow hours. In the. fighting for Hers (in which tha New ZealnnJers look a. very active and honourable part) on September 15, tho 41st Division Inst :!000 officers and men out cf 7500, or 10 per cent., in two days' fighting. Sevpcfll units were almost totally (!e----slroypd. One. rends, for instance, of ino bal,Hilion being reprci'enled at the. rolloil by the colonel and six orderlies, of another, having but thirty survivors, and so on. Thij .enemy, of cuurso, suffered fniiiilly severe losses. Those who have road a.nd may have lielicvcd -Iho many silly stories about Gcr;i> "rlack of conrage, or who may have - -icliii-ed tho ITnns i\n old men with spec-t-'i.-ilea or more boys, all anxiou? to shout "Kamei-iid,"..should read what C'rinan Doylo Buys as lo the individual daring and valour of iho -enemy. ''Tho fighting of (lie Germans on Ibis front was excellent as usual." ,One experienced engineer •officer wiites: "There is one. tiling we- have nil learned, and that is that "tlie Hun is a jolly good. soldier. and engineer. . Ho don't listen to any nonsense. As long as Fritz has a- trench and n .gun. lio will slick I hern till he is made crows rations." Speaking of tho defence, of Ti'ones "Wood, whero. tlio .badges of six different German TPsiinenU woi'B found, tho author says: "'To tho death!' was their password for Hie night, and lo their honour, bo it said, they were, mostly true to it." '"[hey refused offers of quarter right to Hie last," says a "Welsh Fusilier of the. German defence at Mamotz Wood, "and died with cheers for th.o Kaiser or worda of defianco on their lips. They were brave men, and we wen; sorry indeed to have to kill them, for we could not but admire them for their courage." In instances of British gallantry the book is very rich, indeed almost every chapter tempts to quotation.. Before Ovilliers two Fusilier battalions covered, themselves with special g'ory. I hey had to face ft terrific German shelling as they crossed No Man's Land, and "bullets' beat upon them from every side. Still tho thin lines wont forward, for nothing could stop them save death or the voice of their company -officers! -I hey ■were up .and..over the Oral German -hue. A blast of lire staggered . them for n moment, and then, with a enlendid rally, they were into the necond trench, and hud seized the lino of hedges and walls winch skirt tho western edge of tho village. Fivo hundred men only woro left out, o' thoso who had sprung from the British trench, but tho 500 still went .forward. The two Fusilier battalions had nardlv the strencth of a company between them, and"the leaders were alt down, bnt every man was a leader that day. Their.snint wan invincible. An olTlcer has recorded how a desperately wounded man called out: "Are tho trenches taken, sir? Un i hearing that they were, ho fell back and ■ cried: "Thank God, nothing eke matters. ! Tlio historian is not specially enthusias--1 tic about the tanks.

The whole alfair was franklv experimental, aad numy got into troubk Uiroußn tho breakdown of. machinery, the .limits o£ carrying capacity, and tho blippihk ot tho caterpillar travelling bands at tho Bideß. Their pace was against them, and a" they had to be sent down lanes in the barva»e the clement of surprise was lessened • • Their vision-also was very defective and they • were bad neighbours, as they drew fire. Tho result was a, very mUcd report from various divisional comSanders, some of whom wore by. others at them.

New Zealand readers of tho took will naturally turn first to tho pages wherein 'the author refers to our troops, tona i Doyle's first mention of tho New /e.y landers is in connection with the be. king of the third German hue on Sept ■ n. ber 15 They formed (with the iw Division and tho 14th Ligbt Division part of Home's 15th Corps. Ihe authoi says:

The Kcw Zealand Division had confirmed in France tho high reputation which their predecessors had founded n bout Africa and which they renewed on the fiallipoli riio were troops wilU a splendid w rit. a d no Londoner who has jceii Ihe ' y l \ K Sulsh'thr'^rZ'othr^^a l< hSnal iommiuidcr of great dash and "*UaX itisnotsurprmmj to^ immm which they tad '"^'^r'oi! , .™* whS hivonptiutMiiirt ot lllp a '". ;,,.',-« and back tho. fiirvivors as nnson-i._. ripidly rorniiiie W <^.^^ c Brlij.ido artvance. f' % N^ p ,,^ nl Ir cnch and lay ? i ; ( :r™uld'h.ard.y n b0 o kept nr t T OC i .he Sclo. 'i'lal Trench, was eaj,ly .urj inountwl, and by noon the Fl i i i.- »^ »' ' >1,« Supporl, Treucli IhiH fine <idvanrc. Iho via.l,l , was Tint in I lie direct »»c ? f J n £,' Xn ders had occupifd it.

T.aler on, the left-hand I>vi«atln "Mho •list Division, being temiKirarily driven lvii'lc bv a sharp Herman coi uei'ih . k (he New '/ealanders i<mii.l themfioaft Battalions toniniß up and pnMiing into the fi ß lit. tho advance was r - nmv ( .(l on the morning of tho If.lli ->- f.ir as Grove. Alley upnn tho lett, wilh Ihe AneWanders and Otagos in miniedialo support. Says Iho author:

Willi this new advance thi- New Zc;i-1-iiiUerri had gone forward 3000 yards in 1-ivo days-a. ' nolnhln pcrformnnce-iirid were within short elriliinjr diptnnee or til" i-rAa 0-rinnn sysloms' of Gird Troncli and filrd Sunport. 'I'wo German cw.lcvsthur nvninn-one mion thi> Hide llriTiidc ami the other on the Ist Wcllinglon llattalion -had no success.

Conan Doyle sunn up tho events of September i>11! as "without any doubt tlin grratesl: Jlritisli victory, though not Ihe tuost important, which had been gained up to that dulo in tlin war," anil it is «ocd to know that our Kew

Zealand lads played so prominent and gallant a part therein. After describing the fight for Tliiepval Kidge, the author gives a thrilling account of tho further splendid work done by tlio Xew Zealamk-rs at I'lers, where on the Kith they had arrived within striking distance, of the Gird System.

lleforo attacking this, howevet. it whs necess-ary to gel a lirmur hold of I'lers Trench, which, in its western roaches, was still in the hnnds of tho Germans. _It waif a desperate business of bombing from traverse to traverse and ovcrcoiimiß successive barricades upon a very nnrrow front where a few determine-:! men could hold up a M.'iiiMuiy. This difficult business was taken in hand al 8.30 on the night of September 21 by the 2nd Canter bury Battalion, who advanced down the trench. It was a Homeric conflict., winch lusted foe Hie whole night, vhcro men stood no U> each other at close, miarterii. clearing «.way the dead and dying in order to make room for fresh combatants in the front line. Down Flers Trench and Deep Alley raced the loiik ?tni'",'ii' with crash and Hare of bombs, snarl of niachine-Kima, shrill whistles from rallying olilcors. and shouts from the furious men. The New Zealand Black Watch hud gained a portion of tha treueh. but the lie-Mian reinforcements streamed down a communication Irencli which onened reliind them, and found themselves between tho two bodies .if Xew Zcalandore. . it ivas a Rre-fit- fiirhl, but by moruins it "«« hoen definitely <lecided in favour of the men from oversea.. Tho loni: section of I'lci-B Trench wau cleared and part ot (loose Alley, oppuini; out of it. was held. N'o fewer than 350 German dead wei-n picked up and a handful of prisoner!! left with the victors. The New '/calami losses wore about 150 of all ranks.

■On September '27 the oir>l Wno was definitely gained Ijy the New Zcnlaiiders, in company wiU the sth lam-as lire Tervitovial Division, "tho whole of this great trench system from a point north of I'lers passing into tho British possession." Early in October, tho New inlanders were drawn out, bavins; been twenty-three consecutive days in the line, and having earned a great reputation. "The New Zealand Division has won universal eonlidciice and admiration, said Sir Douglas llaig. "No praise can be 100 high for such troops." Tho book begins with a. survey of the general situation in the "West in January, iniß, the first chapter dealing with the. nshting at St. Tlloi, Vimy Bidse, and the "Canadian Battlo of Yprr-*.'" In the second chapter (lie author fakes us to the Sonune, his record then dealing in regular sequence, with all the events which rook lilaee .between July 1 and the Battle of tho Anew in November. Tho author explains in his preface that, the volume, has had to i).i« throudi three lines of censors, "suffering heavily in the process." It remains, nevertheless; the most detailed, the most comprehensive, the clearest and most readable account of the momentous happenings on the Sonmio that -lias yet -appeared, and deserves, a* it will not doubt achieve, a front-rank place in the historical lileratnre of the war. Xo public library, no private household, should be without a, cony of this exhaustive, and splendid wov 1 ;! a snecially admirable feature of which is tho liberal supply of clearlv drawn and very useful mnps nnd diagrams. (Now Zealand price, Vs. 6d.)."