OUR SOLDIERS' LETTERS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1917, Page 2

OUR SOLDIERS' LETTERS.

FROM NEIL McQUEEN

ONE CHAITKK OF THE MES

SINES BATTLE

WEST COASTER'S EXPERIENCKS

Mr. and Mrs Chas. McQueen havo received a most interesting letter from their son, Sergeant, Neil Me- ■ :•/•,mi, from which wc have been permitted to take the following extracts:—

'T expect the papers have told you bow, amidst, the roar of guns, (he explosion of mines', and the rn.ttle of machine-puns, the New •kicked off' once again ;i1 3.10 <h\ Hie morning; of .Line 7th. 1< was different, in a. w»ay, to the Soinnie, for at. Mi'Msinee wc were given the job of chasing Fritz out of bis lirst two systems of trenches, and 1 can only s.ay thai it was a marvellous piece of

work, At .'5.15 there must have been thousands of men in No .Man's Lund, just walking quietly across. We bad a time-table to work to and wu had to do that or walk into our own barrage, which wa.si as thick a,s: rain. Not even ;( rat would have had a chance in it, let alone a Hull. To scheduled time we occupied the enemy's front line. Here wo sat down for a while to rest while our artillery pelted away at the next line. After that .we moved forward to the very edge of the village, where we had another spell, us the barrage was still at work blowing to pieces what remained of. the village. 1 could not help laughing when J looked about me and saw the huiidreds of men quietly sitting about in shell holes smoking, some of them with goggles on. They had evidently got in among some tear gas. From here we advanced slowly and quietly, without opposition, through the village. Our path led us through aiii old cemetery. Here Frit/, was still working a ma-chine-gun, so our artillery were systematically,' blowing The place to pieces', while a big crowd of troops once again awaited the artillery to do

its; work.' But time was beginning to fly now, so my officer—Monson—handed me lii, s maps, etc., got the infantry together, and started, forward. A s soon a* the aeroplane which had been hovering overhead saw them, it dropped bombs. A signal, and the barrage immediately lifted and wo were able, to get to our position right up to schedule time. We remained in these positions ' until about live o'clock on the Bth. ■ Wo wens thefa, withdrawn to our old front line. We slept here in peace and quiet that night, and the next day we were able to indulge in a wash and a. shave, etc. I n the afternoon we were withdrawn altogether and we n fc back to one of our old camps- where Ave remained about four days, 'moving up.to the trenches again late "in the

afternoon of the 13th. We had the experience that evening of being tired ou. by an enemy aeroplane, but it did not get any of us. We remained in tins place'all night, and the next morning Monson and 1 were going to go forward and reconnoitre the ground we would have to go over that night. We were just starting off when a. shell landed on the side of the trench, partly burying Monson and knocking some skin °ft'« Ties \\a s the second time he had been wounded, as- he got a piece of shell right through the ear at Mcssines, but did not uo awav with it. This time

he had to go, as he was badly shaken. Another officer took Ida place, and matters were very quiet till about' 0 o'clock that night, when the infantry started to go forward. We were not supposed to go until the infantry bad reached their objective. We got word ;xi - o'clock in the morning that wo could earn' on. so we set off and our luck was indeed in that' might, for we had just about got to Where

we had to go when we ran into an

officer. We told him who we were, and we were indeed pleased when he

told us to get down off the road that we were on and get into a dug-out. If we had not met him we would have walked right iintn the Huns, who were holding up our advance with machine-

guns about- 100 vards ahead. Wt.

had to remain in this place until ! evening when, with the assistance of llie artillery, we were able to make good what we had failed to do the night before. But it wusj the biggest hell 1 bad ever been in or ever wish n> be in again. We were eventually withdrawn on the night of the 18th, so that finished cue chapter of (lie Mc.-sines: battle. A few daws after (

was picked to represent pur company ;ii a genera! parade, and was in-

spected by His, Hoya.l Highness (heDuke uf Connaught mud a few days after we wore visited by Jlis Majesty the King and staff. Since (hen I have been having a pretty easy time.''