SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 March 1915, Page 5

SYDNEY SUN MESSAGES

KEEN BRITISH SOLDIERS

AIRMEN GIVE VALUABLE

ASSISTANCE

A GERMAN ORDER

MEN MUST BE CHEERED UP IN EVERY WAY.

(Received March 27, 8 a.m.) Times—Sydney Sun* Special Cabins.

LONDON, March 26. Eyewitness" says that during the German counter attacks from Bois du Bier our men were so excited that they clambered up the parapets jnrl cculd not restrain their impatience. At some places there was not room for all the men to shoot simultaneously, and those below shouted, "Get down, ;nd give us a chance," and even puMed d<*wn those in front and took th'^r places. German officers frequently invited certain death by riding 'forward and directing the attack within a few hundred yards. None of those so exposing themselves' escaped. . A machine gun officer maintained the Tire, tbi t ughout oiir bombardment, and whe/i the Tommies charged awaited oe« Mi, calmly standing on the parapet o^ the trench and emptying his revolver. Airmen, under cover of a mist, and at the greatest risk, descended within eight hundred feet above the hostile batteries, effectively assisting our artillery. We must not overlook the heavy death roll, and must remeP'ber that our casualties at Neuve. Ci'^pelle were incurred in a single attack in a few days. In a gradual advance of many weeks the net results tv. ula have been the same. The "British, in attacking, as they have already shown in defending, can endure the highest test with cheerfulness.

It is stated in a German brigade order that officers must do everything possible to prevent their men bfccniing dull and lethargic. Billeted troops ought to he given stirring history lessons, particularly on recent achievements, and all officers must cheer up their men by every encouragement, to prepare the way for victory. The order expresses dissatisfaction at the uncleanliness and laxity in snouting, and the prevalence of irabrushed hair and dirty hands.