FIGHTING THE UNKNOW

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 May 1915, Page 2

FIGHTING THE UNKNOW

NO .ROMANS .ff A pri . * ' / 1 , the i6i^wjii^ r gr/ i? hitv4 C qount of .ia exjjanenees. on W^nr^, p f or h| fir*t time mW^ Pfai<ch.wi-— I I have just ap^Txt 4™s and lights in tn© ttewc^es / and the experi-1 sace has shatter^i e\ /^j-y allusion about' war. This «iegr, w jftare xs 9, terribly Jreary bUsJAasj,, i re jfcs^o romance La it, and <srten f fr lo^g stretches you sati scAWUIy r aSisto that you are •'feghtK*g/\ Y< a etaod on tne %ng t>latto J caaL of .y<">mr d«g-out and absentminciediy stt & at *iie landscape or t wajtch an ac: .o^lane^ aiid-taeii; the, ping of the «mpr^ib^^t. breaks into your -fefeoughts 1 jojSt >«K*inris you thatj after •nil, there is «n •©aerny a few hundreds .yards om «y»\and that you must keep ' <lown be taana 4he hreastworks., -.' j Our ' iatf >pf4ike battalion set out for the tr mcfees -on. Thursday night to- reV j lieye " jb& other half. X expected to be shive ring ,witk funk. As it happened, my, pock -was intolerably heavy. Be-1 sidf« the Tusual contents and 150 rot mds<©f-ammunition,;ihad several tins of food, «oine wood and ah extra rifle I ( carried dfor a man who was lugging 1 I sack <of iooal to the trenches): We had to g-rope a way in th.c dark.ithroiigb 'laud ilakes green fields) and qro&s ciykes^of thin horribly slippery-planks. M you fall into of those dykes you become like one of the J&rme'nfed fouls of ©ante's "Inferno." f ::^']-' })':'-'9/ Ma these circumstances, he ccntiriues, I 'could bnly think, of one thing-—my pack became^ an obsession, and-"all i desired was to reach the trench "and 1 take it off.. When that blessed moment came I fouiid1 myself not in a trench:in^ the usual sense of the word, . but behind ]■ high" revetments. built with bags of san,d; .afid, earth. The old trenches had becotne canals, and had to be replaced by these breastworks. It is behind these sand bags, and in the dug-outs, tiny chambers built in the line at intervals of a, few yards, that we spend our days; • At Miglit we go as patrole into the field between thebarbed wire in front of our .fcfeasfcwovks and the green ridge, or we wallow in mud^at the back and fill more sand bags. Every avattfkbJ© , laaoment is spent in strengthening ibtir•■■'position-.. After three days you feel that you are not a soldier <at all—that you are a navvy, or perhaps you realise that it is the business of a tiold'ier in this kind of warfare to use a pick and shovel about ten times as much as hs>' uses a rifle and Tjayoaiet, certainly you . look like a navvy—there is nothing like mud for disguising puttees aud trousers as yellow ©ordurcy.?. The social life of dug-outs in a way is charming—men are so willing to help you—hut as we are bo crowded we are bound itp get on each other's nerves a bit. Ghastly accidents happen sometimes. When anyone bumps into you and knecks your bread into the nun!, it does not matter-^-bread can be scraped—but if your butter or jam falls am there is ant to be language. One of the new phrases the Territorials iave Tmraght back with them is "getting your wind up." When a man ire wind up" he gets a fright. To assist the explanation, a wounded soldier at Dalmepy tvld- a grim story. A young soldier was one night engaged at the breastworks, when a flare-light went up. He flung Mmself into a hole for cover, but it "was a ■'■'Jack Johnson" hole, and in it lay the body of a dead man, which he touched 'n-ris fall. The vshock was .too much for the youngster, who scrambled hastily out and was making for other cover when ho v* ras ludely brought to earth by a comp?nioi co save him from the very present danger of a sniper/ That youngster "got his wind up," and it was some time before ne recovered from the shock. Emit iiShfiTß :is another side to the life of the Territorials, which somewhat restores the balance. The men had just come back from a hard night's •work, and there was the prospect of r t fine breakfast, for, to use the soldier s «wn wor#s, rfcheTe was "a dandy ham" being cooked. Moreover, it vr.s the morning of Burns' day, and the Scots were prepared to enjoy themselves the more on that account. The last rashers were being cooked v.ben a snrriise order came to man the breastworks. Breakfast had to be abandoned, and it •was nightfairbeforo the men could return. more was seen of the ham.