Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1917. AUSTRALIANS AT WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 25 October 1917, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1917. AUSTRALIANS AT WAR.

A .VERY interesting account.' of the Australians at the war. is given by Mr C. E. W. Bean, official war ■correspondent for the 'Commonwealth in a book just published. The. Australians "and New Zealanders; 'have . f p'ughfc together so much at'the front, that his words will he almost as eagerly read here as in Australia. According to a reviewer, :'Captain.: Bean shows us .the - Australian ; troops first on a transport in •the .Mediterranean, then landing in. France, and. .'being- entrained for the! front. vThe scene of their .earliest campaigning was in. the . neighbourhood of Armentieres,. whence they went, to ,the Soinme and took ; part in the great of-] ferisive that-marked the summer -of last year.- Tne great; battle of Poziere.*, is fully described, as.ia.also the tre-: mendous.' fighting at Mouqiiet .Farm,; which was captured by\assault, but r<v ; taken by the' Germans, and .finally recaptured; by- the British and;. Cana-; dians. Mr Bean is at his, best when he is describing the actual.. fighting. When he sets out to exhort the people of 'Great Britain as he does in : a chapter entitled.,, '.'The .Coming .Struggle; 'Our Task," he is more . pessimistic and less impressive. But . that chapter is dated May:2s, 1916,.and the outlook has vastly improved since then. Mr Bean complains that the people of 'Great (Britain were "cojossally ignorant of the task in front of them." He complains that Great (Britain was not- organised for war, and that Qerrnany wa? thoroughly organised. 'He describes an interview with a British. merchant, who declared " lugubripusly that trade and i:apital could. npt v stand a, long war. Whereupon Mr Bean, .writes warmly: "If the.British Empire £ook the war as Dusiness, \yere readv.-to disturb its daily life, alter its. daily habits, to throw .on the scrap heap its sacred individualism, and dp and. live for the national causje, no one doubts but we could win this war so ,as to avoid an inclusive peace." Later on he writes thus.:—.

...One can ,only say that if the ;British nation or .the .Australian nation, .because it shirks interference with its normal life, because, it is afraid of State enterprise, because of any personal or individual ; consideration whatever, lets this struggle go by. default, and by ir>conclusiye peace to the people, which is organised body_ and soul in support I of the, .grey tunics Iseliind the poponit? parapet, then it is a betrayal ot every gallant 'heart pnow sleeping under the crosses in Gallapqli and./if every boyish head that has Tectdened the furrows of 'France. _■ ~r / '..-. , _.,-... ~,,,.,.' .., ' ... ~-. Those were penned,, before the battle of tno 'feomihe,'w.hich was the. beginning ,of a, series, of .British offensives fhat have demonstrated .the .superiority of the British., army oyer the German a'riny.. .'The, situation has . cleared since •.Mi-Bean wrote, and the military! ' tion as it stands to-day, and as .'it has been described by General Smuts,, who is .well qualified'.to speak, will re-assure those who might othe wise be disheartened . by Mr- Beit : riither gloomy forebodings. The most interesting "part of the boon is the detailed description of the loin battle of the .Somme, which began 01. J; u ly. 1 and continued until well inli* October.. .During.the early days of thai battle the Australian troops .who wort •holding a portion of the line further north '.near Armentieres, carried out a number of, those, nocturnal raids .whicl' -so; much disconcerted ant! which, produced many pfSoners ■ is.nr' thereby, along.with them,. military in. f urination. Mr Bean describes oneol these raids, and "Eis account makes the reader realise what sort ,of- men those. Australians were who coufu* oarry oul such a task. "Thev had to get .througl a ditch full of water to. their necks/' we read, "then, some trip-wire, then <* knee-deep entanglement, then a ditel fulL of rusty .wire, then some Frencl "coils of barbed, wire, with a trip wire after that." Moreover,, the enemy's artillery fire was heavy. They simply went on over Tne parapet into the enemy's trench for a , few minutes and killed with their bombs about a dozen Germans and brought in as prisoners those who were left unwounded. Every man who was wounded they carried carefully back through the tempest in No Man's juand." After the brief raiding period, when these .astounding enterprises were carried out nearly every night, the Australians were brought further south and their first great battle was at Pozieres. The .story of .that battle as told by Mr Bean, who witnessed it. and indeed may be said to have ( taken part in it, is thrilling, and i£ illustrated bv snapshot photographs of the ground" that .was,, fought,, over—a j scene of utter-desolation, arid of march- J ing troops. Thenicame Mouquet Farm, which was taken bv the Queensla'nders., Tasmanians, and- West Australian? af tec desperate fighting which, lasted, for two days, .when the Germans were driven underground: "This,.is, what happened, in Mr. Bean's .. ; , ■-The German's fought from, .their ratiholes. . "When! a man .down the dark staircase -shaft he sometimes, revived a shot .from:,below, sometimes a rifle grenade #re.d through a hole a : sandbar barricade which the ! Germans had made at the bottom of.tlie stair. ,

Occasionally a face would be seen peering up from below—for they refused to come out—and our men would fling down a bomb or fire a couple of shots. ißut those on the top of the etair always have the advantage. The" Germans were bombell ai>d shot out of entrance after entrance, and at last came ■up through the only exit left to them. \Finding Australians swarming through the place, they surrendered, and the whole trarrison of Mouquet Farm was accounted for. Those who were not lying dead in the craters and dust heap were •prisoners. Mouquet Farm was ours and a line of Australian infantry was entrenching itself far ahead of it." That was only the first phase of a long and desperate struggle in which the Australians were isolated- and heavily pounded. They withdrew from (Mouquet' Farm, but Held the line on the adjoining ridge, where they wer« reinforced- by Canadians. It was a fortnight later that the farm—or that dustheao that stood for it—was retaken by British and Canadians. In this book Mr Bean gives a general sketch T.ather than a detailed account—which is to come later—but bis narrative presents with admirable clearness tiie main features of the great battles that will live in Australian history for all time. The author speaks out, too, on the subject of recruiting. He depict* the conditions under which the Australians fought in the winter of 1916, as "sheer, undiluted misery." and he adds : "Some people tihink that to tell the truth in these matters -would hinder' recruiting. Well, if it did i£ would only mean that the young Australians who stav at home are oruilty of greater meanness than one has ever thought." Mr Bean writes with great fire and pride concerning the Australians at the front.