TRUCE OF THE DEAD

North Otago Times, Issue 13236, 6 March 1915, Page 2

TRUCE OF THE DEAD

.PRIBND JOINS FCE AT BURIAL. SERVICE. OFFICER'S STORY OF TTIE AMAZING CHRISTMAS, The following letter from n subaltern nt tlie ffont has been received bv (Renter's Agency:— / ■'.■•■' ' ■ December 31. yhristmns has" come, and gone—certainly tlie.-mnsl extraordinary celebration of if (my of us will ever experience. We were due, hack in."tlie tronelies on Christmas. Eve, and the battalion's official Christmas Day was consequently hold on Wednesday, the 2'tr'd. There were stacks of presents ftp.' officers and men, mid no lack of comfortable hampers foil o'fgood things. lii the yard of the farmhouse where my company was, billeted there is n huge 'cauldron. In this no less than I2*> lb of pudding in lius were boiled at « time.. We turned out to see them dished out. It was n Gargantuan spectacle. The next day we returned to the trenches groaning under loads of comestibles and condiments destined to alleviate our lot on the morrow. That night it froze hard, and Christmas Day . dawned on'art' appropriately sparkling landscape. .. A truce had been arranged for the few .hours of daylight for the burial of the ttpHil on both sides, who hail •been' lying out in the open siuce the , fierce night lighting of ut week earlier, When J got out I found.a large crowd of officers and men, English and Ger- ' man, grouped around the bodies which ' had already boon gathered together and laid oiit'in rows. I went along those dreadful ranks and scanned tlie faces, fearing at every step to recognise one 1 know. It was a ghastly sight. They, lay stiflly in contorted attitudes, dimwit b frozen mud, and powdered with rime. The digging parlies' were already busy on the two big common graves, but. the ground was Jiard, and the work slow and laborious. Bland Innocence. In the intervals of superintending it we chatted with the Germans, most of whom were quite nll'able, if one could not exactly call them friendly, which, indeed,'was neither to be expected nor desired, We exchanged eonliilenees about the weather and the diametrically opposite news from East Prussia. The way they maintained the truth of their marvellous victories because they were official (with bated breath) was posl- ■ lively pathetic. They had'nn doubt of the issue in the East, and professed to regard the position in the West as a . 'definite stalemate, It was most amusing to observe the bland innocence with which they put questions, a truthful answer to which . might have had unexpected consej qnenees in the future. One charming ) lieutenant of artillery was most anxious } to know just where my dug-out, "Tlie { Cormorants," was situated. No doubt 5 he wanted to shoot his card, tied to a } '' Whistling Willie.'' I waved my hand J airily over the next company's line, 3 giving him the choice of various mangel c heaps in the rear. ( They spoke of a botile of champagne. } We/niscd our wistful eyes in hopeless ij longing, They expressed astonishment, Ji and said how pleased they would have 1 been, had they only known, to have [ seat to Lille i'or some—"A charming i town Lille. Do you know it?" 1 "Not yet," we assured them, Their [ laughter was quite frank that time. I "Good Health!" j A tiny, spruce little lieutenant, spoke.i ! of—to his manifest chagrin—as "Der i Kleine" by hi? comrades, attached lirm- | .self to me and sent his Burselie back J for a bottle of Cognac, and we solemn- [ \y drank "Gcsiindheiten." lie wis j an amiable little soul really, with the ( typical Prussian officer snap in his | speech. Every few words were piine- ( tuatcd with "niehi" I Meanwhile time drew on, and it was I obvious that the burying would not be | half finished with the expiration of | the armistice agreed upon, so we deI f'nled to renew the following morning. j At the set hour everyone returned'to I the trenches, and when the last man > was in, niv little lieutenant and I ! solemnly shook hands, saluted, and I marched back ourselves, They left us alone that night to enjoy a peaceful Christmas, On Boxing Day, at the agreed hour, on a prearranged signal being given, we turned out again, . The output of oflicers of higher rank on their side was more, marked, and the proceedings were more formal in consequence. ' Rut while the gruesome business of burying went forwnrd'there was still a certain interchange of pleasantries. The German soldiers seemed a good-tempered, amiable lot-mostly peasants from the look of Ihein. One remarkable exception, who wore the Iron Cross and addressed us in slow but faultless English, told us he was professor of early German and English dialects at a Westphaliau University, lie had a. wonderfully line head. They distributed cigars and cigarettes freely among our digging party, who were much impressed by the cigars, I •hope they were not disillusioned when they came to smoke them. Meanwhile the officers were amusing themselves by i taking photographs of mixed groups. The (ipi'inans brought copies to send to j the English illustrated papers, as they ] received them regularly. ' j The Funeral' Service, ' The digging completed, the shallow i graves were lilled in, and the German . officers remained to pay their tribute ( of inspect while our chaplain read n , short service. It was one of the'most impressive things I have ever witnessed, friend and foe stood side by | side, bare-headed, watching Ilia lull, grave -.figure of the padre outlined against the frosty landscape as he j blessed' Hie poor broken'bodies at his feet. Then with more formal salutes ( we turned and niiidi" our way back to j our respective ruts. Life rims rather „ in grooves here! j By the way, if there is ever'another ; armistice my little lieutenant, has pro- \ mised me a case of Hhenisli. Though he would certainly be as good as his j word, 1 fear I shall never see it, { Elsewhere along the line I hear our fellows played the Germans at football. " on xCbristmns Day. Our own pet enemies remarked that they would like a game, but as the ground in our part is all root crops and much cut up by ditches, ami as, moreover, we had not 1 got a football, wc'.hail to calhlt'olT. I 't'hijt night the frost turned abruptly I Jo cfli/i, The trenches melted like but- J ter on the ||n» ( and all was slime and i water instead of good hard surface. ' A I shnfllc of company lines iias now given nieij captain as stable-companion at ' the "Cormorants "—a gay young soul with a peiiojjant' for building, improvements. ,• He constructed a/top-hole-fire? I placeg'nside wit)) n real chimney and* an iip-Mate stoning /irp back, and utiljsed the )wt, fi/jur of tlie armistice to make the roof seaworthy with an ingenious arrangement of derelict waterproof sheets. .'•'The 'Penalty, or Comfort. We' had a homely evening, and'to,M'flrds. midnight were •blissfully rejoicing in Oil)' dry spot amid the welter "of mini, lie flsfoflj) on hiajnink, 1 reading by'tbe llglit-.of R-fiAinilj. a horrible cracking llfte (J»o or. three clips; of eitrtridges. (IringJou 0 ' mailo both of" lIS jump out of-our stfins, It was jiot «(U'l'jnnn infernal machine, but merely* a ceiitifl prop of the dug-out and the beam it sujpitpd tjintjjiacl given my, The idof threateningly' threoks)m from-our headr, A hajty ie«

| tioitt with a few vnluiibles was bentr mid (i digging party put un to eleai o Iho eartlnto save A.oompMe L'ollnfts In tbo course of tliont'xt night fhp'cn ■ penti,v part wns innclb as' firni ha 'a roe but the vvhf \vnVn : hrk, n)\ we never ''knew a dry moment till w were rplieved. Itwas n.lcssoii In tr; ing to lie too comfortable,' but as ii'sui) when things aonin qiiite hopeless/all v, opuld do was to indulge in shrieks i lailghtci', "_■ '/ ...■■..-.