THE DANGER ZONE.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13929, 11 July 1917, Page 2

THE DANGER ZONE.

BOMBED IN A Y.M.C.A. HUT.

Tho last mail from Home brought word that soveralr of.the advancod stations of the Young Men's Christian Association, which is over creeping up closer to the actual fighting lino in France, had 'been struck by German shells. At.least ono marqueo and ono hut were badly damaged, but fortunately no very serious casualty is reported. Mr Stewart Crabb, writing in the Red Triangle recently, gave an interesting account of his experiences in an association hut during a German aeroplane raid. "It was up in the ancient, famous capital of Picardy," ho says, "that the incident .happened. There the 'Joy' hut stands in a garden just outside the Gave du Novd. Since this station is the great centre of traffic wt.h tho French front, it is a conspicuous mark for the German aeroplanes, and because of its position the hut comes in for a shard of their attentions. It is a busy hut, open night and day, and almost always crowded, with British officers and men passing through the city. One Friday morning about three o'clock I was busy behind the counter serving a crowd of men, who had just conic in from a night train, when suddenly there was a violent explosion in the railway station at our rear. This was quickly followed by another on our front to the right. Then the antiaircraft guns broke loose, and in a moment we wero in the centre of a regular cannonade. No need to tell us what was happening. The Taubes were over the city, bombing the railway station, of which we were part. "After the first tense pause, someone behind the counter said something about tho danger of our being killed. 'Well, boys/ I remarked, 'if we are to be killed, we'd best be killed doing our duty, so let's go on with tho coffee,' and I poured out another cup. lufelix omcu, the last in the urn. As a matter of fact, 110 one drank .it. I found it sitting on the counter, stone cold, after all was over, Having poured it out, I carried the urn into the little kitchen-annex at the side of the counter to prepare a fresh brew. As 1 went, I remember wondering of the next bomb would come plump through the roof of the frail structure, where I was at work, and end the chapter, I proceeded to measure out the ingredients for another urn; but I was not allowed to finish, Jn rushed the military police, shouting, 'All lights out,' and in a moment the boys behind the counter made a stampede for the door. After I had secured the till and turned out, the lights, I followed. It was a beautiful, clear night; no moon, but everywhere above was the quiet glory of the stars, shining down as calmly and steadily as though suffering and sorrow were unknown, and engines of death and destruction had no existence. We could distinctly hear the whirring of the aeroplanes over our heads, luil, could see nothing except 'the searchlights- playing across tlie sky, and the Hash of bursting shells from the guns. While standing, peering upward, there was a swi-is-h and a'thud, and a lump of shrapnel buried itself in a garden on our left, A moment later, and wit 1 ; a louder, longer swi-s-.h-i-s-h, a dud came over our heads, and, with a crash of breaking slates, went clean through a house from garret to cellar, two or three doors from our hotel. When the noise of the crash subsided, I found I was alone, "With a soldier's instinct for cover, the men who had been standing beside me had moved without a sound, and were now crowded under the broad projecting eaves of the hut. As never before, I understood the gregarious instinct that lends the (lock to bunch together in moments of danger, and why Germany dare not abandon the mass formation of her soldiers, however much it may cost her. If the men once lost touch with one another, they would break and run away. In another minute up came the military police once more, 'All men into the station, under the railway bridge,' a structure strong, enough to resist anything short of a direct hit from a Jack Johnson. Off the men sat, while I groped my way through the pitch darkness of the hut to the rear to sec that the officers' room was empty before locking up. In the little dormitory beside the room I came on two young officers fast asleep, They had come in dog-tired the previous night, and all the hurly-burly of the morning had failed to rouse them. They were very loath to turn out now, 'What's up?' (Yawn,) 'Taubes?' (Yawn.) 'Oh, that's all right, Good-night,' and they were

asleep again in a second. But the military police were inexorable, and disci- | plhie moved the men the Taubes could I uot. So out' they turned, while I stood striking matches for first the one and then the other, to help them with their toilet. They were, barelygone, and the door locked, when the military police returned to tell me that 1 might re-open if I kept the lights low. My baptism of fire was over. Once more it was business as usual. ' It was going full swing when, some minutes after, one of the military police came in and deposited on the counter the very dud we had heard go swishing over our heads a little before. If ever I broke the tenth commandment it was then. I wanted that dud as a souvenir, But, then, so did the policeman, and unfortunately for me, it was his, Talking with him, I found that he had already worked out a plan for getting it home, and in his mind's eye he saw it reposing peacefully on the piano in the parlour as an interesting memento of an exciting occasion. The Taubes were often over the city after that. They have peppered the houses round about, and killed not a few of the inhabitants. But up to the present the Y.M. lias escaped anil the men can still be sure of their tea and bread and butter."