LIFE IN THE TRENCHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15821, 19 January 1915, Page 9

LIFE IN THE TRENCHES.

CLOSE TO THE ENEMY.

"THE BOOKMEN UPSET." INTERVIEW WITH LORD NORTHLAND. [from OCB own* correspondent.] London", December 8. I had a chat last night with Lord Northland, who is home on a short week's leave from the trenches of the Brigade of Guards in Flanders. Last time I saw him, he was rejoicing amongst his soldiers of the Ulster Volunteer Force at a field day at Dungannon. He served six years in tho Coldstream Guards, with whom he went through the Boer war. Though he retired in 1906. he was still in the reserve of officers when the war broke out : he gave up his command of the 4th Battalion, the Tyrone Regiment, and went straight to the reserve battalion of the Coldstreams. The bullets of Mxms and the Marne soon made room for the reservists, and early in September Lord Northland went to the trenches of the Aisne with a draft for the 2nd Battalion. There lie has been ever since, though one would scarce believe from his appearance that he had been out of England. There is a sort of a lull at the front just row. and hundreds of officers and men are paying their first visit home since war was' declared. Some have only 72 uours' leave, but this is sufficient to spend two whole days and nights in London. Lord Northland t peaks quite cheerily of the life he has been leading in trenches which for the last fortnight have not been more than fifty yards from those of the Germans. This war, he says, has quite upset the bookmen. For example, the books say that no body of men can be kept on outpost duty for more than two days without becoming demoralised. Well, the Coldstreams—and others besides were 23 days in the trenches on end, so close to the Germans for thi last fortnight that any head shown above tho parapet drew a hail of bullets. A lookout could only be kept bv means of screens of brushwood, and during daylight, nobody could get outsid-3 a trench at all. But communication trenches have been dug, and there is thus something like a whole village below the level of the ground. The 2nd Battalion Coldstreams have been living and fighting in the same trench, though in older "settlements" the troops are able to have separate lines for their two activities. Lord Northland dug himself a hole about 20 yards behind the main line, where, with a handful of straw from a farmhouse, lie has spent many not unbearable hours.

'" It is extraordinary," he says. " new well the men keep and how " cheerful Though they are not at all accustomed to sleeping out and to such a climate there is remarkably little rheumatism. And when after living inactive in the trenches for weeks they were called upon to march for five hours to the relief camp only one or two fell out."

The feeding of the British troops is excellent. Changes in tinned food are rung on continuously, and there is generally somo jam and cheese. Every night the cookers are brought up to the lines, and hot tea is served, and there is an issue of rum every day. Thanks to the proximity of the fighting line to England and the energy of the wives of the officers. the 2nd battalion cf the Coldstreams has been kept well supplied with socks and cardigan jackets, and many of the men have now charcoal stoves to keep their feet warm. Thus will the Germans be defeated.

The great difference between this and the South African war at present, is the lack of marching. Since the retreat from Mens there has been .cry little marching. Sitting all day in the trenches the men have plenty of" time for writing, and Lord Northland says that as censors the officers often put through one or two letters per man per day. Many of the officers of Lord Northland's Ulster battalion joined the army at once on the outbreak of war. Others" have enlisted in the trxcial LTster division of Kitchener's army. Lord Northland savs he is looking forward to seeing the New Zealanders at the front.

The brigadier under whom the Coldsteams served, in a letter to the officer : commanding on the night on which thev j moved nut of the shell zone to rest and i refit, wrote thus glowingly of their con- ! duct:— "I should like to put on record : the fact that, for these last four weeks , they have held their line intact under hardships and strain that it is impossible I to describe. It is not too much to sav I that the whole safety of the line has, depended on their staunchness, and truly worthily have they held it. Their trenches, ' dug on a hill full of natural springs, have ) been undrainable. and constantly full of . water above the knee for 23 vs. The I gale of about November 2 cleared the I wood in which they were of every particle ; of cover, the trees having ail been pierced '' through by shrapnel and bullets. Hand- I grenades thrown at them were, on one occasion when they did not explode, picked up and hurled back again, and thev finally ! rejoined the brigade' on the right flank of this part of the British line on November 17 in as good heart as the day they left England. lam more proud to be their brigadier than any words could possibly express, and I owe to them undoubtedly, with their comrades of the Grenadier and Irish Guards, the satisfaction of handing over our line to the French intact and unconquered.' 1