SANGUINARY WARFARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15821, 19 January 1915, Page 8

SANGUINARY WARFARE

DOCTORS EXPERIENCES. LIFE IX THE TRENCHES. MANY ACTS OF BRAVERY. fBT TELEGRAPH OWN" CORRESPONDED.") F.vlmerston' North, Monday. Another narrative of his experiences at the front has been forwarded by Dr. A. A. Martin, of Palmerston North. Dr. Martin is still attached to the loth Field Ambulance, with the Fifth Division oi the British Army.

Referring to the famous march on the Marne, and as showing the strenuous nature of the work of the medical men, Dr. Martin stated that he was operating till midnight, slept on his valise, placed on the grass under an ambulance waggon, and was on the march again at 4 a.m. "For five days." he writes, "we did not wash nor take our boots off. Officers and men looked like pirates with stubbly chins and ingrained dust and dirt, but our spirit was good, for we had the Germans on the run and we hoped to keep them running.

"Alas, for our hopes, we ole day found that we had advanced too far. The German was at bsr. We knew this speedily enough, when shells came, hurtling over us, and our ambulance had to retire two miles back. 'then commenced that phase of war which was continued up to the present, the German standing bind caret idly-planted trenches in splendid natural positions. Behind these again are situated his infantry reserves and his magnificent artillery.

"You have heard how this fighting lias been going on for week after week, tho French and British pressing hard, and the Prussians holding ami defending as hardly. Our brigade fought right through the buttle of the Aisne and our whole army suffered terrible losses. It was a period of battle, murder, and sudden death. In one day we lost three medical officers killed in action. The death-rate amongst the doctors has been very high from the very outset of the war. It must necessarily be so, for the doctor has to go anywhere and everywhere, for it is anywhere and every. whore that the wounded lie.

'* After the battle of the Aisne our brigade- was moved up to La Basse*, and here the fighting was of the most bitter and most sanguinary description. The shamhles of wounded and dying made by the thunderous bursting of ' Black Marias.' the devastating effect of shrapnel. th« sleet of bullets, and the heavy hail of Maxim fire daily and hourly, illustrate modern fighting. The work of our men in the trenches simply defies description. It is a test of a man's endurance, and every man to-day who goes down to the earth in a trench wins his V.C. and a crown of glory. Our men obey the call with -a jest 'on their lips, and a spirit that makes one proud of the tenacity and grim and stubborn determination of our British race. Thousands of Wounded. "In about 14 days over 5000 wounded were passed through the various temporary hospitals, and from the fighting round La Bassee alone about 7000 wounded men were sent back. lam not counting the dead. My work dealt only with those requiring prompt surgical operations, and here my hands were full night and dav. "Our brigade next moved up to 'Belgium, and I am writing this from Belgian soil The fighting around Ypres is of too recent date to require any descriptionIt has been of p. singularly pitiless and bloodv type. The attacks* of the Prussian Guard and of the Bavarians on one front at Ypres led to their being repulsed and annihilated. The attack was made bv these famous troops in enormous masses. They rolled on like a wave towards our front, and were mowed down in swathesCrush the Hated Foe." " Prince P.uppreeht of Bavaria issued an army order to his troops the day before the charge, exhorting them to crush ' the most hated foe.' The most hated foe met them with a hail of lead, and a cliff front of bayonets, and before these the Bavarians, splendid and gallant soldiers though they were, had to recoil, waver, and retreat. This victory was not achieved by us without severe losses, and the crowded dressing stations, ambulance and hospital", bore witness to this sanguinary encounter.

"The weather is now bitterly cold. Ice, snow, and frozen sleety wind tax the endurance of our troops in the trenches, but bo the war waged by the elements or by man. be it waged by few or by many, we must make victory sure. Already signs are setting in indicating that the great German- Army has delivered its hardest blow ; our hardest blow has not yet been given. . . . Like a clever boxer, the allies have side-stepped and parried the German thrusts, dangerous and menacing though they were. They wait till the first sign of exhaustion shows itself on the face of the adversary, and his blows become less heavy, then our defensive changes to an offensive, and the German must then retire to his corner or fall, while the referee, Fate, counts ominous numbers.

Wonderful Airmen. 'The work of the French, British, and German aviators is wonderful. The flying men daily carry out reconnaissances with the utmost coolness and intrepidity. A few days since I watched one of our heavy batteries Lake up a position in an orchard. The men rapidly dug the pits for the six guns and carefully concealed the guns from observation by rutting down fruit trees and hedges and planting these round the guns. Then a British aviator mounted into the sky and dropped a signal—a white smoke bomb to indicate to the commander of the battery that he was ready to observe. The battery commander sent a shell towards the enemy's lines, and the aviator watched where it burst, and the signal came down —another coloured smoke bombto indicate that the shell fel] short. The second shell trot, on to tho German position. All mil' guns were trained to this spot. Then a temnest of shot and shell burst from our 'bravies" on to this nlace. We learned tha' evening that a German baft-erv had been destroyed by this fire. Motor-cyclist's Good Work. The motor-cyclists do nmazinrrlv '-ooA v ork. They ride everywhere, and "no danSits deter them. They always get their message through or are killed in the aftemnt. One plucky cyclist recently on taking a turn in a road found " four Uhlans in front Three wore on their horses with their formidable lances in their hand.-). The fourth was sitting bv the side of the road. They saw the cyclist at the same time that be saw them." He at once opened out his throttle and charged the cavalry. The Uhlans pursued the man on the road and fired at him but he got through. Incident-! like this are meat and drink to our gallant motorcyclists.