GENERAL WAR NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15884, 3 April 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

CALLING UP THE WILLING. The military authorities, as the result of the recent census conducted bv the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, are ca ling up those who signed to enlist if called upon to do so. BULGARIAN WIVES. The wife of a Bulgarian rarely goes out without her husband, does not receivo callers in her husband's absence, seldom appears in a restaurant, a cafe, or. a place of public amusement, and never goes to any such .place unless her husband accompanies her. 6,600 SURGEONS. Professor Truffier, in an address before the Surgical Society, Pans - stated that ot the 11,000 surgeons in the armv 6500 were n at , the front. At the end of December 93 had been killed, 260 wounded, and ■540 were among the missing, while 155 had .been mentioned in orders for gallant conduct on the field of battle. GERMAN BOY CAPTAIN. Recently there was a notice in the <- ologne Gazette to the following effect • — <>n September 30 died a hero's death in trance our beloved son, brother, grandson, and nephew, Hans Joachim von M captain of Life Guards (Ist Grand-Ducal* Regiment of Hesse). No. 15. not vet 17 years of age." Captain at the age "of 16! According to later reports, bovs of even M and 15 years are among the German soldiers. A BELGIAN'S OATH. A Belgian refugee at East Grinstead who can speak German like a native, received a good offer from tho headmaster of a preparatory school to come over twice a week and talk German to one of the boys, whose parents wished him to learn the language. But the Belgian refuses to have anything to do with teaching German to an English boy. He affirms that ( he has taken an oath never to let another word of it pass his lips. ETIQUETTE IN THE TRENCHES. During the recent fighting in the Carpathians, a young Russian officer leapt forward from the trenches to attack the enemy so hurriedly that he neglected to take his weapons with him. He encountered an Austrian officer, who presented his revolver, but the Russian attacked his issiilaut with his fists. After a few moments the two men regarded each other breathlessly. Then the Austrian smilingly surrendered, and offered the Russian his visiting-card. GENERAL JOFFRE'S STERN * DISCIPLINE. A Zurich professor, who has recently visited the French headquarters, writing in the Neuer Zurcher Zeitung, says:--"Since Joffre has been in supreme" command he has dismissed or replaced no fewer than 77 general.*—a number which has since then probably increased. Of all the political general's and corps commanders—that is, those who owed their [places to the good, offices of politicians— only one has remained, General Sarrail, who has exhibited high strategical abilities. The slightest error in tiro leading of the troops is severely punished, and the number of high officers treated in this Way amounts to 150." BELGIUM'S NEW ARMY. Wherever Belgian refugees are gathered together in England the appeal of King Albert for men for the new Belgian Army is being made known. It is hoped that among the 700,000 refugees in Great Britain, Holland, and France enough men • will be found capable of service to bring ■ the army eventually up to 200,000. For obvious reasons it is undesirable to state the number of men of military an* i among the Belgians in England, or the proportion that has so far enlist ;d. L'i't within the last few months several j thousands of young Belgians have offered themselves for the colours, and are now in training camps in France. A RUSE THAT THE BOERS TAUGHT. Ruses, justifiable and unjustifiable, have been freely resorted to in the present •war. In the latter category is the white flag trickery of the enemy. In the former may be included a ruse practised at Ypres by the British, who learned it in a very practical school from the Boers. Our men cut trenches which were visible to the enemy, and left them unmanned. Well in front of these dummy trenches they had others most carefully concealed, •-.nd these held their real line of defence. The enemy, Laving shelled the unoccupied trenches and having received no answer, j advanced to occupy them, and were met I !by a deadly fire from the concealed line. SELLING WAR- TROPHIES. Prince Alexis Karageorgevitch of Serbia, accompanied by tne Princess, has just arrived in London bringing war trophies captured by the Serbians from the Austrians and also some of the work done by the Serbian women. These he purposes to sell for the benefit of the Seruian Bed Cross funds. Commenting on the Serbian situation, (.he Prince said the morale of the Serbian troops was excellent, the recent successes having greatly encouraged them. They owed tueir success to the inspiring presence of His Majesty at the front. The position now, ""added the Prince, "looks glorious for us. We have great faith and confidence in the future. We love the little bit of ground that he have, and no one shall be allowed to conquer it so long as we are alive as a nation." WAR PRESCRIPTIONS. Germany is as much concerned with the war against the coming hunger as with the battles in the field. Under the heading "Mobilisation of the Home Army, the Berliner Tageblatt reports that 25 great meetings were held in Greater Berlin to start a battle against England's "starving policy." Many Berlin doctors preached economy in food, advising the use of little wheat and more rye. For bieakfart, thin soup with war bread and marmalade, or syrup, was recommended. Alter such a breakfast the lunch might be email while the dinner menu must fee drastically altered. Boned meat and calves' feet were suggested as delicacies. Sheeps' pigs', calves' heads were said to be a meal " lit for a king." Rabbits were strongly recommended. No scraps should be thrown awav ; while for boiling coffee Inusewivcs were advised to use paper. SHAMMED RETREAT. \ lieutenant in the , Infantry writing to his mother from the front, 6av *--"\Ye have at last been blooded, d '»as under lire for 22 hours straight off, and not entrenched. At four o clock in the morning I thought that we were all (mv section) going to be scuppered, but iv, e* got through by a ruse on my parterased lire for a couple of hours The eiirtnv enfiladed, but 1 would not allow anv -"•( mine to return fire, so the enemy thought that we had evacuated. I hey wore making a detour to storm another point at aibout two hours to dawn, when i opened up with machine-gun and rifles, ,„H got them on the run. Reinforcements arrived at dawn, and we fought on till the afternoon. When I looked at the rock ide on mv left front I found marks of seven bullets, five of which could only have missed mv head by an inch or so; one just grazed my right little toe enough to draw blood. They Lad about 2500 against us.'-*'

GERMAN SOLDIERS MURDER OFFICERS. In order to be free to surrender to r*He French troops, a group of 130 soldiers, including non-comnyssioned officers, murdered all their officers, the Matin learns from St. Omer. FIFTY GERMAN SUBMARINES. Mr. Churchill, replying to Mr. Watt In tho House- of Commons, said that shortly before the break of the war there were 28 completed Herman submarines and an additional 16 were either under construction or had been authorised. Further, six submarines were stated to be under con struction for foreign Towers. KAISER AS NERO. Professor Bekhtereff, the mental specialist, lecturing in the Town Hall at Petrograd on "William 11. and German Kultur," analysed the physical and mental characteristics of the Kaiser. William, he said, could not be classed as mentally unsound, but was rather of thu degenerate Nero type, and would be held responsible for all his actions bv nations and by history. THE LARGEST GOAT. The British Coat Society lias presented to the 15th Service Battalion Welsh Reg - ment the pure white he-goat Champion Copthorne Ghost, winner of numerous prizes, and probablv the largest goat ever bred in Britain. He-goats are in great demand as mascots for regiments, especially Welsh battalions, and this regiment may well Ibo proud of possessing one of tho best specimens. AIR RAID SURGEONS. A committee of (ho Royal Society of Medicine has organised a voluntary "service of surgeons prepared to go jiwnodiately to any point from Dover to the Mash or to any district in the metropolitan area raided by Zeppelins. Tho Royal Automobile Club will supply powerful ! motor-cars to convey parties free to any district in London, or, if the railway is not available, to any point on the east coast. The Great Eastern Railway wiil give special trains -free. CAPABLE WOMEN OF FRANCE. Everybody who knows France admires the capability of the women who are so frequently met in business posts there. (And now, in time of war, a lady living in a small French village writes:—"As to the women! I dent want to boast, but I think that no women but Frenchwomen could have done what they have done. Not a man, only old ones "about, •and yet you hear the harvest is splendid •and the vintage the best there has been for 40 years: that will tell you everything. Perhaps you read the appeal of the Government to the women of Franco last August, how they must keep agriculture going and feed the army. It is hard work; they'll do it all right." THE HUN AS PARENT. ''Laconic Adolf" is the name given by a German paper to a Baden peasant farmer owing to the brevity of his letters from the front. His letters ran: — "Dear Wife,—Still alive. Got parcel. If the boy's Ibad spank him." His second letter was : — "Dear Bertha,—Still alive. Much sur prised. If boy still bad spank some more.' And last: "Was wounded. Well again. Off again. If boy's bad, pull his ears." HOW IT FEELS TO BE SHELLED. Lieutenant G. Wheeler. Ist Dorset Regiment, who was promoted from the ranks, writing from the front on February 12 to a friend at Newport, Isle of Wight, says:—"lt is a very strange sensation when sitting in your dug-outs to hear the shells go over your trenches, and when passed over what a relief to all of us. I had a ' whiz bang' burst over my dug-out only this week. The flash came in my dug-out, and almost blinded me and my 'orderly for a minute or so. I saw a hole that was made by a 'Johnson' at least 20ft in diameter and 12ft or 13ft deep. You could easily put a furniture van in it, so you can imagine what danger there is in a trench should it happen to get the exact range of you." FATHER AND SON. Two " mentions in despatches," taken from the Journal Officiel, read together, form a document at once of pathos and of herojsm: — i

(1) Nogues, soldier of the second class, of the 153 rd Infantry Regiment, aged 56, gave a noble example of devotion to country Vby volunteering in the same ranks as his son, a young soldier of the 1914 class. Was killed in the trenches by a fragment of shell, while his son was severely wounded at his side. (2) Nogues, soldier of tho second class, of 153 rd Infantry Regiment, was seriously wounded by a fragment of shell, while his fatheivaged 56, who had volunteered for the duration of the war, was killed at his Bide. It was by the same shell, at the same moment, and side by side, that father and son were struck down. SOLDIER WHO COULD NOT RUN. One of the arresting features in " T.P. s Journal of Great Deeds of the Great War is an article dealing with the heroism of a mum who, unable to run when the British retreated, was left behind and turned his misfortune into a victory for the British arms. The writer of the article tells how ho was joined by two other men, and this is the chief incident which led to tho decorating of the trio for extreme gallantry:—" The gun was theirs in a flash. In a moment they had resolved to use it for British ends. A German regiment, the redoubtable Prussian Guard, was moving on to the entrenched Borderers across the field. The jet of the bullets hit the Guards fairly, slashed death into the ranks, helped to finish off all suggestions of atttack. The Germans fell back again, and the three heroic men regained the British line. Captain Campbell gained the D.S.O. for his part in this brilliant little affair. Sergeant Pugh and Private Black have both been given the D.C.M. They deserved it. But they take their distinction as they did the deed, in a soldierly fashion. ' After all,' said Pugh, ' old age sometimes comes in handy, tor had I not been winded we would not have taken the maxim.' " SOLDIERS' BOXING BOUTS. One boxing tournament is thus described in a trench newspaper;—" The Scots Guards' boxing tournament has lieen voted a complete success all along the line. It was held in a large barn, one having been found which still possessed a roof. An 18ft ring was erected in the centre, and two large flare lights, were obtained from a neighbouring town, furnishing a, perfectly illuminated ring. The ' ring' consisted of armv biscuit boxes, covered with a layer of straw and with a tarpaulin over' all. Among the spectators were numerous officers. There were 25 events on the programme, and each round was followed with intense interest, the audience criticising every point as only a body of eoidieis can. Outside the barn a. constant sniping went on, varied by the glare of numerous star shells, while the sharp crack of artillery served as a constant reminder of war." Within the barn the soldiers crowded together on bundles of straw. Many of the boxers showed excellent form aiid in several cases extra prizes were given. At the dose of the evening the commanding officer made a speech, congratulating the committee on tho ex--1 ceUent programme it had arranged"- ■