OPPOSITE TEE BRITISH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15950, 22 June 1915, Page 8

OPPOSITE TEE BRITISH.

PRAISE FROM GERMANS.

MINE THROWERS AT WORK.

" With the Crown Prince of Bavaria' Army in France, March 20," is the date line attached to a dramatic account of hi? experiences on a personally conducted tour in face of the British lines near Ncuvo Chapelle, sent by a special correspondent to the New York Times. The entire narrative is studded with incidents illustrating the excellence of the British gunnery and the cleverness cf our airmen, to both of which the German officers paid a high tribute.

"I was told,'' the correspondent says, "that the French were to the south of the La Bassee Canal and the English to the north of it. We were escorted by a captain of the 9th Infantry Regime through more than a mile of labyrinthine approach trenches. " Half-way down the narrow, tortuous way one heard the well-known whistle of rifle bullets—'a delicate courtesy on the part of the English sharpshootp--.' the captain explained. The captain called attention to the- fact that the sides and edges of the trenches were covered with a new film of a peculiar yellow. Peer'ng judiciously over the top you noticed that the fields adjoining were coverec m every square inch with somo peculiar yellow. 'That is the deposit from the yellow smoke clouds which are characteristic of English and American shells,' the captain observed, adding, ' the American ammunition has caused us many losses.' The German have nicknamed the American shells 'die dicker Gelber'" (the thick, yellow ones). In twenty minutes the farthest front was reached, and the correspondent note 3 that the trenches here and before Givenchy were the strongest he had seen anywhere—real field fortifications. These trenches, the battalion commander said proudly, are built to keep out everything except water. He and others spoke with great respect of the khaki-clad enemies, describing them as tough customers, good fighters at close quarters, and excellent marksmen. "Presently the battalion commander gave orders to shoot off a couple of mines from one of the mine throwers, and we were invited .to watch the course of the eccentric projectile as it hurtled through the air in a high arc toward the English lines. It fell five yards short. The English at once shot off) one of their mine throwers. It landed fifty yards to the back of us and went off with ,an ugly detonation. The feature of these projectiles is that you see them coming and can run forward or backward and avoid ihem, but if they' do fall in a trench they kill everything .within ninety feet. 'The air pressure tears your lungs to pieces,' the captain explained."

The narrative ends with an account of the British aerial enterprises against Lille and with heavily censored paragraphs relating to Neuve Chapelle. A big yellow captive balloon hangs over the town to give warning of the approach of British airmen. ,\_ - "' ,'-' ' On many buildings'as the correspondent entered the town of Lille numerous bills were posted up' with the words "Deux Aviateurs Anglais" "in large letters. The bills recited that a French-English aeroplane had been forced' to larid in the suburbs oh March 11, but. that the pilot and observer had escaped into the town and were thought to be here hiding. A cash reward was .offered for information leading, to their capture and the death penalty was'' threatened to anybody who harboured or concealed them. ' ',