IN FRONT OF THE FRONT

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9614, 21 March 1917, Page 6

IN FRONT OF THE FRONT

SCOUT’S VIVID RAID STORY LOOKING FOR GAPS IN FRITZ’S WIRE DEFENCES. A Sydney scout sergeant writes to his relktives describing a scout’s dashing attempt to assist in cutting German barbed wire:— “The winter so far has not been too bad except for the cold. We have only had two falls of snow in the trenches, and rain not more frequently than every second day. But the cold is with us always, aud the ground is spongy with wet deeper than you can dig in a day, and in the trenches mud comes up over your thighs. It oozes down over the tops of your gum-boots till you can hear it squelching under your feet, and even if you are lucky enough to keep dry up top you fight, cut, and sleep in sloppy, wet trousers and socks all the old time.

“We started the now year badly. Tho scouts were sent out on the night of tho 30th-31st to find gaps in Fritz’s wire. Wc went to four different points, two of us to each, and found partial openings. New Year’s Evo wo waited in our trenches till midnight ready to lead four small raiding parties across with a view to penetrating the enemy’s trenches. It was awful waiting. Once on the move it did not matter; but the waiting gave one time to think of the possibilities. I thought of tho sound of ray wire clips only a few yards away from the Gorman parapet carrying to Fritz’s ears and what might follow; I thought of the risk of taking men across ‘No Man’s’ under his searchlights and flares who had never popped their heads farther than above our parapet before, and who were not skilled in making themselves invisible. There were 15 picked men in each party, and two scouts to guide them, and act as searchers, once we had gained tho other trenches. I thought of the leap down into a strange trench, shrouded in inky blackness, and just about dropped my bundle. The bayonet is not used much on such raids. You carry a sort of kuobkerrie arrangement, handled on tho Zulu principle. You wooden the other ‘bloke’ with this —if you’re lucky. TICKLISH WORK. “Our instructions wore to collect everything from tho enemy trenches that might give useful information to the people who make and slacken off tho ‘big pushes.’ “Funny thing, Johnny Allemande seemed to have come to life that night. You’d have thought he had known everything about our stunt. Blessed if he didn’t spray the ground oyer which we crawled with his beastly searchlights, and just hung the old sky with a festoon of flares. I was terribly anxious, for, looking back, I saw men in our party moving when flares were up, and crawling on hands and knees srtme of them. It’s a wonder we were not seen.

“We attained our objective, and the scout, who was with mo (Private Raybould), and myself started on the wire. A gap of about 10 yards deejj.had been blown away by our ‘puddings,’ but about the same depth remained to be cut. It is terribly alow work. You can’t cut it straight through. You cut it about three-parts, and then finish the job bv working it apart with your hands. Then you have to fold it back carefully, making an entrance free of obstacles. This has to be done lying on your stomach mostly—at times you can kneel. “Thor© was a scouting party about 300 yards on our right, and two on our left, all of the same strength. Tho nearest on the left were about sixty yarcU away.

“SPOTTED!” “Wo had not been at work ten minutes when a terrific' bombardment broke out from the German trenches, where the party nearest on our left was. They had been spotted. Bombs, maohine-guns, rifle grenades, and snipers all added to the din. Over 200 bombs must have been thrown by the Germans, while their machine-guns and rifles rained lead upon this unfortunate crowd. Only four of them got back. Next night wo found the fifth survivor in the middle of ‘No Man’s Land’ in a shell-hole. He was wounded in the ankle, and had lost all sense of direction. He had crawled through the German wire by himself and into the German trenches where a machine-gun was turned on him. 1 don’t know how he escaped. Anyhow, ho got out into ‘No Man’s Land’ again. He burst out crying when we found him. He was almost finished. His clothes were frozen on him. What a New Year’s Day—alone in a shell hole in ‘No Man’s Land,’ wondering whether it would ho a- German patrol or our own which would find him before he pegged out. There are an officer and nine' dead men lying against Fritz’s wire as I write. We can’t get them. Wo tried. They’ve got maohine-guns trained on the little heap, and there is not a moment of the night hut that there is a flare or searchlight hovering over them. They wore just shot down as they lay. They were riddled and riddled through and through. One of the survivors was lying against a comrade, who partially shielded him. He heard almost all of the machine-gun bullets rip into the body as he lay. ALL HARD PRESSED.

‘‘Wo could give no assistance at the time, as we also were sore pressed. As far down the line as we could see on either side the Germans made the night as day with their lights. Bombs came over perilously close to me, while machine-gun and rifle bullets zipped all around us. How they failed to see us in their wire I don’t know. The flares fell so close that one fellow’s sleeve caught alight, while th© fringes of the glove of another were burnt off. And they dared not move till things subsided a bit. “We got back, somehow. The Scouts were for two hours bringing in stragglers, who did not know the way, and who took shelter in shell craters. It was an awful night. “Then we went out twenty minutes before dawn to try and locate the dead and wounded. It was hopeless. It took ten minutes to go a yard, the lights were so active, -and every approach was raked by machine-gun and rifle fire. I'm well out of it, I tell you. “One of my scouts was killed and two wounded. I wrote to the mother of the one who was killed. He was terribly cool through it all. Wounded in four places, he sat plugging away at the wire, with the sky simply raining bombs, and scarcely able to lift the wire clips. Mercifully they quickly put him out of his misery. The scout who was with him crawled bank two^

hours later with, a bullet in the ankle and one in the elbow. “What saved our crowd was the fact that the enemy concentrated on the one party. We were all terribly downhearted, and to top it all the Germans swarmed over two nights later near the wires, and got forty of our men. We are back in billets, thank goodness, spelling. It’s the first time I felt I really wanted one. When you read of the next big push you’ll know where I am. Things are going to boom here soon by indications. “I never expected I would see such exciting times, and the Fates have smiled on me so far. Somehow I feel confident they will continue to do bo.”