TROOPS AT REST

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9821, 19 November 1917, Page 7

TROOPS AT REST

HAPPY MONTHS BEHIND LINES AUSTRALIANS FARMING WITH THE FEASANTS. Australian troops hero in France arc •well, happy, anid contented. They have never looked in better trim. They are earning the name of “The Stout Brigades.” It is all good muscle, hardened and developed by continuous battle and ceaseless training—even in the battle conditions of trench warfare training and fighting go hand-in-hand. I have never seen our veterans in such splendid condition (wrote the special representative of Sydney "Sun” at the end of August).

The reason is that for a moderate number of weeks —quite an unprecedented number in the history of the A.I.F. in France—these men have been having a prolonged and pleasant military picnic. They have been out of the line. The military term is ‘Testing.” That hardly fits the ease, as the men remark, because work and drill go on all the time, and everybody gets his orders every day as of old. Brigadiers are terrors for parades and manoeuvres and "rehearsals,” and other things involving carrying full packs for Jong hours over wot or dusty country. But hardened soldiers take them all in the routine of a campaign. It has been a real rest so far as nerves are concerned, and physical danger, and physical hardships. Our men have seen a good deal of Northern Franc© in this time. They have been living in lovely French countrysides. They have slept under shelter, and worked and played on green fields about pleasant-farmhouses. They have been scattered so far over these northern provinces that the country from sea to Belgium seems occupied with nothing but Australian soldiers. Regular food, regular sleep, regular tasks—leave to London or Paris or some neighbouring French city; — time for reading and writing and visiting Australian cobbers—these things have been a world of advantage to the troops. AMONGST THE PEASANTS. The troops have had the luck to he quartered in a province of France they have always liked. In these parts thero is plenty to buy at cheap prices, unaffected greeting amongst the people, much friendly feeling. The French people here live like one great family, and they have welcomed the Australians into it. Passing along the by-roads, one sees Australian soldiers helping the women and children, and tho old men, to pick the hops, to cut the wood, to harvest the crops. Officers have encouraged Australians harvesting on a wholesale scale. Squads of men march out in the morning to the fields, and spend quiet and pleasant days cutting the corn and building the stacks. Their rifles are stacked by the roadside, and they are still soldiers. I doubt if they stop to think that they are helping to beat the. Germans by cutting the French crops. But they are always satisfied with days sx)ent in this way. There are many thousands of Australian soldiers scattered over Northern France’ in this way to-day. Yot there has never been a complaint of criminal offence, and women and girls move in perfect security. Black sheep are to be expected Tn every fold, but the Australian soldier has a truly high sense of honour, and he is keeping his name good in France. ‘ LOVELY COUNTRY SIDE. To picture those troops to-day—they will have been taking their part in deadlier work before this letter is published—you must think of a lovely countryside thickly settled, with many little fields and cross-road villages, and here and there tall spires of cities standing out. It is all green, the deep, sombre green of the woods and thickets, the lighter green of hedges and potato orops y tho light and gay green of grass and stripped fields. Three scenes 1 have come upon in the last few days have been very typical, very Australian, very true bits of life behind the firuis. Tho first .was the great inspection. Ceremonial takes up a lot of time of the army, eveu in the trenches. It is essential to the institution. The inspection was the climax in the ceremonial. Tho men were drawn up in deep lines covering many acres. So many Australian soldiers have never before been gathered together. For the first time one realised the power and extent of the A.J.F. Bayonets glistened over thousands of Australian troops. When they moved the countryside seemed alive with stalwart khaki forms.

The inspecting general and his staff, magnificently mounted, passed down line after line of our soldiers, and horses galloped and pranced about the review ground as in days when we thought no enemies existed and soldiers were a pleasing and picturesque set of toys. Then the boys marched past—some in platoon depth, the others in company depth—and the leading officers were called up and shook hands, and were talked with. These are peaceful occasions. Officers and men see their leaders, the men who_decklo when and where to attack, what trenches they must hold, what form of fighting is best to achieve victory. The personal contact is necessarily limited in a warfare between millions. That is why the Germans make so much of the name and prestige of Hindenburg amongst their troops. COMFORTS AND PLEASURE.

For another scene .1 would take you tp a small village, all white walls and low red roofs, a mere little cross-road farming hamlet. For hero you would see installed a part of the army that men never fail to enjoy. It is the Comforts Fund headquarters for this small sections of the troops, the home of the cinema, and the headquarters, also, of a section of the Australian Y.M.C.A The diligent emissaries of comforts Fund, A.Y.M.C.A. and cinema people are never failing friends to the men. They see to the social side—the entertainment and the letter-writ-ing, and to the clothing. At this spot to-day you would find, the writing room crowded with men, one of them, perhaps, laboriously writing to you. The little makeshift hall alongside would bo filled with soldier s enjoying pictures, and further on some active agents of the Comforts Fund would be distributing some simple needs, or perhaps dispensing tea or coffee. "ON THE JOB.” But of all hehind-the-lines scenes i should like you to see the —th Bn-

gado marching back from the trenches, after long and. difficult fighting. They pass in battalions, coqh headed by its band. These are the soldiers as they fight, soman-hat mud-stained, weary, battle-worn, going back to rest. Here are the hoys as thqy are when on the job. Their a little worn, does not ’lido their naked strength. Their kit and rifles, with their bayonets by their side, show the marks of use. Their faces have the old look of enduring eagerness, and their march is that of the hardy soldier. What cheers would go up if they were marching like this through bydney or Melbourne.! And I fancy tiiat this company that is passing now would whistle the same tune. _ It is a poor tune, but Australian—the tune of Anzac and the Southland and the Somme and Promelles and iiullecourt and Messines and the Ballarat—merely ‘‘Australia Will be There”— hut a tune that the boys know "■ and fight to.