NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue 12998, 10 November 1916, Page 2

NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE.

TOWARDS THE SOMME. [■RAINING FOR THE BIG BATTLE. A LEOTUREIN A FIELD. (From Captain MalooTm Ross. War Car. t respondent Truth Now Zealand Forces.) 'Northern France, September 1. Day by day wo are getting nearei the bag battle, and' da-y fcy day the force is increasing its- efficiency. The equrl> merit is probably better than ever; tht training~goes steadily on. Wo nave left the old sights and sounds. We ar< in beautiful country, the flat lands o French Flanders having given place to rolling down, plantations, farniSj anc villages undevasta-tod by war. Wo n< longer heat* the "thunder of tho guns the bursting of bombs, the cracks o rifle fire, and the tat-tatting of the me chine-guns. The weather, fine for : time, broke ivith. a terrific thunder etorm and heavy rain. There followei drizzling rain and' mist. The peaceni rural scenes are, however, but tho pre hid© to battle fiercer and more intensi than anything we have experienced fo; some mom the. MANOEUVRES AND AN AERO- , PLANE. Two davs ago the landscape was al most blotted out by fog, the trees am corn were dripping wet, and the road: were muddiy. Through a picturesque village tlie men of one brigade cam* marching in column of fours. Reflect, eti in a poncl, they swung round a tree Fringed* road, and on through cornfield! into a shallow vallov, where, on the slope of a grassfield, they were t< ntanieuvrc under aeroplane obsei"vation The clouds hung so low and tho fog was so thick that ono felt certain that the flying men would never find! us. -A cross, mado with white calico stretchec on tho ground, marked a somewhai difficult landing place. But we heard tho droning noise of a pro. peller overhead, and; in two minutes saw the. plane banking and circling round. The tr hank'' wus* so steep tlun one feared for the safety of the machine. The pilot seemed uncertain, but after wheeling in the air like f great bird, tho piano dipped, and, fly iiir low over tho heads of the waiting men, it dipped againi and came to cart! amidst a hearty burst of cheering Tli< two young Englishmen unbuckled them selves from tlieir seats, stepped e>ul from the machine, and walked wit* leisurely stride dv>wn to wliero the General and tho Brigadier were wait ing. They wore brown leather coats over their khaki, and tho dose leathei skull cans with their little car wandow* that are tho conspicuous feature of tho dress of our airmen. Tho one was tall ami of athletic build —ho waf a Harrow boy and a well-known cricke.tei —tho other was a more lad just out of his teens. The General askec them if it would bo all right for the manoeuvres, '"yes," thev said, "it would bo perfectly alt right; wit t'le.v would hnvo to fly very low." Then they started the wooden propeller once m'ore. got into their machine, and, rushing off at a terrific pace, were lo*t at once in the air again. It seemed as if they would hit a clump of trees on a little knoll in front, but a turn of tiu. lever unseen by us caused the plane to mount steeply, and in another minute they were circling gracefully overhead while one of the battalions, with the others watching, carried out tho work it had been ordered to do. It was all very wonderful, and one would have quickly realised, if ono had not already done ■*>. the splendid work theso young men of tho Royal Flying Corps are accomplishing in France. • The excited old Frenchman and the women and children from the adjoining farms crowded on to the hilltop and, fascinated, -watched the plane circling overhead for half an hour, J.\ : r them it was a wonderful entertainment. The pilot told mo that ho had mack* his u>ay by steering due west, then by following tho Somine. and finallv by following a road. To a mere landsman it seemed a splendid perform, ance. Then off again up into the clouds that were swirling overhead, and sfl home.

—A Profer-sor in a Field. — Yesterday near another village, in a Croon field I found another brigade assembled. and, 011 a wagon, a wellbnilt, strong-looking man of middle age was lecturing. Ho wore the glengarry, and had come from a famous Highland regiment to carry the bayonet as a sort of fiery cross throughout- the land'. He might' have been a professor lecturing to a class, except that lie seemed to hold the class altogether enthralled in such manner as a university professor seldom does. And notwithstanding that li s subject was a grim one. a rippling laugh ran through the assemblage at frequent intervals. He had the splendid faculty of making his subject intensely interesting, by the terseness of his language and metaphor, and by the clearness of his demonstration. And if 011 the part of the dullest there should be any tendency to inattention it was f|tiicklv restored by a situation or a vtory humorously described or told. He had been a champion heavy-weight of the Annv, and' that also went for something with the sporting New Zealanders. I liavo in previous articles referred to the new bayonet drill that has been developed by the British Army. It is so important that no apology is necessary for again reverting to the subject. and without giving away to tho Boclie anv of the points—except those he will get on the battlefield —I should like to give some description of this lecture as it. struck me. It is a subject that cannot be too much discussed while tho war lasts, for we have ample evidence that the new system lias already borne excellent fruit. As the lecturer said, if you go over the parapet you are in for a killing match; you must either kill or he killed. Our men thoroughly realise that, and they are out to kili Germans all the time. One principle of the new dVill is thatyou do not waste energy—you do your work lightly and artistically with _ ti minimum of force. "When the First Australians took Pozieres those who came after them found many dead Germans who seemed to have no scratch on them and looked as if they might have been gassed. Bub they were not gassed, said the lecturer; the Australians, who are master hands with the bavonet, had simply been getting some of their fine work in upon the etiemy. It was like the scientific tap of the experienced boxer, but it was very effective if it fell Oil the right place. Somo soldiers thought it all right if they got their foresight in, said the lecturer, and the brigade laughed at the contrast. He was telling them in cold blood of things that would have to be done in hot blood, but he added that he was now going to stir them up. And he did so by reading a Boclie proclamation that had been "found on a captured officer. It was a proclamation headed "Butchery as a Dutv," telling the Germans in the name of God to go forward and carry out the duties of the executioner. The cold steel was put in the hands of the soldier to be used without hesitation and without mercy. But, added the lecturer, the- German did not know" how to use the bayonet like our men. He told how an Australian had killed two Germans, T»ut could not get his bavonet out of the second one, so lie picked up a German bayonet mid killed jiis third' man with that. With the assistance of his instructor he proceeded to show how they could kill a Boehe so long as the latter supplied the rifle and the bayonet. The Australians, ho added, were keen as mustard in acquiring the new bayonet drill, and ho found the New Zealanders who had taken it on equally keen. They took to it like mother's milk, and during one silent raid all that was heard was the Fourth Australians grunting as they went along the German trench in the darkness —"In! Out! In! Out!" That was the war-cry of the Foutli Australians, and it was a very good one too. "There is," he added, "one English soldier who got fifteen Germans and the D.C.M., and is now on our Staff." But even that was not the record; there was another man who liad eighteen to hie credit. The charge and the rush lie told'them was. now played out. A man had to save his breath if he want?d to kill when lie got into the trench. In a recent charge there was one man who had cot a German bv both' ears and was biting liis nose. Yes, it was humorous, but it was fury wasted. This waT was nothing else, but a glorified game,"and they had to treat it as they treated their "games and remain cool. The only difference was in tho methocE of killed! Evary German

they killed would bring victory so much nearer; They, were 7 "putting the wind up"; on the Germans now, and though, the poets 6aid it was a glorious thing •to i die for their country, they could take it from Him that it was a much ■better thine to live and to kill for their country. There was only one good Boche and he was a dead. Boche, and it was their bavonets that would- make him a •good 'iin. Finally he asked if they had any questions to put, and there being none he told another story. At the end of one of his lectures to an English Division he had asked this same question, and "Tommy" at the back got up and said: ''Please, sir can you tell me What' Steps I should take to transfer into the Armr Service Corps ?'» At the end of the lecture there was a demonstration of the new method with the bayonet. Then the lecturer was thanked by the Brigadier, and the brigade, instructed, amused, and inspirited, rose up as one man and moved off to practice what had been preached.