A "SEWERMEN'S FIGHT"

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 522, 18 May 1915, Page 7

A "SEWERMEN'S FIGHT"

LIEUTENANT'S BAYONET PLAY IN THE TRENCHES. Having distinguished himself m defending his trench against an incursion of Germans, a young lieutenant has supplied a. vivid impression of what he called • a " sewermen's fight" m a drain. Armed witli a rifle and bayonet, he, it appeared, though he did not say so, led the little rush down the trench which evicted the ; enemy. "It ' was , squishy work," he said. "There was mud annjl water halfway to one's knees, ahd m this I played a slippery game of hide-and-seek, thrust and parry, with a whooping' great German who led the other side. It only lasted a few seconds, I suppose, but it ended funnily. All of a sudden another German appeared on the parapet and tried to leap right over. He couldn't do it, and fell right on to my fellow, and they both fell fighting, kicking, an-d scratching m the mud. It was a scream. Then -a corporal of .ours emptied his magazine down the trench over my shoulder, and when he finished I continued the good work. . So m the end we scored heavily." But this is a very unconventional war. Of what avail, for instance, are his books to a German officer, who,, having conducted a very dasjiing attack against the verge of N a wood! apparently strongly held, discovers on arrival that, while his men' are still dropping from a heavy fire, the enemy are apparently not there? So he looked heavenward, perhaps for inspiration, and; then ho saw where his enemy had hidden. There they were, high up m the branches, taking very deliberate aim at the nonplussed Germans, who, before* they could gather themselves together to cope with this fire, were violently assaulted by a large body of reserves who had remained some distanoe inside the wood and now drove them back with much gusto.