From the Front.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 621, 10 April 1917, Page 1

From the Front.

" WITH THE A.S.C. AT THE FRONT." Mud and Misery ! —We are swinging round from one section of the line to another, and are just coming into camp after a march of over 20 miles, with the whole day practically one continuous downpour o| rain. Twenty miles a day does not seem a great distance, especially to ride on a horse or waggon, but when you have "pulled out" about 4 a.m. m the mornirg, and formed part :>f a column two miles long, moving at an average speed over two miles an hour, you feel by the cud of the day that life is not all beer and skittles. It is about 5 o'olock aa we come m, and it will be dark m a little over an hour There is much to be done m a short time, and tbo rain is coming down if anything with renewed vigour. Our resting place for the night is a mere matsh, lying just on tho side of the river, and the sort of place that inwetweatherprorui.es a delightful time Neither were we disippoined. The who'e camp is soon a quagmire (ires arc kept m only with tbe utmost d lii julty,- we are all wet to tbe skin, avej through our great coats, and mud, misery and darknos" reigns supreme. A cup of tea, a " chunk "of bully beef and a vation biscuit, and then each one is crawlirg under the waggons to spend the night as btst ha can. We are out and aboui ogaiu at 4 next morning, and a sorry crowd we look m th 9 dim morning light. Unshaven, weatherbsatcn, plastered wi.h muJ, a truly no - descript crew, but one to which we are proud to Lclong, for we are among those who hiva boen weighed m lbf> sfiiles of active service and not found want n . A wash iv a canvas bucket, a good sh k , i feod for tbe animals and a hastier one for om selves, and then the hortC3 are hooked m and the pulling commences, Now the fun(!) opens. In tbe night our heavily laden waggons have suDk deep into tbe soft peaty soil, and it seemß almost impossible to move them. Trace horses are nooked m, evo»y available olliaer and man runs to the wheels, at,d for aome time the scene is one of panting and perspiring men and animals. The soft soil churns up as i( under the action of a g gantic plough, a trouble that deepens with each succeeding waggon, but perseverance wins the day, and as we come at length to the firm road the sun breaks fitfully forth, and we star! cheerily out on another stage of our journey. At the Refilling Point.— A little dip at the junotion of two roads marks the pUce where is situated for the present our Refilling Point. For the ben&fit of the layman, it may be explained that tbe Refilling Point is the place to which daily the motor lorries come with the supplies for the Division, and where it is taken over by the. Horse Transport and oarried forward to the rfgincents. It is of course as near the line as is compatible with safety, bui is constantly- ■-* ooanglug according to the keen sightednesg of the enemy, for when crowded with waggons and lorries it presents an admirable target, and if looatea by the enemy's aeroplanes it would not be long before Mr Boeoh would send over a reminder of his presence m the shape of a few shells. Wh enter the rough erection of used ammunitiontboxes and waggon covers that serves as office, messroom, and Bleeping chamber for the Brigade Supply Officer at tbe very moment that a merry concert breaks out. A little gentle " hate "ia m progress. Our artillery are firing over our heads from some unkaown point m the rear, machine guns are rattliDg merrily away od tbe rijzht, while m front the hossilo fire is continuous To-day, however is somewhat of an "off day" for things are much more lively, when, as frequently happens, ihe enemy di op shells all round the neighbourhood m the hope of landing one among us. A ratilo growing rapidly louder announces tbe arrival of the supply column fro.n the railhead with the day's supplies. Swiftly they ara unloaded, and a truly misadlaneoja collection they present, hpldding umoDg o.her th ngs, beef, biscu.it, bread, hay, oats, bran, jam, tea, sugar, pepper, butler, tucon ; compressed vegetables, potatoes, onions.' tobacco, cigarettes, petrol and last and best of all, the letters. In the shortest possible space of time the lorries are cleared, and ihcn commences the distribution to units. Everything is ex ictce.s itaelf, not a ration too. many, not one short, and befors one can hardly realise it the last w ggon has departed on its journey to the trenches, th Supply Officer has dived again into his hut to complete his accounts, and peace settles once more over the Kefiliing Po'.nt, Qoing up,— Of all A.S.O. work undoubtedly the most exciting and the most interesting is that known as ' goipg np " or m other words tbe daily conveyance of rations to the trenches. By steam, rail, and motor transport, m turn they have been carried as far as possible, and at length we reach that point where horses alone can be used, and here Uea the kingdom of the Horse Transport. It may be asked why not ÜBe motor transport the whole way? To this query there are three very good reasons to be given, firstly, that more often than not the roads are quite impossible for motor transport, segondly, brigades and regiments are often lor from tho road and m the open country, and thirdly,— this should be whispered— if a shell does get home a waggon and horses are much cheaper than a motor lorry. Under present conditions we start our journey within range of the eneruy'a guns, but tlmnks to our air service who keep the - German aeroplanes well buck over their own " lines, we are not trealod to any delicate attentions just yet. It is a different story on the other side of tbe way, for wo hear from prisoners thai for many days preceding uur push they were without rations or water, thclr.transport having been smashed to pieces by our heavy barrage. The path up which we are travelling can scarcely be called a road, originally it was a mere country track, though the labours of our working parties are turning it as fast as possiblo into something useful* for traffic. In dry weather it is relieved by tho clay paths at tto side; but the recent raing have driyen everything on Iq the ro*d, and the traiftc is as congested as m Fleet Street at noon. At all crossings are the traffic patrol* bearing on their arms the symbol T, who marshall into line the upward and downward current o£ ambulances, ammunition lorries, supply waggons, motors, cycliets and troops. It m perhaps difficult to realise but on this narrow thread of rough road rn»y hang the life of one, t»vo, or even three Divi*bns. It is the main artery of the body military, and were anything to hinder the 11 jw ol life blood m the aUape of Bflppjiea and ammu iRljon. |t would' prohabjy necessitate jibe whole of the troops above falling back,

Slowly we mako our way up, the streai ii gradually beginning to thin out, traffi controls are left behind, the booming grow nearer and nearer, and the countryside b£ comes pitted with shell holes. We are now travelling a section of th road which is under observation from tU German lines, and soon we know it, for witi a roar like an express train a shell burie itself m the soft mud just ahead of thi column, A few minutes later there i another, and where a minute earlier was i waggon and pair there is now only an omptj space. Some thirty yarda away lies t broken wheel, but otherwise it is complete annihilation. By the irony of fate tho firt then turns m another direction and we art left to continue our way m peace. Tire road is getting terrible, there ar« huge shell holes everywhere and with the mott careful driving it is hardly possible to avoid an accident. We are moving over ground which only two days ago we wrested from the enemy, broken waggons and dead horses line the side of lire road and sometimes indeed w£ are ompelled to drive over them, while m the .fields on either side we can pue dim outlines which speak of bodies not yet collected by our burying parties who at present, can only work undar the kindly cover of ni^h. Our troubles however are drawing to a n end for we have reached the point where wo transfer our loads to the regiments and our responsibility ends. This is quickly done, curront gossip exchanged, a few newspapers bunded on, and then once more we joyfully turn our heads for Home Sweet Homo which m our cuso consists of a dug-out or a rou^h bivvy of waterproof sheets.