EXPLOSIVES AND BAYONETS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13645, 27 March 1915, Page 9

EXPLOSIVES AND BAYONETS.

I WAR IN CHAMIWON'K, (laborious ftu-::;- ii ad\an*.-t_. (Sydney Srn Specials.) j LONDON, March 18. j The British Obs . ;* with the French Army writes : — "Thc commencement, of thi> I- v Itch ••(- vance m Champa* •'.. '■■ I" -I'uaiy lo> ' marked the opening i.i * < -<■-■ 1915 cam p.litin, and will find .mi ;mj*.Ttani p -.••.• m the history of the war. The ruuutr.v is a vast plain v-it'i mdulatin-r hill, that are 200 feet higher than t!v \;*iLy; and gentle slopes everywhere, /the on! feature is hundreds of pine v.c.-.ds. TK villages are few and s—iali, ; :id most A ruins lifter the fig". tin.; m J-'rptemb*- ■". "The troops li\'. v m -.■> ) nies of little huts, of wood and straw i;.;;r feet hi A. dotted about the weeds and va.'.ys, wherever water and shelter are obtainable.

'"A sustained effort is proceeding with tlie object of keeping a constant pressure on the German first line of defence, affecting the use of thc railway and wearing down their reserves of men and ammunition. Every day an attack is mado and every day ground gained has to be transformed to repel counter-attacks. Each attack has . to be nrepared by a violent, and accurate artillery fire. A trench has to be morally captured by gnu fhe before it can be actually seized by the infantry. Thus the amount of rifle fire is very small. It is a war of explosives and bayonets. "Looking at a battle from a distance of 2000 yards, the stillness that one notices i.s iu N inarkcd contrast to the turmoil of the shells passing overhead. The only apparent movement is that of a (.loud of smoke above the earth that marks the bursting of a shell. "Hero and there long, white lines arc visible when a trench has brought the chalky sfibsoil to the tup, but the number seems very small compared with the number that exists.

"The woods are pointed out. but it needs field glasses to see the few stumps ;!iat remain where the artillery has done its work.

'"Then the telephone says that the enemy is threatening a counter-attack. There is a redoubled whistling of shells. The guns are searching the low ground where tho enemy's reserves are preparing for movement. But a little later the ground m front of the threatened trench becomes alive with shell-bursts, for the searching has given place to the building up of a wall of fire, through which it is impossible for the foe to pass witliout enormous loss.

"The Frertch have made steady oonYlitions of progress, and '•have never been forced back, despite innumerable counter attacks. This is not merely a question of ground, but one of increasing 'moral superiority. For m unsuccessful counterattacks the losses are heavy, and those and the sense of failure affect the morale of an army, aiuL, sooner or later, finish it."