THE ANZAC FRONT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14244, 12 March 1917, Page 8

THE ANZAC FRONT.

A CHEERFUL SPIRIT.

SPORADIC FIGHTING

LONDON, March 1

Mrßusesll, Reuter's correspondent at British Headquarters in France, wrote the following article- for the United Service on February 20 :U---"Sir William 'Robertson, the Chief of the General Staff, is credited with the re_ mark; 'Whenever I want chering up f visit the Britiah front,' Living as 1 do permanently at the British, front, 1 ought to be pretty cheerful,' according to Sir William Robertson's formula, but whenever I want to court an outburst of higher spirits I go to so my old friends I the Anzacs, with whom I was at GaUipoli. "Yesterday I indulged in this tough visit. The weather was cheerless, a bare thaw and a heavy grey mist combining to present the Somme landscape at its wprst. But nothing which the most outrageous conspiracy of the thermometer and the barometer accomplishes damps the contagious cheerf illness of the warrjoi' S from down under. 'Cold ? Yes/ B.lopraing uncomfortable !' they admit! ted, -and added immediately, 'The health of the A.I.F. is never better than during . a hard, frost.' Trenah feet ay? scarcely known, and pneumonia and bronchitis not above' normal. The explanation, surely lief? in the hardiness of the race, the excellence and; sufficiency of 'grub,' the. abundance of t warm clothing, and the skill in applying the lessons of experience. t > '"the /momentary appearance of the sun,, dim and w.an and. watery, was hailed with merry, derisipn. . ".

"One soldier remarked, 'If that's the sun., it. ought to go, back until it's strong enough to be allowed out alone.' "Along the Anzac fronj; the battle blaze&^-up from time to time, with fre.quentj^pd co,nsiderab'le spells of quiet. "There is much trench-mortar activity, of which preponderance ia altbgeth.er on our side. The raiding species of., warfar© suits the Wallaby temperament, and is correspondingly execrated by ; the Bodies. I found here, as everywhere on the West frqnt, nowadays, the confirmed "conxiption that qur' army can go th^rpugh the German linea whenevec . the, time is opportune. V - • „. ■ "The fighting east of Gueujie£ouri in the Uegin,nii3g of Feb^'ujiry was? the- hard, est of thp year for the. Ahzacs^ anp.was mainly sustained by the, Queen§l4nflerß andi New South Welshmen. \lji onej attack these killed 60 Germans, ip the onslaught, and took 54 prispners,. In another >ithe totals were 70 and. 50,' The enemy fought* nard' to retain hia- valuable tactical positiong. » But the mosj. formidably of. his cpunter-alitracks w^s. cut off by 'the Australians artillery and,wiped but. % .'. ' ■.';'■

"There were fierce^ bombing contests,' especially on \he night . of ]?ebr.ußry 3. The Germans were always . boirtbep\out, and once an entire party, was annihilated by a shower of hand-grenades. It; was; a great fightr-ror rather series of fights— *»n which the gloripus motto, 'Advance., Aus. tralia !' was realised. . r

"There is much digging ajid improving of positions^ and ,the pioneer battalions have advanced the road co|ts|ruction splendidly, and the great evilj mud, i^ being steadily overcome. - , < "Every • effort is made to begujle the tedium in an'd out of the trenches. Cinemas and canteens are run libjerally, and football matches occur daily.

"I 'am informed that the returning drafts ■ a.re arriving . satisfactorily, and the new material is splendid. The Anzacs are training in every form of -modern, warfare.-. \ . ; "Visiting the saenes of last year's great Anzac battles is. a unfailing source of recreation to the newcomer?., but the battle is becoming increasingly difficult to reconstruct, because Pozieres, Mou r quet Farm, and the Windmill and Ceme. tery are now m,ere names, to which no material semhlance is left to give mean'"g-" ■ -* -. -. . ■ '•