TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 18619, 18 August 1919, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

The special correspondent of the Allahahabad Pioneer on the North-West Frontier gave his paper a pretty story of the fighting during the Afghan trouble, a story which throws a flood of light upon the doings of the warlike tribesmen. "The Mohmand,” says the correspondent, “after his suspicious behaviour for . a few days, is at peace with us and is once more pursuing his normal avocation under our protection. But he has broken faith with the British Tommy who will believe him .no more. In other days it was the custon of the Mohmand politely to inform us when and where he proposed to attack us. He even obligingly gave us the hour. The result was that we received him with nicely arranged shell-fire and sent him back lamenting. At Shabkadr, however, he broke his woril. The Mohmand had notified his intention of attacking on Friday. Both, artillery and infantry accordingly were ordered to ‘stand to’ at 4 ami. but nothing happened. The pickets reported no enemy in sight and the day passed without incident. The order to ‘stand to’ was repeated for Saturday morning and again at 4 o’clock our troops were ready to meet an attack. The gunners had introduced a Heath Robinson element into the operations by planting their own datum point on which to register. The country hereabouts is bare save for an odd scrub or two, so the gunners, liaving selected a suitable spot, sent a small party out with kerosene oil tins which they erected as a datum point. On this they opened fire working out the ranges in that way. Bands of tribesmen hovered in the distance but on the first burst of artillery fire they hurried off. Thus another day passed. Towards evening the pickets reported the approach of a small party carrying a white flag. The party was led by a stout benign and prosperous-looking old gentleman whose appearance suggested the bunniar’s shop rather than the battlefield. The members of the party announced themselves as elders and explained that a misunderstanding had led them to adopt a hostile attitude. A "jirgah was held on Monday when the elders declared that enemy propaganda had led them to believe that we had deserted them, hence they went over to the Afghans. But after seeing our big guns fire they were convinced we could protect them and. they now begged forgiveness. This was duly granted and they returned to their homes deserting the Afghans who galloped away. A few days’ contact with the Afghan has spoiled the Mohmand. Before he associated with the Afghan the Mohman was a man of his word; to-day he is a tolerated but discredited tribesman in the eyes of the British Tommy owing to his having failed to keep his appointment. The Mohmands lost one man and one sheep.”

The official monograph issued by the German General Stall on the Battle of Calais (as the Germans called the first battle of Ypres) attributes the failure to break through to “the annihilating effect of countless machine guns” and “to every village having been converted into a fortress.” These are great compliments for the old Contemptibles’ rifle lire. So far from the machine guns being “countless” there were only two machine guns to each battalion and what the Germans took for machinegun fire was rifle fire. All the defences were hastily extemporised and it speaks volumes for the work done if the villiages were made into “fortresses." The details of the early fighting as they are revealed will probably add to the lustre of the Regular British Empire which fought so gloriously in 1914-15.