FRENCH FIGHTING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 85, 4 November 1918, Page 3

FRENCH FIGHTING.

JUST WHAT IT. MEANS. A distinguished 'medical authority, Sir John Cullie, C.M.G., in referring to shell-shock, writes.: "Consider the state of things • in ■which a man is in a. trench, probably water-logged and rat-infekted, wlier**, if lie raises his head above the parapet, a sniper's-bullet may be his w nd ; behindhim the constant roar' of innumerableguns of varying calibres, each contributing its own peeuliai notes to th e deafening volume of sound produced by their united efforts ; in front of him a similar array producing an equal din; around him are falling shot and shell, high explosive or poisonous gas; beneath him may be the dreaded mine of whoso explosions he will have no warning; above a flight of aeroplanes from which, a.bomb may lind its way into the confined area he occupies; insidious clouds of. asphyxiating vapour maycreep close and ovorwhelm him, or the scorching breath of 'nammenwerfer' sear his flesh; death may reach, him from any quarter. To him is denied the exhilaration of personal, combat when man opposes men—he simply waits and watches. This is no nightmare which passes with the dream, but is endured through every minute of each long hour. When he goes 'over the top' there is no marching shoulder to shoulder against thefoe. In open order he crosses tin-, shell-pocked 'No Man's Land' through the inferno of a high-explosive barrage, only to meet on the other sudd storms of machine gun bullets, which are veritable showers of leaden hail. What can be expected when many of those engaged are delicately-nurtured youths who rir<S, attaining their manhoof||under these conditions? It is surprising that no more than 20 per cent, of the men discharged from the army as unfit are suffering from neurasthenia or shell-shock. It speaks volumes for the pluck and endurance of the men that the percentage is not far larger."