ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

Temuka Leader, 29 December 1914, Page 3

ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

GERMANS NO GOOD AGAINST MARKSMEN IN OUR LINES. WASTE OF Ail MUNITION. Mr T. E. Elias, one of the Daily Tiron.iele's correspondents In Noi'llicm ranee, ooirtriimtes me follow ing •interesting chapter on the diUeeenl. mode,; o) lighting m the trendies : Tin re is a po'mt about 12 miles to the north of T pros where I lit) English trendies are only 303 yards from ttiosu oi (he Germans. Tins is not a record, for near (ho AEne, in France, the uuemy's trenches are within 2'.H) val'ds of ours in several places.

lint at Specs IbiUsh 'troops have now been for 12 days alternately juiiusimi- themselves by holding sniping competitions—using any Prussian helmet that cures to bob up for a target —ami by resting lor a leisurely smoke with'm hearing distance oi the *yveet strains of a German band. The sniping is a sinister game —-according so a soldier who Ims narrate jed his experiences to me. In every iregiment there arc certain crack shots ! w lio can knock a pipe out of the ! mouth of a dummy nine times out of ten at 290 yarhs. Those are the men who are picking off tho Germans, one by one. at every hour ' of the day. They have rivals iu their regimouLand these, too, join in the ghastly business as if their enemies wore so many clay pigeons. ihe Germans at lirst (nought that lhex- could score as olten as' the Eug.Ji.sli where such skilled inarkmianship was required, and for the lirst- iew Mays if appeared that they also had I selected their best shots iu the coulident hope of retaliation. But _ such : marksmen as they possessed dwindled so alarmingly in numbers, and became such a nuisance to theiiy eqitn-ades [when stretched lifeless and cold iu tho conlined spaces of the trenches, that (lie sniping game has, on their pail, had to be abandoned. They could not afford to lose any more ,ol thoir marksmen, lor in the German atm} marksmen are lamentably few. So they adopted an ailemativo. _ At ;• -rtain hours during tuei day außiißdit individual .companies were told oil to ‘ire imiisiTmiitinlely in the direction of the English trenches. Those 'volleys wete particularly dangerous when our mi ll skcddaddled from thoir shelters to frleli (heir allowance of bully be, [ at meal limes, but on the whole, \«rv few Getm.an bullets louud thoir intended billets. NJGlir ALARMS.

J In till') W;iv 11 OO.LL lire Play l : - oil tlic English U'eneiios at ipres ; bui t |«lnin liie waste oi amiuii.nt>oa is sim - ! j)ly enoemons, the loss of the ,s grotes - ; :piely iniiul. At night the Unrig cot. j i,lines, lull a fail' uumoor ot our met | ai<j asleep, and the otucrs arc keep hue wall'll, i'l'om liino. U> time a Geti man gun will scud up a star-pomr ■wiiifji illumines the whole counti'.V side. j.U lights up out - trenches lot a _ lew ‘in inn t os, and it euanh's the vigilant German infantry to waste a few mod ’ j thousand rounds oi ammunition to ■very little purpose. indeed, so ridiculous do those dia- ■ plays h"t*iii to our men that they. sim--1 ply hide their lime 'm safety until the i light from the homli exposes a few ha-ads ia tiie t lei man tr. aches, when ■nicy aim a do/a;n shots and brine; 'down a dozen men. | fids information was supplied to mu by six men from a famous Scottish ; regiment who for the past fortnight 'liavu been leaching the Germans the .value of uood marksmanship in these ’trenches above N pros, j These men have had experience of the trendies in 1. - 'ranee also. That was |to the south of Vpres (which is m ! lielgiiuii), and in hilly country. They preterrod a trench on the hillside, since it can be more easily drained in wet weather, it also oilers more op 'port uni lies for support from the heavy nuns in the rear. At A pres the country is so Hat that our artillery can only find masses of the enemy by air rec-onnaisance. Our artillery, unlike the German, do not lire specula live shells on the ofichancc of locating an enemy (tun of battalion. It limls them first and attacks them afterwards. I UIUO Kill'll,L6 WAKTKD. The Germans fired quite JOOO shells, •shrapnel and lyddite,, near A'pt’es, last ! Lriday alone, and riot one of their, , Lillet! so much as an English horse, <n knocked the wheel off a motor-lorry. | la the meantime the English arid- ! lery was silent, and the men in the (.rencJics were enjoying a smoko. IV i wards evenin'. l ', however, a* English !aeroplane returned with a useful, lit bit, and four of our guns were im 'mediately trained on a certain spot ,'aa dim'led. The aeroplane Hew back r to report <m the damage, i* illy shells | were seat screaming to a lam* three 'miles away. Just- then a few thou •sand Germans were advancing fotu abreast through the lane. 1 lie lirs'L nine shells did not lind the range, Iml, (he olhers followed with alarming ; rapidity, and fell right among the linisiispeelbig Grriiiaiis. 1 The aeroplane re'lurnod and reported in, n( whole companies of these Initialions must have been blotted out. j Such is the mil are of the lighting Mhirli is 1,-iking place around Vpr*9. i ( Vrlai-a death would ensue Id whole ll’ii'ilish iTgiinenls if a general advance w ere al tempted. Certain deat h would ' also follow to the C-rmans if they j Would wish In push us back. ‘