STORIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 145082, 6 September 1916, Page 4

STORIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.

BOMBING EXPLOITS.

QUALITIES OF THE NEW ARMIES

Beyond doubt the chief impression .ono obtains moving among the wounded soldiers of all ranks brought back from the Sommo battlefield is that of the modesty, cheerfulness, and confidence of the men, striking demonstrations of the quality of the now British armies. Of their own deed each man speaks with reserve, but all are generous in their appreciation of the,'.achievements of others. >

Describing the work of the heavy guns a young gunner officer said:— ‘•■Wo had been going strong nil the week, but on duly 1 we fairly lot go. We rooted thorn out of the villages with H.E.’s and armour-piercing shells, and then got ’em with shrapnel. You couldn’t see ’em for dust and small stones. Some of the prisoners told us that their water supply and food supply bad been cut off for some days. The smkh-gunners did marvels. \Vo had bags of ammunition, some of Lloyd-Georgo’s new stuff, and it was damned good too. The fuses were Al, Earlier in the week the boys chalked messages at love on the base of tho shells before sending them across to the Bodies—our tame poet wrote:—

Keep me supplied with shot and shell And I will send all tho Huns to Hell.

The value of trench raids has been emphasised by wounded officers and men. A private in tho H.L.1., a regiment famous for its raids, said:—“As soon as wo went over we knew exactly what to do, where to go, and where to find ’em; and wo found ’em, too. As soon as they saw us coming they hopped out, taking their machine-guns with them. and. chancing the bombardment, raced hell for leather for their third-line trenches. I didn’t see any officers in the trenches—whore they’d gone, to, goodness knows. .

| FOX BOMBING. ‘’We had plenty of fun bombing. One of the Germans pitched a bomb into the trendies we had Just taken, and it fell Cn the floor. A chap in front of mo picked it up and threw it back whore it came from. It exploded, and wo didn’t get any more bombs from that bit of trench for a long time. Another of our chaps was chasing a bunch of thorn down a. communication trench. He had a Mills bomb in his band, but couldn’t got the pin out. He couldn*t wait, so Jio let fly with the thing as it was. It caught tho hindmost German plumb in the ear. He let off an awful yell and doubled up. So we took him prisone r.” In the fighting round Thiepval ah officer with a few men got into the German third-line trench and was cut off. Tiie subaltern at once organised his men into a bombing party, and they went along the trench bombing the Germans out. One of the party, a sergeant. seemed to bear a charmed life. He walked along the parapet for throe hours, throwing bombs here and there, over traverses and into dug-outs with terrible effect. The party carried on until they fell in with an officer and throe men from another battalion. All the time, the Germans were, trying to bomb them out into the open. The little band finished their own stock of bombs soon after mid-day, hut they got hold of rifles, some British and some German, and still held out. Under cover of darkness, with both officers badly wounded, they managed to. get into" touch with a battalion on their left, who gave them a groat reception. In the assault between Thiepval and Ovillers many of our wounded found shelter of a kind in (Ik? sunken road, and here they were tended by a Gorman doctor. One officer, who was suffering from a. bad face wound, said that the German was doing splendid work. Ho spoke English fluently and told him that the British soldiers were wonderful and the artillery terrible, but, he added, the Gormans have plenty more men. “CRUMPS.” “Tho men were simply splendid,” said a young officer whose battalion took part in the assault on Thiepval. “All tho time tho Germans wore putting over all kinds of ‘crumps.’” (Crump is a new trench word, and is used, it seems, to denote heavy shells as distinct from whizz bangs. “Crump,” the officer explained, exactly represents the .sound made by tlm fall of a big shell.) “Shortly alter wo got over,” he con-' tinned, “I got shot through the lung. } couldn’t go on, so 1 lay near the bank in the shelter of the sunken road. There wore eight of us altogether, and then the Germans .turned on tiioir barrage and searched evei;y yard of ‘that road. One by one the shells found the men and killed them. Some til them, too. had been talking ol “Blighty.” 1 experienced no sensation of fear—l lay. there and was tremendously interested in tho whole thing.” “If the public see such a devil of a lot of us chaps coming, with our mud, and blood, and bandages, and all that, they’ll l)e apt to think tho Boche has done wonderful things with us,” said a grizzl'd major—something in the accountancy line in a civil life—to mo. “You ought to explain things to ’em. They see a steady stream ol us; but if they were out there they’d sco stacks and stacks of dead Bodies; trenches full of ’em. And when we come to take stock it will be found on-balance that we’ve bought cheaply. Aou might try and explain that te the people, so that they won’t go misunderstanding the show and getting depressed over our numbers. Me don’t look very depressed, do wo? And wo know a bit about it, too.”

THE IRISHMAN AND THE BOCHE

A young second-lieutenant of an Irish regiment told how during the advance his platoon was reduced to five men, but that, getting together a number of scattered units a little foyce of 100 men was collected, and they started again for their objective—“C” tronch. suppose the Bocho spotted us, or mavbe it was chance. But we got a rather hot fire, I was knocked clean out for a start—got it through my thigh here. But the boys were all right. I told 'em they’d get all the glory and wished ’em luck ) and on they went for ‘C.’ X was a hit queer, but started working myself along the ground towards our own lines; fiofc be-

ing able lo stand, you sec. By and by a Boche corpora! came crawling along after me. He shouted some gibberish, and I waved him on towards onr lino* with my revolver. Ho wasn’t wounded, but he was devilish anxious to make sure of being a prisoner. Begad, yon don’t got our cl taps paying them the. same compliment. They’ll take any risks sooner than let the Boche get them as prisoners. So this chap lay down, close beside me. I told him to be off out of that, but he lay close, and I’d no breath to spare. That crawling is tiresome work. “Presently I s*w a man of ours coming along, poking round with his rifle and bayonet. He’d been detailed to shepherd in prisoners. He was surprised to sec me. Then he saw' my Bocho. “ ‘Moll to yer sow!! 1 says he. the divil are ye doin’ there beside my officer? Got up,’ says he, ‘an’ be ofl with ye outa that!’ And he poked at him with Ids bayonet, so the fellow squealed and plucked up enough courage to get up on his feet and run for our linos/’ SEVEN .MONTHS WELL SPENT. Some of the men talk about the mine which went up at Beaumont Hamel with great glee. A hefty sergeont said it roiiiinded him of the pictures you sometimes sec in cinemas of petroleum stores blowing up, always in America. “Tho exploding chamber was os big as a picture palace, and the long gallery was an awful length. It took us seven months to build. Of course, we used to be working under some of the crack Lancashire minors. Every time a fresh faV’gue party came up they’d say to the minors. ‘Ain’t your damned grotto ever going up?’ But it went up all-right on July 1. It was the sight of your life. Half tho village got a rise; tho air was full of stuff—wagons, wheels, horses, tins, boxes, and Germans. It was seven months well spent, getting that mine ready. 1 believe some of the pieces are coming down how.”