IRISH STEEL FLASHES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11757, 22 July 1916, Page 9

IRISH STEEL FLASHES.

TYRONE LADS'SPLENDID RAID. Admiraion, tinged with sadness at the loss of two or three of a gallant band, fills the hearts of the people of the counties of Tyrone, Donegal' and Derry. Brave sons of the rugged north-west have given the Germans a taste of their stuff, and one of the first to thank and congratulate them Avas none other than General Haig, Commander of the British Forces in France. At the beginning of May the British official report singled out for mention among the operations of the day a successful raid on the enemy's trenches by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Letters from officers and men disclose the fact that the exploit was the work of men of the Tyrone Battalion of the Ulster Division, Inniskilling Fusiliers, ' whose commander, Lieutenant-Colonel iticardo, won the D.S.O. in the Boer war. • The battalion is mostly recruited frpm the County of Tyrone, but rural districts of Derry and Donegal counties are also represented on the strength. INTO THE DARKNESS. A pitch dark night, weirdly illuminated now and' then by 'star-flashes, fonns tho sombre background oi this picture of daring even unto death. The plan, every detail of which has been examined and tested short- of actuality, is communicated to the officers and men of tho gallant band who have been selected to carry it through. Some fetters give tho number as six officers and eighty-four men: other communications reduce the number of men to tifcy. All is ready. Silent, ghostly forms pass out into the night, and are immediately lost in the awesome stillness and dai'kncss of No Man's Land. Through yard's of barbed wire they start upon the unsuspecting foe. Tliey itro no longer together now. A shout is heard. Tho Tyrones .are at last in death-grips with the enemy. There is a clatter of arms—British arms, for the Bosche is for the most part in his "funk-holes." Taken completely by surprise, he would burrow deeper rather than face the music. The repeated invitation to come up and be the.guests of TJlstermen goes unheeded. One Bosche swings up a grenade, and attempts to rush matters on the assumption that it will clear the deck sufficiently for tho moment. Unhappily for him, the explosive fails in its mission, and just as its owner is about to pop out revolver shots mingle in the din, and the German reels back dead. What followed' is sufficiently explained in the letter of an officer, who says, " it was a , case now of kill or be killed." "TYRONE TIN-OPENERS."

There were six dug-outs in which the enemy had hermetically sealed' himself, but the bombers came up with what one man has described as "the Tyrone tin-openers," The detonation of bombs and the crack of riii© and revolver filled the night; and a* raanv Germans as *wero about in that trench, above or below, went down before the fiery assault of the impetuous Irishmen. Foj' a time all trace of the invaders was lesfc m the smoke'of battle, but whoa it had cleared away it wa,s seen that what they had been sent out to do had been achieved. Not without cost, however. One hero had paid on the spot for his part of the exploit with his life, \aiul two or three others were wounded, fatally it proved, for at least two died in hospital some hours later. But the Tyrone lads did not leave enemy ground without making sure that none of their wounded was left behind". One sergeant stood by a wounded private long after the others had reached their own trench again. Both were eventually brought in.