SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 28 January 1915, Page 13

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

THE MUNSTER FUSILIERS.

One of the bravest deeds of the war was the heroic action of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, who, mustering only two companies, dragged a number of horseless guns to safety, whilst under a murderous fire from 8000 entrenched Germans. This is not the first occasion on which the battlefields of France have seen valiant work by the Munsters (says an English magazine). As far back as the days of the Stuarts the regiment fought many good fights on the fair fields of the Continent, when for sheer love of fighting they joined the troops of the King of France. This action has never been forgotten by the French, and to-day the Irish soldier is always sure of a popular welcome amongst our Allies. > With other Irish units the regiment was first founded for the purpose of guarding the ordnance of the Army at the time of James 11., for artillery rapidly followed the invention of gunpowder. Being armed with a weapon known as the ‘ fusil,’ the regiment were given the name of Fusiliers.

The Indian Mutiny is the most important milestone in the history of the Munsters. At that time they underwent a series of gruelling experiences which would have broken the spirit of any but born fighters. On the scorching plains of India they had to march for days, harassed by snipers and with their ranks rapidly thinning through disease. It was the efforts of the regiment which largely accounted for the Relief of Lucknow. Their forced march under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Neill, to revenge the massacre of the whites by the treacherous Nana Sahib at Cawnpore, was another memorable page in the history of the Royal Munsters. On that occasion the natives had good reason to remember the retribution brought by the grim young Irishmen with the ‘ Shamrock and Tiger ’ badge on their caps.

In the South African War the fearless dashes of the Munsters resulted in the regiment getting into several tight corners and having to fight their way out. This occurred at the taking of Bethlehem from the Boers when the regiment sustained, according to despatches, ‘ the heavier loss and the greater honor.’

GREAT GUNS

Most wars produce an armament surprise of one kind or another. In the present case it is the colossal siege guns of the Germans. Never before has there been known a movable arm so immense (says Science Siftings). One report states that the German guns are of a type of 17in howitzer, weighing about 50 or 60 tons. Another authority states that they are only 11 in howitzers, but even these fire a shell of 7001 b weight containing high explosive. Such a shell will pierce Sin steel. Imagine, then, the devastation that could be wrought with the shells of 17in weapons. What wonder that four discharges only are said to have annihilated one of the great forts at Namur. The Germans are said to have, or to have had, fifty of these 17in siege guns. Their range is about six miles, but it is stated that they can fire only twenty times each. In our Navy we have now 15in guns which weigh 96 tons and fire a shell of 19501 b weight. A broadside of the Royal Sovereign weighs no less than 17,2001b — about eight tons. Other war vessels are armed with 14in guns, which weigh 63.3 tons; and a battery of these can do enough damage in all conscience, for even six tons or so of shrieking metal finding its mark on the V' iron sides of even a super-Dreadnought can tell a fatal ' —and our seamen do find their mark nowadays, as the recent battle of Heligoland told us in practical form. The cost of such projectiles is enormous, and the facts about it show the taxpayers of the world where go the millions of pounds that are at the present time being spent daily on war. Take, for instance, the 14in gun. The weight of the projectile is 14001 b, the weight of the powder charge is about 4501 b. The muzzle-energy of the weapon is 65,600 foot-tons.

It has been calculated that if one of these 14in rifles were constantly submitted to excessive pressure such as might obtain in a hot action, the gun could not last more than 70 rounds.

GERMANY'S BIG CANAL.

Up to the present the Kiel Canal has proved a much more profitable investment for the German people than the vast fleet which it is at present hiding. For many years Prince Bismarck had cherished the idea of connecting Emden with Kiel Harbor by means of a great waterway, which would enable squadrons of warships to traverse the whole coast-line free from external interference. The construction of the canal was begun in 1887, and after eight years’ work 1895 it was formally opened to commerce in the presence of a large international fleet. The length was 60 miles, and it then had a normal width of 72ft at the bottom and 220 ft at the waterlevel, with a depth of 29ift. Although it is a sea-level canal, twin locks were built at each end, those at the western entrance to rectify the large tide variations, and those at the eastern end to rectify variations of water-level due to gales in the practically tideless Baltic. These locks were 492 ft long, 82ft wide, and 32ft deep. Those at Kiel remained open most of the time, while those at the mouth of the Elbe did not need to be used at certain tides.

By saving a dangerous voyage round the stormy coasts of Denmark the canal proved of great value to trading vessels, but, as recent events have demonstrated, its strategic value is even greater.

With the coming of the Dreadnought type of battleship it was found necessary, however, to reconstruct the canal, in order that it might accommodate these huge vessels. ■ The normal width of the canal is now 335 ft at the

surface and 144 ft at the bottom, with a depth of 36ft. New twin locks have been built alongside the old ones at each end. They have an available length of 1082.6 ft, and width of 147.6 ft. Intermediate gates may be used to cut off a chamber 328 ft long.

The work of reconstructing the canal cost about £11,000,000. The new locks were formally opened by the Kaiser last June by the Emperorls yacht Hohenzollern breaking a ribbon of black, white, and red stretched across one of the new locks.

IF KRUPPS WERE CRIPPLED.

Were Krupp’s works to be crippled more than half the battle would be won (says the Dundee Advertiser). That the Allies are quite alive to the importance of this fact is revealed in the report that the dauntless British aviator who flew over Dusseldorf was very near the works.

A colossal enterprise, the works dominate the whole of Essen, and something like 70,000 workmen are employed. Situated in the centre of Essen, close to the railway, they, together with their attendant institutions, cover an area of 500 acres, or about three times the size of Hyde Park. The tentacle arms of the vast establishment stretch out, octopus-like, on all sides. Two thousand trucks and over fifty locomotives rush along these tracks daily conveying Germany’s guns, armor-plates, ammunition, and shells to German garrisons, forts, ports, and harbors. Six thousand tons of coal, coke, and briquettes are poured daily into the huge creature’s rapacious jaws. One and a quarter million tons of fuel are required annually to appease its insatiable appetite. Twenty million cubic metres of water, or more than 450,000 inhabitants of Cologne consume yearly, are used in the works.

A FIGHT TO A FINISH.

Rev. B. Yaughan, S.J., lectured in St. Andrew's Hall, Glasgow, recently on ‘ Heroic Belgium.’ The lecture, which was in aid of the Belgian relief fund, was under the auspices of the Glasgow Catholic Institute,

and, . under the patronage of the Glasgow Corporation. Bailie Mason presided, and the platform party included the Glasgow consuls of the allied countries, several members of the Corporation, and a number of priests. i Father Vaughan, who got a very enthusiastic reyoeption, said that the peace-loving British Empire had unsheathed the war-sword. She had gone to war for what Germany had termed ‘a scrap of paper.’ The contract which guaranteed. the integrity and autonomy of Belgium had the signature of Germany to it, yet Germany had asserted that her plighted word, her pledge to maintain the independence of Belgium, was only fit for the waste-paper basket. But tho British Empire had,told the world that she meant to fight to the death for her plighted word, and in a material age such as this it was noble and inspiring to realise that cur Empire had not forgotten the lesson taught in the days of Catholic chivalry. They had two schools of thought before them at present, with regard to war and warfare. There was the school of thought expressed by such men as Nietzsche and Bernhardi, and there was the school of Tolstoi—and Ramsay MacDonald. For the former school warfare was the supreme good— a biological necessity, a great test of moral excellence, the main factor in social evolution. Tolstoi and Ramsay MacDonald thought there was nothing so horrible as war. For them it was the supreme evil : nothing could justify it. But while war was to be avoided, if possible, if the doctrines of the latter school were to be adopted, there would be an end to truth and freedom and justice. They were fighting to-day for their national word of honor, pledged to Belgium. &

Belgium with its noble king, Albert the Great, would go down to history as the saviours of European civilisation. They had lost everything that the world called the prizes of life, they had sacrificed all material goods for a high ideal, they had shown a materialistic age how to live and die like Christian heroes and heroines.

FRENCH SOLDIERS’ BRAVE SPIRIT

Our wounded soldiers arc the heroes of the hour, and it may be added, with truth, that, as a rule, they fully justify the affectionate regard in which they are held (writes the Paris correspondent of the Catholic Times). Over and over again I have noticed, with wonder and admiration, how uninteresting, ordinary characters are modified by the war and all that it entails. These peasants and workmen, severely wounded, sometimes even maimed for life, do not complain : they do not express fine sentiments in florid language, but they show a simple, steady, 'silent courage that is all the more touching because it is real. ‘lt had to be,’ it was ‘ our duty,’ ‘ others arc worse off than we are.’ These plain words, given the circumstances 111 which they are said, often have a touch Of heroism. Sometimes we come upon something higher still and a strain of spirituality glorifies the soldier’s sacrifice. Two days ago there came to a hospital, served by nuns, in a quiet part of Paris, a young adjutant, grievously wounded in Flanders, whose wounds had not been touched since they were dressed when he was first removed from the battlefield ten days before he was brought to the hospital. The second dressing of the boy’s wounds -he was barely twenty-threewas a painful process, as they had terribly suffered from the long wailing and the weary journey. When I saw him the dressing was over ; he lay in a large room, over-looking a garden softvoiced Sisters flitted about with noiseless- steps. ‘ How lucky I am to be here,’ said the young adjutant; ‘it is surely God Who led mo to a place where I am so kindly treated His first thought, after expressing his gratitude, was to take two francs from his purse and give them to the chaplain. ‘Will you, say Mass for ray sergeant, who was killed in the trenches close to me?’ he asked. Then, turning to the delegate of the Red Cross Society, attached to the hospital, he added ‘I have my sergeant’s pocket-book it ought to be sent to his mother; will you see to it?’ And from the pocket of his tattered and blood-stained uniform was extracted a small account-book.

Sergeant’s diary— is before me as I write these lines, and as I open, the crumpled leaves, my thoughts go out to the dead soldier, whose last thoughts are here expressed. At the first pages, neatly written in ink, aro the different stages of the- young sergeant’s short campaign. From Tourcoing, his home, he went to Lille, to Charleville, to Longuyon, to Hirson, to Toul, then back to Lille, nearer to the Flemish country, where death awaited him. Lie must have had a strong feeling that ho would not return alive, for on another page, in pencil, I read the following lines, dated August 15 : My dear mother, —I have just received my baptism of fire. May God’s will be done! If lam to die, I offer Him the sacrifice of my life ; I shall die a Christian and a soldier, and my last thoughts will go out to you and to my brothers and sisters. I beg your forgiveness if I have ever given you pain, and I beg you to believe in all my gratitude. In expectation of the day when wo shall meet in heaven I embrace you very lovingly, also Martha, Andrea, Francois, Marie, and Mark, my beloved brothers and sisters.’

Then are written some devout ejaculations; Merciful Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee. Mary, conceived without sin, help me, 1 beg of thee! Feast of the Assumption. Adieu !’ After that comes a request, written in German and in French, begging the person who should find the book to ssnd it to my dearest mother,’ whose address is carefully given, together with the dead man’s thanks to the messenger. A pathetic circumstance connected with the note-book is that, while respectful but unknown hands open its pages, the woman to whom it is to be sent is out of reach,* shut up in one of the towns of Northern France, that is now occupied by the Germans. Communications with the inhabitants of these towns are more difficult even than with the prisoners of war in Germany, and months must elapse before the dead sergeant’s message reaches his home ! Meantime, a mother, probably a widow, no mention being made of a father, and her five children are praying for their absent one. The sergeant belongs to a. country where there is much solid faith, and it was certainly in his home that he learnt how to live and also how to die.

From a religious point of view, the attitude of our officers is excellent. A young lieutenant writes from near "Verdun; 1 On October 7, four thousand of us were camped in a village, where fifteen of our soldier priests said Mass in the village church from early dawn. The confessional was full all the morning. I had the happiness of going to Holy Communion. My men did the same. I wanted to serve Mass, but all the places were bespoken beforehand. When, at the 5 o’clock Mass, I saw officers, non-commissioned officers, and men in

serried ranks go up to the altar I own that tears came into my eyes.’ I may here remind my readers that all soldiers engaged in the present war are considered as being in danger of death. Pope Pius X. authorised them, in consequence, to receive Holy Communion ‘in Viaticum ’ without fasting. It is thus that on the evening of August 14, in Belgium, some French Cuirassiers who had been to confession, intending to communicate the next morning, were suddenly told that at midnight they were to move on. Great was the disappointment of officers and men ; but a Redemptorist Father who had .been busy hearing their confessions solved the difficulty. it was impossible, lie said, for the men to hear Mass, but it was possible to make use of the Pope’s permission to communicate without fasting. At eight o’clock that evening the church bells rang and officers and men received Holy Communion as a Viaticum. To many among them it proved to be, in reality, their last Communion.