SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 27 September 1917, Page 21

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

I GENERAL. I In Flemish, Wytschaete, the name of the village captured by the British, is rendered as if it were "White’s shate" (“a” as in father). In French the word is pronounced “With’s cat." The name Wytschaete is derived from ‘wide-schoote," a word which means ‘Tong-shot.” I Timothy McCarthy, the second member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s recent Antarctic Expedition to lose his life on active service, has been killed while serving as one of a gun’s crew in a ship which was torpedoed. He was one of the Weddell Sea party, and accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on his 750-mile journey in a small boat from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Among recent recipients of the French Military Medal is the Abbe Francois Ropars, a professor at the Saint Han College, in the diocese of Brieux. He is at present acting as a sergeant, in the 48th Infantry Regiment. His mention.is as follows:—"An excellent non-commissioned machine-gun officer, of well-tried bravery, and a real leader of men. On August 13, 1916, was seriously wounded whilst at his post in a sector that was under a violent bombardment." Another sergeant, this time a Jesuit, has also obtained the Military Medal, Pere Francisque Galtier, of the 35th Infantry —"A splendid non-commissioned officer, of remarkable courage and spirit. His conduct during the battles of April 16 and 17, 1917, was brilliant. Though wounded, he stuck to his post till he was again wounded ' seriously, directing a section which did not belong to his unit, and organising a position against an enemy counter-attack. He had already been wounded and mentioned.” ji Still another of our Catholic chaplains has met his death' on our front in France. The Rev. Matthew Rurdess, DID., Ph.D., C.F., was killed on April 19 by the explosion of a mine, whilst sheltering in a chamber underground, along with his colonel and some other officers. He made his ecclesiastical studies at Ushaw and in Rome, and after his ordination returned as a professor to St. Cuthbert’s Grammar School, Newcastle. Early this year he gave up the charge of his congregation at Port Clarence, near Middlesbrough, to volunteer as a chaplain for active service. He was 39 years of age. The first Catholic chaplain of Westminster diocese to fall in the war was Rev. Father Herbert Collins. Early in April, says Cardinal Bourne, he was stationed as chaplain to the Black Watch in the front of the advance. He was there from about half-past six to half-past nine in their midst. Then it became necessary to move the dressing post further forward, because of the further advance our army was then making. When men went forward to set up this new dressing post, Father Collins went-forward with them, doubtless to render that aid he was always ready to give, and to be at hand for any of the Catholics who had already fallen. He had advanced only a short way when a shell burst in front of him, and in a moment he had passed into the presence of Almighty God. Long ago we gave.Jhe letter of a mother, Mme. |Grandjeani of Bengy-sur-Craonne, offering her second son, Serge, to take the place of her eldest, Pierre, who ?|hacl fallen on the field of honor in April, 1915, at pApremont (states the London Tablet). In M. Paul Delay’s Les Catholiques ou Service de la France , vol. p., just,published, Pierre’s last letter to his mother gs given; i The boy was only 18 when he fell, as lieutenant, leading his men to the attack:—"l try to i'make the sacrifice with a good heart: it is a very little matter. You see, it would be unjust if you did not |Pay y° ur debt to the country the same as other families are doing. No , great thing can. be - got without pgreait sacrifices. “ One life per' family is not too dear |a - price for the return of Alsace-Lorraine. If it be

m y good fortune to go to heaven without long delay, be assured that I shall watch well over you.” Recently Commander Francis Mary Hodgson, R.N., the navigating officer of H.M.S, Warspite, which played so prominent a part in the famous Jutland ' battle, was presented with a solid silver statue of our Lady by the Catholic members* of the vessel’s crew. Rev. Father Anthony Pollen, who was chaplain on board at the battle, and who was decorated by the King for the part he played in the battle, Mrs. Hungerford Pollen, Miss Pollen, and others, including members of the crew, were present at the interesting ceremony. Father Pollen presided, and Able Seaman Joseph Dewar read an address embodying the love and gxatitude of the men towards their officer for innumerable benefitsboth spiritual and temporal-he had conferred upon them. Particularly did they admire his splendid gallantry in the battle, and they remembered, too, that by the grace of God and the favor of the Blessed Virgin, whose statue went with them unscathed through the battle, the ship’s casualties were comparatively* light. In conclusion, the address expressed the hope that the statue would remind its recipient of the many happy meetings held in the chapel for Mass and Benediction and evening devotions, and also set forth the determination of the men to keep these good practices up day by day. Pere Lenoir, a Jesuit chaplain in France’s eastern army, fell on the field of honor on May 9, after having, as the Colonel of his regiment says, "won the admiration of all by his kindness, patriotic faith, and personal holiness during the thirty months he was with us, leaving an imperishable memory.’’ The following message, to be delivered in case he should fall, was ■ communicated to the regiment by the colonel: "I say au revoir to all my beloved children of the regiment. I thank them for the affection, sympathy, and confidence they always showed me, and if I should at any time have unknowingly caused any of them pain, I sincerely ask their pardon. As a Frenchman I implore them with all my heart to continue to do their duty valiantly, to keep up the heroic traditions of the' regiment, to fight and suffer without weakening for the deliverance of the country, full of irrefragable faith in the destiny of France. As a priest and friend, I beg them to ensure the eternal salvation of their souls by being faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and His faith, purifying themselves from their faults, and uniting themselves to Him as often as possible in Holy Communion. And I give them all the rendezvous in heaven where we shall meet again in the true and only happy life for which God created us. With this intention I gladly offer for them the sacrifice of my life to our Divine Master Jesus Christ. Vive Dieu, Vive la France, Vive le—regiment!" ' KULTUR’S CHIVALRY. A horrible story of Kultur as " she is practised is told of the sinking by submarine of the Elder Dempster steamer, Addah, which was torpedoed on June 15. The ship began to settle very quickly, and the crew got away in two boats. In half an hour the ship had disappeared under repeated shots from the submarine. The rest of the story is thus told in an Exchange Telegraph Company’s message:—"By this time the master’s boat, which was already badly smashed by one of the shells, was about 300 to 400 yards away. The submarine again opened fire on the master’s, boat with shrapnel and common shell, killing eight men and taking the boat’s stern right off. Even after the boat had been sunk and the men were swimming in the water the submarine shelled them with shrapnel. The submarine then opened fire on the chief officer’s boat, firing eight shrapnel, but fortunately nobody was killed. The boat was holed, the bars broken, arid several men slightly wounded. . After this the submarine commander waved to the chief officer to go over to the position where the master and several other people were swimming about"' to pick them up, and the submarine then went away in a \ north-westerly direction I

(on the surface. The master and the remainder of the men were then picked up and taken aboard the chief officer’s boat, and were, eventually picked up by a French patrol steamer at 5 p.m. on the 16th.” HIS LIFE FQR HIS FRIENDS. It has been announced in the London Gazette that the King has been graciously pleased to award the Decoration of the Albert Medal of the First Class in recognition of the gallantry of Lance-Corporal Charles Henry Anderson, late of the 1 / 14th Battalion of the London Regiment, who lost his life in France in November last in saving the lives of others:—‘‘On - November 28, 1916, Lance-Corporal Anderson was in a hut in France with eleven other men when accidentally the safety-pin was withdrawn from a bomb. In the semi-darkness he shouted a warning to the men, rushed to the door, and endeavoured to open it so as to throw the bomb into a field. Failing to do this, - when he judged that the five seconds during which the fuse was timed to burn had elapsed, he held the bomb as close to his body as possible with both hands, in order to screen the other men in the hut. Anderson himself and one other man were mortally wounded by the explosion, and five men were injured. The remaining five escaped unhurt. Anderson sacrificed his life to save his comrades.” A CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN. The Rev. Bernard Snell, chairman of the Congregational Union, in a recent address, recounted the following incident at the front. Says the Harvest: “A certain battalion was assigned a chaplain, whose denomination had better be left uncertain, though I’m afraid most of us could guess. The colonel welcomed him, and took it for granted his services would be available for all who required a minister. ‘No,’ said the chaplain, ‘only for those of my own communion.’ And in spite of the. fact that there was no one else to officiate the chaplain persisted that he could only attend to those on his list. Having the welfare of nit his men at heart, the C.O. took exception to such an un-Chris-tian exclusiveness, and the cleric departed in dudgeon. Later on another chaplain came. To him similar inquiries were put: ‘You’ll look after all who need your help, whatever their creed?’ ‘Of course,’ was the reply. And he did, right thoroughly, rendering all those kindly offices for which our boys have learned to look to the padre. ‘And that,’ said Mr. Snell, ‘was a Catholic priest.’ ” CATHOLICS’ SHARE IN THE WAR. A memorable speech on Catholicity in its relation to the war and the British Empire was delivered at the Birmingham Catholic reunion (states the Glasgow Observer) by the Archbishop of Glasgow (Dr. Maguire). Some people, he said, believed that any increase in the influence of Catholicity was a . danger to the Empire, and that if the country was to turn over to the Catholic Church the country would simply £o to ruin. It would be a great damper in his rejoicing in the progress of the Catholic Church if he thought it would do a particle of harm to the British Empire. There were two great institutions in the world—- ' the Catholic Church and the British Empire—and it would be a great grief to him and to many others if they thought that their strength would weaken the Empire. Was the British character, of which so much was heard, so slight that it would be altered by a change of religion He did not think so. It was said Catholics were reactionaries in the matter of education and opposed to it, but the facts proved otherwise, and as soon as they secured any freedom to educate the children they jumped at the chance. - The Catholics have done their share in the war, J j and Catholicity had never damaged any man’s loyalty. P “Everyone here, Catholics and non-Catholics, are determined that this war shall be fought until it is' : really ended. We have sacrificed our young men and our working men. In Glasgow the working men

have been cruelly slandered,, and yet they are, killing themselves to help in the war. There are shirkers, but the proportion of men who do not do their duty among the working classes is smaller than in any other place. 1 have lived amongst them all my life. - They have their faults, but taking them all they are doing their duty nobly by their country. “We are not going to give the 1 young men’s lives for nothing ; we are not going to have so many women working, probably disabled by the life they are now living, and many of them useless at the end of the war; we are not going to give that up in exchange for a patched-up peace. ’ “Watch your rulers, and on the slightest sign that there is to be any slackening of hostilities, that there is to be any patched-up peace, then I say to the British democracy, rise up in power and turn them out of their places, and turn them out of the country if necessary. We must get this war out of the way; We have a great many things to settle up in this old country, a great deal of new legislation to be brought in. We require a bloodless revolution.”