BEHIND THE LINES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 October 1939, Page 2

BEHIND THE LINES

GREAT WAR MEMORIES SPORTING ACTIVITIES NOTHING BANNED BUT SKATING # Never has the manhood of New Zealand been as fighting fit as were the members of the Expeditionary Force in the Great War It might have been thought that with marching, wiring and bayonet fighting the New Zealand soldiers would have had all the exercise they wanted, but in camp or while resting behind the lines they never missed an opportunity of some form of exercise. That the higher command approved of this craving for exercise proved by the fact that football and boxing were included in the compulsory training syllabus in France in 1917. Companies would parade, march off to see a battalion Rugby match, and march back again to billets

What fun we had when boxing was made compulsory. I shall never forget a tournament in which my company competed. The final of the heavyweight division was fought out between two Hauraki sergeants, Bruce Rennie, of the East Coast, and Robinson. Both scaled about 14st, and were as hard as nails. But they knew absolutely nothing about defence and Avere as wide open as the universe. These big fellow T S stood up to each other and rocked each other's heads with right and left swings. But they were as hard as Dunedin granite, and appeared to enjoy thoroughly the little bit of exercise they had that night at De Seoul camp.

Sergeant Robinson was beloved of the whole Hauraki company. He was a great fellow in every way. To give some idea of his big-heart-edness it is only necessary to reiate an incident which occurred one afternoon at liarbwire Square in Armentieres. We were resting after a spell in the front line at Houplines, and parades were held morning and afternoon in order to see that none of us got lost. The Diggers did not appreciate these ceremonial parades. They argued that they were out of the line for a rest, and that rest woukl do them more good than polishing their boots. At one afternoon parade Sergeant Robinson did not have a solitary man of his platoon present. After the parade had been dressed, the officer of the day called for the platoon attendances. "No. 5 platoon," he called. "Four absent, sir," came the answer. No. 6 platoon: "Five absent, sir." No. 7 platoon: "Three absent, sir." No. 8 platoon: "All present and. correct, sir," came the immediate reply from Sergeant Robinson. "Sergeant Robinson, there must be some mistake surely; 3 7 0u have not got a single man on parade," remarked the O.C.

Sergeant Robinson looked to his right, and, with an air of complete surprise, replied: "That is extraordinary, sir: they were all here a moment ago!" Such was the manner in which Sergeant Robinson always stood to his men. They say that the good die young, and the whole company grieved deeply when this big-heart-ed soldier went west one night when Fritz got on to one of our big trench-digging parties and dusted us up Avith whizz-bangs. He got 15 of our company that night, and among them was Sergeant Robinson. Lightly lie the turf upon him. Though the higher command was only too willing to encourage the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in their keenness for athletic sports, there was one pastime we started which was promptly prohibited. The winter of 1916 found us in billets at Fleur Baix. It was freezing hard and some enthusiasts discovered that great fun was to be had from skating on the frozen ground. Soon tlie whole company was hard at the exhilarating pastime. We brought petrol tins of water, made ice tracks down inclines and flashed down these in our Bill Mas:>'cy boots at alarming speeds. It was great sport, but we overdid it. The second day four of our jnen had to go to the doctor lo have cuts in their heads, occasioned by falls on the frozen ground, stitched up. On the third day there were six rather severe casualties and this brought about the closure. (Continued at foot of next column)

"Damn it," the O.G. wrathfully exclaimed, "your silly skating is causing more casualties than the war and it has got to stop." But this was the only pastime that was banned for "the duration 1 * —W.A.J.G., in the Dominion.