SUFFERINGS OF THE WOUNDED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2285, 20 October 1914, Page 5

SUFFERINGS OF THE WOUNDED

GERMANS EXHAUSTED AND IMPATIENT London, October 18. A.correspondent says that sometimes the combatants in tho trenches in France agree to a truco for a rest, when tho French either sleep or play cards, and the Germans enjoy music and singing. Tho correspondent supplies a vivid picture of the sufferings of wounded men sheltering in a farmliouso: "German artillery is concentrated on the house, in the belief that it holds French guns. French and German uniforms are mixed anyhow. A sufferer asks for a drink, lifts himself, and l a bullet strikes him through the heart. Suddenly the plaster of tho ceiling cracks, revealing the head of a shell. A terrific explosion follows, and the house is wrecked, everybody being half suffocated from the dust and the gas from the 6hells. The wounded are carried to the cellar, s . "The Germans are giving rein to their exasperation. Some have not eaten for three days; they are exhausted, and have lost patience. They ask: 'Why must the war continue? It is costing so many lives.' Since_ German defeat is inevitable, the desire is for defeat rather than victory, as a national deliverance. During, four terrible hours the wounded were kept in tho suffocating collar. "Shells were constantly ■ falling, and men were dying all around. Eventually they were removed when tho house pas a smoking ruin."—("Times" and Sydney "Sun". Service.)