BATTLES REFOUGHT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2565, 13 September 1915, Page 6

BATTLES REFOUGHT

STORIES AND BATTLEFIELD ' SKETCHES PERSONAL GLIMPSES FROM GALLIPOLI : I Generally.-the men: have very littlo that is'new to tell. ' Many of them were wounded in tho fighting near liri.thia' early in May, and those who stayed a litlo longer struck what they'call on the Peninsula, "a dull time." , The push in the south and the extension of , the: front from-Anzac'to the Suvla Bay district with' the. heavy" fighting this operation entailed, these Tahiti men did-not see;' They arrived here in fairly "good health. Most of them havo been invalided sick or wounded from .tlio Peninsula, but some few havo never, -.seen tho firing-line, having been left behind sick; in Egypt.) They arrived well provided in respect to uniforms. . Every mail scorned to havo a sound woollen uniform, and an almost new overcoat. In this particular they .arrived' in much better shape than the Willochra men.A marked feature of the Tahiti coiitingenters' stories is their unstinted admiration for tho 'Australians, and their friendliness for them'.

Will They Co Back? About. their futuro movements _ different men have very different notions. One cheerful - soul,- obviously rather broken in health, announced to whom It might concern when ho heard tho cheer's and saw tho waving handkerchiefs from afar that he proposed to ,|oin the ' hooray. party," and remain ! in it for. the rest .of his life. Another recovery from enteric, had other ideas: "I'll get back with tho boys as soon as 'I can," : he said, "and if they i won't take me hero I'll get, over to Australia and go from there. I daresay'l'll stop one next time, but, anyhow, I'd sooner with the. ho.vs,"- Some of the men.

tako it as a matter of course that they will go back, and some aro equally definite . about it thatthey will not. But all were alarmed about a rumour current on the ship that they would be given only a couple of weeks' leave before being required to report at camp. Those of them who discovered, as a great number of thorn did after going beforo tlio Medical Board;' that they were to have two months' furlough, were intensely relieved. They want some little time of rest and play before getting back again. • "I, hear some of the fellows say we had a rough- time, hut I don't know what they;expected," said;one of tlio sick men on arrival. "It wasn't a picnic exactly,, hilt we didn't expect a picnic. Wo didn't have all the comforts of home, but considering everything I think we fared vary well. Some made tlio best of tilings, and you couldn't get a complaint out of ( them, and others complained if- the least thrng did not please them. The country fellows make the best. soldiers.. They aro used to : roughing; it, ; and they can make shift for: themselves.' • . .. For my part I thought the time in' Egypt far worse thai,'tue.jfighting. - Twenty-seven miles :of foot-slogging in soft sand under the Egyptian sun is no joke,'an<T they used to>'give .us-that;pretty often iu a day. But-'tho training did us good without any doubt."-

Grievances. ■Grievances in plenty one could hear of on the ship.. Tho official point of view about soldiers' grievances ; is that they are not to bo taken seriously, that all/legitimate grievances are investigated and put' right; and- that therefore, no real troubles'can exist. Some complaints can safely'\bo disregarded,- but on one point there is absolute unanimity—tlwt there. is a sad leakage somewhere' cf goods and comforts sent to the troops generally lor to individuals. They all say, too, that delivery- of letters is erratic, but that ,'tlfis "is. being righted now. Many of the men are young, and perhaps not. very learned or wise, and their testimony might; bo discounted safely, hut on the other hand there are other,men, shrewd, well educated, sensible men, who have attained years of discretion, and they . have the. same complaint -about, the. non-arrival of goods sent to tho soldiers." ' All were highly delighted to hear, tfhat Lieutenant-Colonel Heaton Rhodes has ; gone 'to -Egypt tij investigate..' .The' more .weight is -to he* attached, to their , word by the. fact tlia-t'ttiey speak most gratefully of, many kindnesses bestowed upon.vthem in hospital. . Of the doctors and nurses thoy speak very highly,' but their most extravagant gratitude is for the civilian population of.Cairo. In hospital the. men. had every comfort they could: wish, but they 6ay that they got all the extras'not from any .official source, or from New; Zealand, but from the British and French population..;

Best Shot In tho Army. We have heard already of the prowess ;of . Captain-Wallingford, who, was, and probably still is, the .finest ; shot- in' the British Army. lie British Army claims that he is tho greatest'.';'•!shot; ;in- the world.'! jA' member of his company who lias como back with a wound which almost proved, mortal, relates with pride some/of Captain. Wallirigford's exploits. In; a 'letter -home .it may be remembered that this officer wrotej that after, several weeks at the'.front that day,iivas the-first on which:he 'had'not killwd a Turk. This'man left the front ou Jime 27, and lie claims ' that Captain'Wallingford's tally up < to ' that time vith : the rifle; alone, leaving- out of account, altogether the terrible machine-gun, iras over-700 Turks. As a m'irksman ho'.is, a.wizard.!•••"'• .

One incident this soldier related. "Do you see that' bush there," said Captain Wallingford' one day, pointing to a harmless loking bush about sixty yards away. "Well, watoli it." They watched. . and; saw; that. it. moved, very, slowly. "I think we'll givo him,a ohanco," said Captain -Wallingford, which meant that instead of using ,his rifle he would use a revolver. He drew his revolver, and. fired 'quick :as a' flash.!' .'nio l animated I.hush 'collapsed, and the Turk: tl'f.t it' hid rolled over, qui to dead. On another occasion.. Paptaia Wa'ilingford played one of his" practical ■' jokes oh the Turks in the opposing; trenches. "I think we'll . make the , beggars waste some, ammunition preseul.Jv,'-; he said. Then ,he .passed : the Tord' that when lie shouted an order viho vompany , was. to fire' ''five rounds! rapid" and then Stop. - ; , As the. narrator tells:'; !'!We fired, our. .five rounds rapid in five seco;nds or so, and, they kept on firing for an hour and, a quart-or, oxpcciiiig - us to a;tack. i ■We, stayed siiug.iu our trench of course. I guess we've got more ammunition left, than they have." This joko was practised ..very; often -w;th good, efFect in the first months, ( but now the Turk is, mora; waxy, and probably "ammunition is .more sc&'rce. ' -..-!'

The Terrible Turk. Seven bullet wounds in the right leg, the result of a few terrible-moments ,pf ; machine-gun fire, have been the cause of_ Private P.: O'Connor, of Dunedin,: being -sent home; . "I had,had luck,": he said, < tells : his town story, ."I had been looking for 24 hours for the brute that did it, .but',lie found mo first—and I got seven ; big cuts in .the leg." I was away getting some water; '•i&rtour, giiii when lie spotted me." .He told" with much amusement of the Turks' unreasoning fear of I the. arid • New Zealanders. "A Turk -will stand up to anything but the bayonet, but they will never wait for us when they see the steel. A Turk will never surrender to ! Australians or New Zealanders; They will surrender , in .(hundreds', to British troops, but tliey will do anything rather than let us . take them. I believe the Germans told them that we were'savages,' and that we would eat any captives, or torture them at least. , "One day I spotted a Turk right in front'of our machine-gun, and only sixty yards or so away..; I had only to press the trigger to settle him,' but we de-. cided to. try to , got him alive and: to :fmd out something from him if wo could. Wo eventually did get him alive, but lie, was the most wretched silent Turk in |-tho' world.'. He would say notliing; and wo found otit nothing, from him. For three days he sat or lay oil tho beach, terrified of everybody, afraid to eat any. "of the food'or drink any of tho. water we gave him. He was' afraid qf being poisoned apparently. It didn't occur to him that -if wo had wanted to kill'him !wo could havo done it with the-machine-gun long before. When ho did at last eat and drink something, lie was overjoyed that he did not die, and was 1 very thankful for, everything we gave him.V

What a Hit Feels Like. "I had always heard it didn't hurt to get- shot, lntt when I got hit myself I looked round to see where my leg was" —thus Trooper W. Hurley, of AVanganui, who is incapacitated' by a bullet wound in the knee, ''I didn't know exactly where I was hit. Ono of our officers dragged me into cover when I went down, and asked mo whero I was ;hit, and I told him I thought it was in the foot. Ho cut my hoot off in a second, and said I was all right there, but then he saw that my leg was bleeding, and he cut my trousers off. So I landed in hospital with one boot and one sock, half a pair of trousers, a tattered shirt,' and a helmet with a bullet hole in it.. That's how most of us como in, too." Trooper Hurley has tho South African medal, so, that ho is no stranger to warfare, but like all the others who 'helped in the South African job and this ono as well, lie says that the two campaigns cannot bp. compared. Ho was in Major Hardhain's anil lie referred to his officer with entnusiastic admiration and affection as "Major Billy .jHaxdham," or "the-old Major.,- "Biljy.k

Hardliam, V.C., is ono of the officers who havo made good.

Strenuous "Rest." "I. was out sniping when I got it— the sniper sniped," said I'rivato M. F. Boyle, of the North Auckland Regiment, describing how he came to be sent back from tllie front after nine weeks of fighting. He described something about the l'cuiid of the days and weeks at the front. "You go into the trenches for a time," ho said, "and tho length of time you stay there depends on circumstances/'ln the trenches you are pretty safe, and you see what goes on. Thoso times are the best you have. Then they send you back for a few days' rest. Tho 'rest' always consists in digging trenches or making roads in tho rear somewhere! It is very hard work, and a sight more dangerous than in the trenches, because you are under shell (ire all tho time. Far more men aro lost from day to day in tho 'rosting' places than in the trenches. You have heard of bathing on the beach. I havo seen men bathing with tho bullets splashing into, the water. A few days before I:left a shrapnel shell surprised a bathing party, and two men Were killed and sixteen wounded. And still they gon on! Out there a man will do anything for a wash. • You miss that worse ,than anything. I have been ,as long ;as ten days out there without a wash." ... ' ' Effects of concussion. . Driver IT. W; White, of .the Field Artillery (Main Body) still looks; wan and ill. ' He, was never actually hit, it was his nervous system suffered from shock as the result of concussion. Private. Robert Coster, of; the Wellington'lnfantry Battalion,,; (3rd Rein-' forcen;ents)j and son of Mr. James Coster/- of' Wangaaui,y returns to his native country stone deaf,' owing to tho bursting . of his ear as the result of the artillery concussion.

Ten Piastres A Week. Private Thomas H. Davidson, bf 'Aslitrarton, a member of tlio Canterbury Battalion (3rd Reinforcements) was shot in the foot .at , Gaba. Tepo on May. 28,. but is now fairly right iagain, and looks ,a,picture of rude health.- Private Davidson- stated th'a.t the New Zealand Government's allowance of ten piastres (25.) a-week for cigarettes to each of tho wounded men in hospital was a consideration' that was greatly appreciated by air the' men. ; He also remarked on tiie good work that 'was. being dpne by tho.New Zealandnurses in Egypt, the only thing being that thore were ; not enough of. them. Shrapnel Scrap Still In Chest. Gunner Geo. Henry Mnrch, who wa» in the. Field - Artillery w»a uue Ma-iu Body, is a resident of Oliakuno, and well known in that district. He returns to New Zealand looking yery well in general health, but with a scrap of shrapnel still buried in his chest-.; He will have to undergo an operation here to have the foreign object removed. It was on a fateful day at Gaba Tepo on May. 15 that he received his wound. -

Left Hand Useless for Life. / Private' A. Mitchell, /of Timaru ; . amember of the Canterbury Battalion, was shot?through the side of the' left hand, iho .bullet'playing havoc with the bones. ~ The : . wound, has - healed- up, but the- bones have 'knitted into strange lumps, and the hand is shapeless.- Tho use or the membor has ceased, as the sinews were cut away by. the buUet. Private Mitchell's hurt was - sustained at Gaba Tepo on May 31.

f A Hard-working Bullet. Corporal Jacob R. Holler and Lance» Corporal Pierce wero 'both menibers of the Taranaki section of the Wellington Battalion with the Main. Body. _ As friends they ■ stuck together, as' friends they, both fell in action at the same time, and both returned by the Tahiti on Saturday. The manner, in which both these men were struck down at the same instant is most remarkablo.It was at Gaba Tepo during the advance on June 4, and they were firing in a lying-down position, ■ when they one bullet ;passed through : part of the shin : of one .-leg-' and the fleshy ,part of . the: other,rand not cbnte'nt with that, drilled a hole in Lance-Corporal Pierce's- lieel, ■ who was lying beside him.■ They were both picked up -by the stretch-bearers and takcu 'away- to the/; dressers, who were -doing best 'to dress tho wounds of the injured in -shallow; dugouts in tlie hillside. Pierce was having his foot dressed, when lie was acin .'the 'same foot again. The incident shows theV risky .work of -the Red Cross dressers in the open. • T. Corporal Moller (who belongs to Oio)'is istill ' badly and will probably bo treated, in the hospital 'at New Plymouth.,

■*:■■■ A Jewish Warrior., ..Private Abraham Wachner, of-Auck-land, was the first member of the Jewish raco in, Auckland' to enlist in the Now Zealand Forces. Ho wont away witli the Ambulance Corps',' and,, met with trouble at Gaba'Tepe on June 15: On that date tho enemy was shelling their position pretty freely 'with shrapnel, and two of, tho flying bolts got liim —one inthe right shoulder and-, the other in the back. Unfortunately the hit in the shoulder had, severed- the sinow6, and he is likely to have, a stiff arm for the rest of his days. Tt was hard 1 luck, but it might have been worse. ; • •

A Bullet Through the Skull. Conspicuous among ilie' convalescents who landed from tho Tahiti on Saturday afternoon was Private H. A. Condon, of the Auckland Battalion (Main Body), and formerly, of Melbourne. With; his bare head swathed in gleaming whito lint, he was the target of many' eyes. Private Condon, who is feeling fairly good 011 it told his yarn very 6itaply. "We were occupying a V-shaped trench at Gaba Tepe, when a sniper got mo at tho top of tho back of my head. He must have had a good position, and I must have shown an inch or two. of .' my head above - the trench at the back. The bullet penetrated the skull, and they thought it was all up with mo, but , the doctors operated and got_out the bullet, and tho pieoe.of bone.it had carried in, and fixed me up." "Hero's the bullet," 'said Private Condon, pulling au inch of nickle-cov-ered lead, slightly bent, out his pocket. "Don't look much, does it?" Private Condon's wound still requires daily attention.

Private Condon expatiated on the tactics of snipers. "\ou Ihear a good bit about the Turkish snipers,": he said, "but not much about' our own, but we're beating 'em at their own game all the time. They caught one sniper beautifully one day. Ho was a fearful nuisance and kept worrying us, but at last wo got him, and what.do you think? AVo found him crouched in a little dugout, with his riflo fixed to a tripod p'anted firmly into the hillside, and looking out through the scrub. He never had to take Eight—his gun was a fixture. All ho had to do was to keep his eye on tlio 6iglit, and as soon as anybody or a part of anybody was covered to let fly. It was a waiting game; it was ten to one he would get his man every tipio."

Caliant Stretoher-Bearers. "If ever there were men. that deserved a word of praise," said one of tlio Tahiti's wounded on Saturday, "tliey are the stretcher-bearers. -I don't meaii the regular Red Cross men,' but the bearers, who hopped out with us when we made a rush, and wero picking up the down-and-outers ; almost as soon as they fell. It used to bo considered a feat if bearers went out under fire. If that was so, our bearers all deserve Victoria Crosses, for the.v were on our heels as soon as We had cleared a trench, and doing their work under murderous Irs. TEey're great

fellows ever.v man of 'em, and tho.y desel've a pat on the-bank!" Hero of the "Daisy Patch." When interviewed, Private B. W. Tiiorburn, of the Auckland Battalion, and a Waihi boy, was in bed in the ship's hospital. He proved to be olio of .the heroes of the "Daisy Patch." He was with the New "Zealanders in that famous charge at Capo Helios early in .May, and lie was within three or four hundred yards of tho enemy's trenches when lie was struck by shrapnel. . Tho flying metal broko one of his legs in no fower than four places, and inllicted a number of wounds.

"I know that if I stayed there I would soon stop a few more," ho said, "so 1 crawled and lolled back to where there was a trench, and got into that. Later, tlio stretcher-bearers found me." Ho added that his log had been set two or three times, and was now' two inches shorter than tho other. Even if it could be saved—and ho appeared to be doubtful about it—he would bo permanently disabled, but ho appeared to regard the prospect quite cheerfully. The 1 jHigh Explosive Shell. Concussion" was. the laconic reply of Corporal J. M'Geehan, a Hamilton' member of the L Auckland infantry, when asked what wis the cause of his leaving tho front. Ono day, after ho had' Seen two mouths' fighting, a huge shell burst near him, . but; "away" from liiin. It killed two men.outright and injured others, and the force of the explosion literally', "knocked him silly." Tho cor-' poral' was unconscious for, a time,'arid in the • hospital his shattered -nerves tuado a slow recovery. - The sea- voyage, lie said, had helped him, but lie "is "Mill'' far from well. As; was natural in tlio'circumstances, Corporal M'Goehau liad a good deal to say about the effect of artillery firo. 'The high explosive shells wrought fearful damage. "At Cape Holies,";; he Maid, "I say the French. lose 30 horses Mulled outright' ,by the explosion of two shells and;on another .occasion a. .shtlU'iexploded near a group of Auckland'men and killed five of them.' .1 saw a E,ood deal of the work'of the French-artil-lery. It is magnificent. Tho. French seventy-fives' aro simply wonderful;" .-

Fate of "Major Stuckey. . Inquiries made among the returned soldiers, did not throw any more'light upon'.the mystery, surrounding .the fate of. Major ■ Stuckey. ■ Private Thorburri, of Wiiihi, said it was generally believed among his comrades that the Major had'been- wounded and sent-.to Malta; Private N.: Matheson, of: tlie-Waikato Infantry,, said he; could, find', ;half«a-. dozen men on the ship, each of whom Would tell a different story about the major. The. only story ■ that seemed to be at all Substantiated was that Major Stuckey had died of wouiids at Malta, but Private Matheson 6aid that' one of the Now; Zealand nurses in Egypt-had made most careful inquiries and she had not been able to prove the story correct. Further, added Private Mathesbn;' ho. had/beeiii -in the Malta. hospitals '. for . some time,- himself and had heaid'nothing-.of MajorStuckey there. ,

Five Hours' Oblivion. ' Fiye hours r,,of , unconsciousness ' was' the experience, 'of- Private N. Matheson, of the Waikato Infantry, after, lie hacl' been ashore .16 days, and a' shell'burst near him. Asked .to doscribe tlie circumstauees more clearly, he thought: for a moment ;and then said that'what ho remembered most clearly was that"some cow kid pinched his' belt" while, he was unconscious. .'■ When lie reco.v- . ered from; the; paralysing offect. of: the explosion ho roturned to the front,' but 13 days_ afterwards an 'exploding bomb' caused injuries to liis thigh. Bombers. One of the ■ innumerable activities of; the Field Engineers was uescnueu uy Corporal G. W. Insley, of tho Engineers, an Auckland lad, who has returned' with bomb wounds', on his face and arms-.; "Wo made hundreds of a sort of bomb for use in'the trenches,"-he said. "Wo cut pieces of wood into shapes roughly resembling hair-brushes, and then bored a ,hole through the broad' end. On, one side we fastened a piece : of. guncottoii and on' the other a short piece of fuse, and' the fuse with' a detonator was led through! the liole : to the explosives. These articles were held by the small, .end,' the fuse was lit, and they werethrown .very considerable distances. This sort of fighting was'going on constantly where -.the : 'trenches',..wfere close, together." ■'• :' At Quinn's Post.

How: ho was wounded at Quinn's Post a fortnight';ifter landing was the subject of the story -told by Private G. 11. llothery, of .the. North; Auckland Infantry., : The Aucklanders had been hold-, ing a lino of trenches for some days; and: had received orders to, proceed to the beach te'emtoa'rk for' Cape Helles. The Royal Marines were the relieving force, and were just' coming into the trench, and the Auoklanders were. collecting their kits preparatory to moving! out, when suddenly and unexpectedly' the trench was. onfiladed. 'The Turks had got a couple of machine-guns into a position commanding the trench, and' in a few minutes 19 Auckland men were killed or wounded. The killed, said Private Rothery,' included two 'good soldiers—Pxi?ate'<'Carlton, of • Whangarei, and Private Donovan. Private Rothery himself, did ,no't immediately 1 notice -in the confusion that he had been wounded ; his attention, ho said, was taken lip with a lad named) Paterson, a North Aucklander,: who had received' fearful injuries in tho face._ But,a' bullet liad entered Rothery's right elbow, and liis arm was useless. -He sjient some weary weeks in various hospitals, ■] and was then sent, home, while his friend Paterson, who had seemed so much more seriously hurt, recovered, and returned to the front. . '

"Quinn's Post was then, tho > warmest corner; of the lino then," added Private Rothery. :j,"The trenches were only a few yards apart, and we wore fighting all the bombs. We^used'to give them more than they gave us;; and our boys became very expert in smothering the Turks' bombs as soon as they! came. The Australians used to catch them as if thoy were cricket balls and toss them back again,, but that was risky. ' Yet I saw 0110' big Australian catching thein regularly and plucking the fuses out,- quick and smart, before thoy ooiild reach the explosive. He must have had fifty, or sixty of those bombs piled' 011 tho bank behind him."

Traitors with the Allies, Trooper 15. Larnond, of Puerua, near Balclutha, was in the early stages .of the war ono'of Sir lan Hamilton's bodyguard, and consequently accompanied that General 'everywhere and saw, much that was denied to others.' ' Ho spent several days on board the Queen Elizabeth, and had opportunities of seeing the tremendous effect of her fire. v Oii ono occasion an' aeroplane reported tho presence of a large body of Turks in a certain spot, so conveniently located that "Big Lizzie" was able to drop. ono. of her largest shells, weighing I'SJOOIb., right in the middle of them. It was reported from the aeroplane that this : single shell had destroyed a i cry largo immber of Turks—l6oo, Trooper Lamond declared. General Birdwood goes'up every morning in an aeroplane to make a personal reconnaissance. "Big Lizzie" was frequently hit, but the shells made no more impression on her than "peanuts on a stono wall," to use the soldier's expression. : The French General at Gallipoli appeared to bo of opinion, Trooper Lamond said, that lie could liavo captured Achi Babi in a very few days by using the poisonous gas plant which the Allied forces had brought with thorny in the belief that' such plants would bo used by tho enemy. But General Ham-, ilton steadily refused t-o use gas unless it wan uned by/tho oiwwy. ' ' > The difficulties of the Allies werq-

quickly increased by the number of spies and traitors in their ranks. Men who had been with thorn in Egypt were cither found in tho ranks of the enemy or else betraying . the Allied \ to the enemy. The necessity for interpreters made it very difficult to stop this, but there were many and very summary executions iu the early stages of the war. Greeks, Syrians, and Mabommedans of ovory nation were found to bo giving the Allies away in wholesalo fashion. The Greeks .were to have assisted tho British in the landing, but possibly through noofault of the Greek Government, the Allies' landing plans got into the hands of tho enemy.

Knockcd Out by His Own Bomb. Private Arnold Sharp, of Ilangiora, Canterbury, wl;o returned by tho Tahiti, had tho misfortuno to be injured by his own bomb. Quinn's Post, where lie was stationed at tho commencement of hostilities on tho Peninsula, was. at the time the most dangerous post in Anzac Cove' Tho opposing trenches wero about from 15 to 20, yards apart. Half-way between therfi was' a liuge hole inade by one of'the "Lizzie's" ton shells., This had been taken, and re-' taken by both sides on severaloccasions. While it was' in possession of the British, Private Sharp occupied it iii charge of a bomb-throwing party. He had thrown. several ''home-made" bombs when ho came,upon ono termed a "tai-lor-made". (factory made). With li is companion, he bent down to light tho two bombs simultaneously with a candle. AH tho time the two were under heavy fire. 1 : The fuse appeared to be slow to light, and it suddenly occurred t<J 'Private Sharp that the tinder, bo burning inside the casing. , With the thought came,' a blinding explosion, and ho remembered nothing more. Ho was taken out for dead, with a shattered hand, many wounds in the face, ji' severe wound'in the chest, and innumerable.'pieces of metal embedded, in his bodyv Ho put; up a great fight against Death, and is now on the Tahiti on a fairway to,co'nvalescenco.

War's Uplifting Influence. "The Lord's - Prayer went up continually in; .the 'trenches from 'some </f • the men," ' said Chaplain-Captain Clarkson. . ■' '' ; /"'But o, lot of cursing and swearing also went up," interpolated; a young officer standing closed by, with a smile. . "Well, ,yes," admitted the chaplain, and from tho conversation that followed <ine gained sidelights on the psychology of the soldier under fire.. There , were men whose . whole bearing was indicative of a' sense within them of tlio awr fulness of the experience through which' they were passing. They went 'into battle with prayer on their lips.; Others again were keyed up to a high pitoh : of nervous'excitability, and cursed and swore when under lire. On the whole, however, the religious 'sense was quickened in the men,' and born in many cases where it had hitherto been nonexistent. The amazing' thing, 1 the chaplain said, was that many men who had taken no interest of any sort in religion in their own country developed real. piety at the front. This war,has effectually dispelled'tho idea that a chaplain is a man who stands at tho ' back under covor and takes'no risks. ;Thel chaplain, indeed,, by the very, nature of his calling, is compelled to. be more exposed than the actual combatants.- Chaplain-Captain; ■Clarkson lia-s stood exposed for . hours while, lie read the ,burial servicc over hundreds of men; and it was bad luck that, ha,ving- escaped tlio 'bullets, he should have had to return owing to sntoric. -

Charging With the Bayonet. The ,subject ; of bayonet charges has an uncanny, fascination for the civilian, and the first question askod of many of tho men was "Did you get a chance of. using the steel?-. What was it like?" Usually tlio reply was that the charge had been on a retreating enemy. "They don't ;wait, ; . for,: the bayonet;, they 'imshi',":. said one man, "imshi" being a word meaning '"run awny," which is affected by many of the, soldiors, who picked, it up ;in Cairo. Many of tho Turks - wore, big, ibrawny fellow's, and apparently it was much' ; j>leasantsr to attack ' them' doing an. "imshi" than ..the hotter - way-about. "Perhaps we'd 'imshi' if:,they :didn't," remarked oinb soldier laughingly. . '

One discovered that ones preconceivcd •notions .of rushing a!trench .were quite, .wrong. . The'common idea is that,, on a given signal, the attackiiig'soldiers jump out of' \their own trench, rush across tho intervening- ground, and' leap into the trench of their enemy which gapes open- in front of them.' The .operation is- complkkted, however, by the fact that tlie enemy's: trench is often covered over with heavy timber, the only means of ingress ;'=beirig.' manholes' at intervals along its length. ' In ~ cases like that the attackers hare to throw themselves on their.face's the trench which is their objective and fire through'tho aperture left ...between the oovering and the roof of tho parapet.at any Turk's who have, not' left.' The Turks take cover in 'the isap leading to . the next trench,' and the soldier who is engaged in firing into the trench is 'very lucky if lie gets through without a bullot in the? face.-The first man who Jumps into the manhole takes': a huge, risk of alighting on- tlie;. business' end of .a. bayonet. ■ ' r '"• ; ■ The haiid-bohiDrwas 'an awtovard'.visi- ■ tor in the.trench. A' sloping cover: to the trench kept .them off - to a certain"extent, for when they struck it they would roll down. But sometimes they! would stick in. the cover and burst in mid-air, arid-then the cure was worse than the remedy, for their destructive effect'was far worse..

Monotony In the Trench. "It was beastly monotonous," said a soldier who had spent 'two months —that was an unusually long period among thoso on the ship—in the trenches. "After. I got over the 'jumpy' feeling of, tho first few days I was pretty bored," he said.' "A.' letter was a god-send. If people in New Zealand ; only realised how welcome" a letter was' they would write to felloes whether they knew,tliom or not. : Wo used to read our letters over and over again, and sometimes swap with our friends for variety.' The , boredom had one, good' effect —you got so • sick of it that when you got a chanco to exorcise your legs, even though it was amid a Shower of bullets, you took-it gladly. A rush with the bayonet with a relief' .after the forced, inaction." .

Lievitably the mon grew callous of death and indifferent to danger. ! To use dead Turks as parapets for a trench was nothing, though the Turk invariablymade himself nasty even after death, nml with the"heat of tho climate soon disqualified itself for its undignified position. ' - '