HOW THE BRITISH BOYS WENT INTO BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2635, 4 December 1915, Page 7

HOW THE BRITISH BOYS WENT INTO BATTLE

SIGN'OK MAIICOM'S STORY. Signor Marconi lias given to a Press representative a vivid impression of a recent visit to the.Franco-British front, in which ho witnessed many incidents during tlio great advance, lie has returned with snapshots which tell their own story of havoc and carnage. lie pays a high tribute to the French and British troops, and for "Kitchener's men" lie lias the Warmest praise.

"Just before the battle," said Signor Marconi, "I had lunch with the British Commander-in-Chief (Sir John French) and General Focli, and later 1 had a long chat with General Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig. Tho contrast between tlio vision which I saw before and after tho battle is one on which I need not dwell. I saw tho British boys going into action, and I visited tlieni in the hospitals afterwards, when they told me all about their experiences. "Cheerful and high-spirited, with smiling faces, off they went to do or die. Thoir departure was not'without a touch of sadness and pathos all the same. They realised, those fine fellows, the Uravity, the momentous consequences attending the advance in which they were about to participate. Hay I say—l hope I shall bo forgiven for this expressiou—that they realised their job much more than many of those at 'home. To them it meant just one of two things —victory or death. I had a good look at them before they said goodbye. The troops were in the pink of condition and thoroughly well equipped. Their appearance was a splendid tribute to their training, and it is not saying a word too much to describe them as-a model army. "In action they quickly established . their* superiority. The artillery especially excelled. I stood behind the batteries at a critical moment, and my impression was that the German guns were unequal to tho strain of the British and French. I had a commanding view, of tho work of the Fr.ench, and I ndmired their keen and alert oflicers. It \s imnossible to tell in words the cannonading which dinned my ears. Tho roar of tho guns from first to last was at once frightful and nerve-racking. It proceeded da'y and night until its work was accomplished. Then came a liiH in the terrible storm; the enemy's resistance had been overwhelmingly defeated, and line after line of trenches was captured "After the action I was astonished at the sangfroid of the wounded. 'I've done my bit,' said one maimed man; 'Hard iuck,' said another.whilst a third murmured, 'Never again.' There was determination in eve-v eye, and .one and all, I am sure, would have gone through the same inferno again if their limbs had been spared. In all I saw" the spirit, the defiant spirit of the true soldier, and unconquerable. "In my conversations with tho British and French Generals I was pssured that wirelesi! telegraphs' has been extremely . useful." • ■ ..