SURGEON IN KHAKI

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2649, 21 December 1915, Page 5

SURGEON IN KHAKI

—-—♦ WAR EXPERIENCES BY A ZEALANDER [By Liber.] In his "Surgeon in Khaki" (London, Edward Arnold; Wellington, Gordon and Gotcli), Dr. A. A. Martin, of Palnierston North, has. written what is not only one of the most valuable, but most readable books on the. war yet published. The author, who, by the way, served as a surgeon in the South African War, was, in ' July, 1914, attending the meeting, at; Aberdeen, of the British Medical Association. Immediately war Was declared by Great Britain, lie hurried to London, and offered his services as a surgeon with the Expeditionary Army to France, and by the end of August, was on his way to 'the front, proceeding via Harfhier and Le Havre to St. Nazairc, at the mouth of the Loire, and thence entraining for tho front, where, at tho small hamlet of Doui,' four miles from Coulommiers, he reported to the Principal Medical Officer of the Fifth Division of the Second Army. After a chapter describing the advance to the Marne,. the doctor tells us what he' saw of the'famous battle which takes its name from that river. Here wo have a little pen snapshot of ono of the best-known British Generals. "A. well-knit, muscular, lithe .figure, looking physically fit, smalt, and cool in. a well-made khaki uniform and redbanded cap, steps out of a car which had raced up from the valley in a swirling, cloud of dust. The face was a .burnt brick-red, the moustache white, the eyes alert, wide open, and 'knowing.' A savage, obstinate, determined ehm doniinatea by nature. It was the chili of a strong, stubborn nature, the chin of a prize-fighter. This, was Smitli-Dorrien, the Commander of, the Second Army Corps, and at this time the Second Corps was at grips with the «riemy.' : ' _ , V "At) eleven'o'clock of a pitch-black night the, latest medical recruit of the unit, made his bow to his new comrades—'men ;wlio had been through Molis and Le Cateau, and were veter*llß.' One of them told of the splendid work' done by the British cavalry during the day—"Our Lancers had ridden through a squadron of TJhlans, turned round, and galloped through them again, spearing and spraying on their two bloody passages." Sri on the grim work of the surgeon began, and we have the first of many interesting, if necessarily at times, rather gruesome, descriptions of ambulanco work oil the field. Here is a sample picture from the .chapter headed "From the Marne to the Aisne," which will give the dwellers ' in peace and ease some idea of what war is like: — The countryside was agricultural. The wheat, and oats had been cut, newly-made stacks were standing in the stubble-fields, and some of the fields still held the "stooks" of grain. About nine o'clock we came upon the grim evidences', of war. . .. . Four German soldiers; of the Corps were lying to- ' .. getlier. in'a ditch. All had .been •killed "by shrapnel wounds in chest and head. . It .seemed as if the four 'men had sat down exhausted by ' the . ditch,. ::by the roadside, and that one of our ■ .shrapnel shells had Burst right Idver them, killing them all outright. We removed their • ideittifi- ; , cation'discs so. that they might'be. sent to Germany later on. '. : . In a small clump of trees to the left of . the road.were two niore dead

Germans. One «;as lying on his back, with his left hand over a . wound in the chest. The other soldier had evidently been trying to assist him, for ho had been kneeling on the right side of the wounded man when ho too received a mortal hurt and fell dead across his' wounded comrade. His head was lying in a deep puddle of coagulated blood. ... And so oil to a. series of yet moro dreadful pictures. The British gunners had evidontly "got the range" of the road, "and simply plastered it and the adjoining land tfith a murdering hail of lead and iron." The expressions on the faces of the dead men were oil the whole peaceful. Some, however, ■had a look of wild surprise in t'lieir upward, staring eyes. Some looked as if a great fear and terror had possessed them at the last awful moment. The expression on tlio face of one finely-budt German officer, with a clean-cut intellectual face aijd firm jaw, was that of a sublime contempt. His eyes and nose and tho curl on his lips betokened a contemptuous regard that \vas curious to Eee in a dead . man. . . . The dead Germans were young, sturdy men, strong- ' jawed, and wiry. This was no canaille whom we were fighting, but a trained, determined soldiery, who would fight hard and"»lie gamely. The author describes his hard marching towards the Aisne, amidst continuously heavy fighting and "muffled .waves of artillery bursts"; the whole French and British Army advancing in one wide semi-circle, endeavouring to roll up two German Army Corps. "Tlio waits by the roadside the doctor found really more tiring than tlie steady marching.' Towards the eiid of the long, long day, and in the darkness of the night, with feet swollen and sore, brain and body numbed with fatigue, one did not march, hut only stumbled and lurched along the never-ending road like a drunken man." One of the most dramatic, nay tragic pictures of war with which the author presents us is that of a scene he witnessed on sunken load in tho Aisne valley. Here it had been the turn of the enemy to "get the range," and to pour in-a murderous fire upon a party of men of the West Kents who "were sitting by the roadside beyond the cutting having a meal of bully < beef and biscuits." ,An ambulance had just joined them, when a German "Black Maria" landed on the ambulance, and at the same moment shrapnel buret amongst them all. One doctor was killed outright, another hurt, eight of the West. Kents met. instantaneous death ; eight horses'wer.e killed and three horribly mangled and flung oft tho road bv the. violence of the explosion. Well' may the author describe the scene as one" of "ghastly horror." Ho says:— •/ On the road lay mangled and bleeding horses, dead men lying in all sorts of s convulsed attitudes, 4 Uj> ' turned wagons, smashed and splintered, wood.. Add to this the agonised groans of our wounded men, the shrill scream of dying horses, and that: impalpable but nevertheless /real feeling of standing in the face, of the Creator, ono can, perhaps, ! then, feebh' picture this scene of ' carnage, ot the solemnity of death, , and of the .pitiless woe of this devastation. . Where could we - find here a trace'of the glory, pomp, and magnificence of war? . There are'several chapters on the Marne-Aisne campaign, a- brief description of the (famous La Basses district, and then the author gives a lmw ->wl most interesting description of his hospital work at Bethune, concluding with ail account of his experiences ..across

the Belgiau frontier, at Vpres, and elsewhere. Dr. Martin-dovotos considerable space to a description of tlio cftect or the poisonous gas employed by tne enemy, and the prevalence and gravity of gangrenous wounds, and instances some quite marvellous cases ol cures dumb men and the recovery of othors whose nervous systems had become temporarily shattered. • It is pleasant to read, as one may in so many pages of this book, or tlio splendid heroism displayed by the British and French soldiers, of cheerful acceptance of the myriad discomforts and dangers of the war, of the patient endurance of the wounded, both on the battlefield and the hospitals. One feels that nations which possess such soldiers cannot fail to emerge victorious from the desperate and bloody struggle m which they are engaged; and equally strong haS' been, in one' reader s mind at least 1 , the feeling/ that each _ and every non-combatant should do his or her utmost, by self-sacrifice of some kind, to hearten, encourage, and practically help our gallant fellow Britons at the front. Dr. Martin-pays a special tribute of enthusiastic admiration and' praise to', the French priests and nuns wHom he so frequently encountered on the battlefield or in the hospitals. Tho devotion of both priests and nuns is, he says, beyond all praise, and like so many other close-hand observers, he foretells a very material change of opinion in' France after the war as to the civic position of the religious sisterhoods and the Church generally. - The Doctor, too, has .something to say. upon tlie much-discussed munition and , equipment question, but space limits ■ .forbid quotation. Reading certain ,of .his . strioturos on the inadequacy .of the munitions supply one is comforted by the thought that/ here at least there-is now, if reports be true, no ground for complaint, thanks to the whole-souled energy with _ which Mr. Lloyd George and his assistants have tackled the question. Many touches of humour —for even so grim and terrible and horrible' a thing as war has its humorous side—give relief to t'he natural gravity of the narratiro as a whole. Choice'is difficult, but I select the two following incidents: — A Prussian, officor was captured . in November with about 1 fifteen men, , and I saw him marched in shortly. after. the capture.. He 'looked, arrogant, and one instinctively took a dislike to him, he was so. .obviously. ..stamped 'bounder.' •His revolver, was in its pouch on his belt. ' We had forgotten to take it',off, and he bad forgotten ' that' it .was there v ' Our prisoner spoke English very well, and said that-he wished he had been shot. Ho was for ever and ever disgraced by being made a prisoner. His regiment would never have him again as an officer." The impression ws formed, who were standing round listening, was that this_ whining boiinder seemed to feel it' • a particular disgrace to be a prisoner of the hated English. An English officer ill charge at this particular place hero went up to our snarling Prussian . who wished "that lie had heen killed," and said: "1 see we have omitted to take over your revolver. '■ It is still in your pouch, and probably loaded r —sure to be. You say you are. sorry you were not killed. Well, go off five paces over' there. and , low youv damned head off with your oivii gun! I won't interfero with you, and none of us will mourn for you." The Prussian shut up like an oyster. We all laughed, and tho soldiers around enjoyed it hugely. Tho eyes of the man blazed , with fury, but he made no move- ' ment towards that five paces off, and handed over his revolver to our

English officer, who refused to touch it, and called on a soldier to take it). As an example' of tho readiness of French wit, tho doctor tells . how, after the news come of the sinking of the Emdcn, the officer in command of the French trench wrote out tho intelligence on a piece of paper, and tying it round a stone, threw it in to tho Gorman. trench. A reply was soon received in the same way! "Monsieur, go to hell." The Frenchman, ever polite, but determined to have the last word, sent back this note: "Dear Bosches,I have been to many places. I have been invited to visit many places in mj time, but) this_ is the first time that 1 have been invited to visit, tho German headquarters",! A number of- illustrations, from photographs of scenes on the battlefields and elsewhere in the theatre of war, add greatly to the value of a modestly, but ably "written and most interesting volume, upon which the author is. emphatically and sincerely to be complimented. (N.Z. price 7s. 6d.)