HEROIC SIDE OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2669, 15 January 1916, Page 6

HEROIC SIDE OF WAR

THRILLING TALES OF VALOUR A CLASSIC STORY An episode, which is already among the classic stories of tho war, says a "Central News" message from Paris, stands revealed in a new and remarkable light in an article which M. Maurice Barrqs, the. well-known French writer, contributes to the "Echo de Paris." The hero of the affair, who has been mentioned in tho Army Orders, is Lieutenant .Pericard, a man whoso summers number only 3S, but whose hair is already white. His story of what occurred, as related by him to M. Barres, is given below, and, as will be seen, is of particular value to students of battlefield psychology. My section, iwith three others from different companies, was ordered to attack a German trench, says Lieutenant Pericard. It was a stiff fight, and we liad many lulled and wounded; all night through wo kept up the action with bombs under a torrential downpour of rain, which drenched us, to the skin; but we held the trench, and I experienced a great exaltation of spirit. I felt that life was extraordinarily intensified, and I had a laugh 011 my lips. On two occasions a torpedo knocked me over, covering me with earth and wreckage, and 1 picked myself up, laughing as if _at a good joke. . . ..In the morning we were relioved, so that we might have a rest; and we went into a second-line trench, and tried to sleep. Poor sleep! Towards midday ive woke in a hurry. The Germans had just counter-attacked with an avalanche of grenades and torpedoes. They were repulsing us. It was panic. Not only had tney retaken their own trench, but they were reaching ours. Already our men were pressing into the communication trenches, shouting "The Bodies! The Bodies!" Those terrified eyes, those convulsed faces, those twisted mouths! It was tho only deroute I havo seen, and a terrible spectacle it was. All the officers were wounded; .only the narrowness of the communication trenches held back the, fugitives, who were crowding one on the other. I had a moment's hesitation. After all, it was not my turn to attack, and, then, my men were very fatigued. Then I pulled myself together. I made my sacrifice, and decided to die to stop the .Bodies. I brushed a passage for myself through the scared crowd, and, still making play with my elbows, called out, "But, 110, my friends. But no"! The Boches are not there. They have gone back, the Boches 1 They have taken to their heels!" These and similar words passing from mouth to mouth,' stopped the retreat a bit. A few volunteers joined me. I leaped forward, and my bomb-tlirowers scattered their missiles among tho Boches, who fell back. I was the first man out of the French trench. I was as sure of my death as I was of tho sunshine, but -what serenity was mine I The serenity of an expiring man, who is dying in a state of grace, and sees the angels bending over him. Still throwing bombs, we reached the enemy trench, and recaptured our portion. Beus, in a communication treiich leading from the-first to tho second German line, I had a sandbag barrier erected, and enjoyed a breathing space. Mere Handful. But on our left the Germans were still lighting in our own lines, and-on our right tho trench was empty—our own men gone, tho Boches not vet arrived. We were just a handful o"f men, completely isolated, with a rain of bombs 011 our heads coming-from in front of us. If the Germans knew the smalluess of our numbers! Their artillery rages. A lieutenant— his name escapes me—who has come to report me, and who is smoking a cigarette, laughing at the projectiles, is struck by a bullet above the temple. He falls. The grief of his men, who throw themselves weeping on his body! Impossible to move a stop, without treading 011 a corpse. lam suddenly conscious of precariousness of my fate; my exaltation abandons me; I am afraid. I throw myself behind a heap of sandOnly a .soldier named Bonnot remains. He is untroubled, and fights on like a lion—one against many I recover myself; shamed by his example. A few comrades join us. Tho d«iy is coming to its close, and we cannot stay thus. J.'o the right there' is still nobody. Some iC metres oil' I notice an interruption in iiio trc..<:n in the form 'r an enormous splinter shield. The trench ,s full or French dead. I, alo'io With all these dead I Tien, little by httlo, I pluck up courage. I dare to looic at these bodies, and to me it seems that they are looking at me. I'lolll our own trench behind men watch mo with o.yes of fear, in which I read ,He is going to his death.;' Sheltered m their retiring trenches, indeed, tae Boches are redoubling their effortstheir bombs are tumbling .-'own, and tt'e avalan:.ue is rapidly approaching. - iurn towa.ds jhe extended corpses. I think, "Their .sacrifice, then, is to be or 110 aval'; they will hav* fallen in vain." A sacred fury' gripped me. I have no recollection now of nsy exact actions or words. All -1 know'is'that I shouted something, like this: "Up with you. I What are you doing 011 the ground thore? Get up and let us go and kick these pigs out of it!"

I'The Dead Answered Me.'' Debout les morts! A touch of madness? No, for the dead auswored' me. They said to me, "We.follow you." And, rising at my call, their souls mingled with my soul, and made of it a great incandescent mass, a wide river of fused metal. There was nothing now that could astonish or stop me. 1 had tho faith that moves mountains, and tho exaltation of tlie thaumaturgo who works miracles by his will. But there is a gap in my recollection. I have simply a vague impression of a disorderly offensive, in which, always in tlio front rank, Bonnot stands out. One of the men of my section, wounded in the arm, continued to hurl at tho enemy bombs spotted with his blood. For myself, I retain tile impression of having had an abnormally taller and bigger frame, the body of a giant, with superabundant and limitless vigour, and an extraordinary facility of thought, which enabled me to have my eyes ill ton places at once; to shout ail order to one, while dominating another by a gesture; to tire a rifle, and at tho same time protect myself from a threatening bomb.' A prodigious intensity of life, with some' extraordinary circumstances. Twice we ran short of bombs, and twice wo found at our feet, sacks full of them, mingled with tho sandbags. AVe had moved about over them all day without noticing them. But it was, indeed, tho dead that had put them there I At last tho Boches calmed down; we wcro able to consolidate our barrier of bags, forward in the communication trench. We again found ourselves masters of this corner. All the evoning and during several of the succecding days I retained tho religious emotion which had seized upon mo at the moment of that summons to the dead. I felt something like that which one feels after a fervent Communion. I understood that I had lived through hours which I should never experience again, during which my head, by a rude effort, having burst through'the "low ceiling, had risen into high mystery, amidst the invisible world of heroes and gods. It is the living who carried mo along by their example, and the dead who led me by the. hand. The cry eamc, not from the mouth of a iniai, but Irani tlio lionit. of all those who lay there, living and dead. One man alon's

could not liiul that accent. It wanted tiie collaboration of several souls, aroused by circumstances, and some of tl:em already floating in eternity, BURIED SAPPERS GUIDED BY GLOWWORMS. Though the war underground is being steadily carried on day and night on the Western front, it is seldom that deeds ot bravery are published. One, however, has come to light. Tho story is of two sappers, Mr.uduit and Cadorot, and how tney won the Military Medal. They had dug their way under and beyond German trenchcs when the oxplosion of a German mino between the lines cut their gallery, leaving them imprisoned in a space eight feet long. This was ai 10 o'clock in the morning. They determined to dig towards the surface. They encouraged each other by singing Breton songs in low tones while they dug. Tho air became bad, and they were almost suffocated. Their caudles went out, leaving them to work in darkness. After hours of frightful labtrttr the | appearance of a glowworm told tliem tliey wero near the surface. Then a fissure of the earth opened up and admitted air. The miners pushed out into the clear starlight. Within arm's roach they saw tho loophole of t, German trench, and could hear German voices. The thought seems never to have occurred to them to give themselves up. They drew back, and began to dig in another .direction, enduring istill longer tho distress which they had undergone. They had neither food nor drink. After' digging for another day they camc out in the .crater of a mine. Tho night again was clear, and it was impossible for them to show themselves without being shot by one side or the other, and so they decided to hold out until another night. They lay inside the crater, exposed to shells, bombs, and grenades from both sides, eating roots and drinking rain water. On the third night Mauduit crept near the edge of the crater and got near to an advance sentinel, one of those pushed out at night beyond the lines to protect them against surprise. Cadoret, exhausted, lost his balance, and fell back into the crater. Under the German fire Mauduit went back and helped his companion out. Both crawlcd along until they fell into the French trenches. Tq his comrades Mauduit remarked:—

"The next time this happens we will know how to come back quicker."

THE PIPER'S V.C. "BLUE BONNETS." "Good-bye, Dan. Be sure you bring home- tlie V.C." Thus Mrs. Daniel Laidlaw to her lrusband when' he Jeft for France some seven months ago. Dan has proved a dutiful husband. He has brought home the V.C. Behind the bald official announcement of his cool heroism near Loos and Hiil 70 on September 25 lies as- stirring a story as is written in military annals, l'et, says the "Daily Graphic," he told it as though it was quite an ordinary event. 1 "There was a light wind that morning," he said quietly. "It was blowing a bank of gas towards the Qernian trenches when their high explosive shells burst,iii.its midst and sent.it amongst our own men (the 7tli King's Own Scottish Borderers). For a minute- or two it had a bad effect on my company; but in a flash Lieutenant Young sized up tho situation, and, noticing I had my pipes, exclaimed: 'For God'/s sake, Laidlaw, pipe them together!"' To mount the parapet in front of his comrades was but a moment's work. And in another moment Piper Laidlaw sent out upon the light morning breeze the; stirring strains of tho K. 0.5.8. regimental march, "Blue Bonnets Over tho Border." Tile effect was magical. At onco tho men regained all their dash and nerve, hurtled out of tlieir position, and swept down upon and captured the German's first trench. Then forward Piper Laidlay ma relied, changing his tune to "The Biws oi : Mar," his comrades following to the next and the next German line. But Piper Laidlaw could go no further. A German shell, tho fragments of which inflicted a mortal wound on Lieutenant Young, hurled at him a stump of a post and some tangled strands of bairbed wire. The wire cut off the heel of his boot as wtih a razor stroke, and a strand embedded itself through his, boot leather into his foot. Hinipiicl, too, had struck him in the. face nod on the hands. Nevertheless, as he lay on tho ground, he piped as long as strength remained. By now the pipes had worked their charm to the full. From whero he lay, Piper Laidlaw could se-o his comrades well . through 'the third lino of the German trenches. When ho was able to hobble back to his own lines, clutching tightly his pre- j cious pipes, he was met by his commander, Colonel Verner, and the adjutant, Lieutenant Lethbridge. The latter clapped him heartily on the back, oxcaliming, "You've done well this morning, Laidlaw!" His first comment on hearing of his honour was a fine one. "I only wish my officer, Lieutenant Young, was with ■us; he deserved it more than I." Then, after a moment's reflection, Laidlaw added, "Any way, I'm mighty pleased my captain. Captain Dennis, has got tho D.S.O. He's a great soldier. Ho was severely bounded, but kept the men together and led them splendidly."