AN OFFICER'S "BAG"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2878, 16 September 1916, Page 6

AN OFFICER'S "BAG"

POTTED FOUR GERMANS AND MADE ANOTHER CARRY lIIM HOME That British soldiers entered oil the present offensive in tlio spirit of good sportsmen is proved by the following experiences related by an officer in a Yorkshire battalion, who before tlio war gavo his days to ■office work and his leisure to outdoor sports and amusements. Ho landed at Southampton as a strotoher case, bjr reason_ of the shrapnel wound in his right thigh. This is how he sees his own particular bit of it:— "There's 110 doubt it's a great show, l'hore's bound to be ups and downs, of course,' and in some of the Boehe regiments there's a good deal of Bnap left. But, on the whole, I think we've got tliem now; I don't fancy they'll ever get tho upper hand again. I don't want to brag about our chaps, but they are immeasurably superior to any Sauerkrauter. They're real sportsmen. You can't malt© them throw their hands up and cry 'Mercy I'—they really don't know how it's done. In a general way they don't wish the Boclie any particular harm, but when their blood's warmed up, if they can get to grips there's 110 Boclio ever horn can hold them up. It was as wo climbed out over thoir parados, making for their second lino, that 1 got my leg tured. But it didn't hurt a bit, and I went right on. Out chaps were in whooping fino form. And then, only a few yards further, came that confound-, ed snrap that messed up my thigh, .killed my second sergeant, and wounded two or three more. My platoon sergeant wanted to stay with me, but of course I wouldn't have that. What he really wanted was to get on. 'You get on, and give them hell!' I told him; and on he went with the platoon.

. Oh, You Beautyl" "I was in a bit of a small shell hole. Howover, after a bit I .'found I could got along tho ground slowly without, very much pain, and I wriggled back to that Boche front line and crossed it into a shallow sap that had be6n pretty well pulverised by our heavios. I. was resting thore when, if you'll believe me, I saw a liocho officer conio climbing cautiously up out'of a big dug-out Wo'd put six bombs in. Ho wis a captain. Ho had a bomb in one hand and a riflo and bayonet in tho other; aud lie was peering first one way and then the other, like a burglar. 'Oh, you beautyl' I thought. .And just then ho snuggled down against a gap in their parados near the dug-out and bedded his rifle comfortably for firing at i our chaps in- his second lino. You can bet I was glad I had Thy riflo and plenty .of ammunition. I believe in the good old service rifle. Never did bother with revolvers and things. So I got a beautiful boad on this chap, and a second later ho was—l wondei where deqd Boches go I Bit rough, on us , if—'but I expect there's a special compartment down below somewhere for tltem. Anyhow, ho didn't have any timo to think about it. I charged my breech again, and no sooner done than my next target bobs up—a lieutenant. I got_ him'while he was looking at his captain; . I aimed for his shoulder blades, but the old gun kicked a bit and -1 got him through the head. Seemed I might as well bo in a grouse butt, and nothing less than officers for targets, mind you. ' .Well, ,\to cut it' short, tiro more lieutenants camo up from that same dug-out, making in all three lieutenants and one captain, and I. got them all. "And thon a privato camo up, withnever a weapon of any sort in his hand, and tho fear of God in'his white face. 'You're a Boche,' I thought-, 'probably a batmaiy but certainly a Boche; and v'ou ought to be-shot, tut' you'vo got nothing in your silly •hands.' ' It was too mueli like a sitting bird, you know. Couldn't _ manago it. 'Here!' I shouted at him: And do you know, he fell just as if I'd shot' him. I tried hard to remember some German. Ohap in onr office wanted to teach mo in the summer before the war, and I've often wished I'd stuck to it. . But I got, a motor-bike that, summer and 0110 thing and another I didn't get far. Well, I managed to clamber back to that trench and poke tho Boche with the butt of my rifle till ho found himself a little and stood tip. I meant to see that blessed dugout. Perhaps they'vo got their blooming General Staff there, I thought. "Hi, Boshy!" { "I had to get the Bochc's help but" eouldn't think how to tell him in German what/I wanted. Finally, I made him understand. 'Look here, Boshy,' I said, ■ "Ich will© sehen dieser blooming dug-o'ut. Got that?' 1 ; Then I said, fDonnerwetter 1' and grinned at him to show thore was no ill-feeling, and ho managed to make connection. I kept him in front, you may bo sure.; but if I'd beon an old-blind beggar ho wouldn't- have had pluck enough to empty my tin can. ; That dug-out was a bit knocked about, you know, by our six bombs. But right nt the back of the lowest corner there was a sharp twist .to the right and a door with broken glass panels, taken from a farmhouse by the look of it. Through that wo went along a passage, turned to tho loft, down four steps, and into a regular boudoir. Dug-out 1 Why, there wero'a Turkey carpet on the floor and beautiful -tapestry curtains to the bunks. Never saw anything - liko it. There were threo" cases of beer; very good'stuff, too. I had a bottle myself right away. There were about a hundred eggs, two cut hams, pate de foio gras in little jars, sausages, several boxes of cigars, a case of champagno, a gramophone, and lashins of cakes and chocolate. There wero an electric bell, a small typewriter, and in ono of the bunks I found a lot of riblions and things from ladies' dresses and a pair of ladies' gloves. It, was a regular show, that place.

A "Piggy-back;" "I took a dispatch case and all tho loose papers on the table, and got tho batman to help mo hack to daylight. Micro wasn't a living soul to bo found in tho trench, so I got- the batman to take mo pick-a-back and carry the dispatch case while I stuck to my rifle. 'Now then, Gustavo Wilhelm Albrecht von Bochc,' I said to him, 'wo will ausgang, as schnoll as wo call, for our own lines; comnrecP' Ho was a little slow in the uptake, as you might say, but tumbled to it after a bit, especially when I donnerwettered him a bit; and, really, he made quite a good job of carrying me till wo got close to the old sap wo used to call 'Ilhnmel's,' because -'of its high scent, on our own front. And thcro ho gojt a I chance bullet through his left knee— rather a narrow shave for my own leg —and simply crumpled up li'ko paper. Ho wasn't really meant for war, that batman. I'd a lot of trouble dragging him into our lines, my thigh being rather nasty just then. But I got him into cover at last, though by that time ho had another bullot in his shoulder, and weeping from sheer funk. Then fine of our own hearers got us, and I was all, right, and so was tho batman."