"OVER AND AT THEM"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2934, 21 November 1916, Page 6

"OVER AND AT THEM"

A WELLINGTON BOY ON THE SOMME

A VIVID AND RACY STORY OF "SEPTEMBER 15"

In an interesting letter, dated September 27, a AVellington soldier, who took part in tho advance on September 15, writes:— "In a few days wo will finish-what, to me, has been the roughest three weeks I've ever experienced. Of •course, you have heard long ago of tho big advance of September 15, and the splendid part the New Zealand Division took in it, especially the 'Dinks,' who had tho toughest proposition, and consequently suffered most. Well, it . has been some change from the atmosphere in which I wrote you last—tho sleepy little village of . I was quite agreeable to stay there for the 'duration,' but it was not to be, and we were soon started on what turned out to be a five days' march, with sometimes intervals of two or three, days between _ each stage, and somefilnes only a night to rest our weary bones. It gavo.us a further insight into the country as we passed through rich lands and village after village. It was aertainly very interesting, when sore shoulders and calloused feet are deducted from the experience. Very few gave in on this march, the thought of being left out of the 'stunt' at the end of the journey as a penalty proving a great incentive, and all ranks were congratulated on the state of things when we reached our destination a few miles' behind the hottest 'part of the front. As we came into tho war zone again increasing signs of the great activity became apparent. "Consoientlous Objectors" Behind the Lines. "Wo camo through hundreds of thousands of troops of all colours, from all parts of the globe—Tommies, Scotties, Irish, British, West Indians from Jamaica, as black as night, Cingalese, Zouaves, French, Maoris, Indians, and all the others, tuniced and trousered by the British and French Governments. German prisoners, employed keeping the Toads in repair, were a welcome sight, as were thousands of 'conscientious objectors,' who ar&' sent from England to make roads, etc., for the poor dovils who are conscienceless. 'John Bull' knows how to use these chaps, and many of them must be sorry that their conscience troubled them in the first place, as they are packed off to France within a snort time of being rounded up, where as if they join the Army .they stay in England at least six months' training. They were, the butt' of the Tommies for a while out hero and were "ragged" unceasingly until an Army order made it a serious offence. Still, they are now a very useful branch of the service, and in no previous war liavo the roads of communication been so well looked after. The extent of the traffic is something - terriffic. AVe arrived at; our destination, a demolished village from w'hich the Germans had been expelled\ in the July offensive, in tho middle of n week's bombardment of the German positions, and the noise of the guns was absolutely unceasing day or night. How the dickens the supply of shells is kept up I don't know, and it is not stretching it to say that for a weok in our immediate vicinity there was not a second's interval between the gun sounds or any dimunition in the. volume. thereof. AVo camped in the open, on a hillside through which runs the first Genu an trench which was captured on July 1. Hundreds of graves of our regiments are scattered over every hill and valley, testifying to tlie very severe fighting hereabouts. No doubt you have read of these trenches and their wonderful dugouts and conveniences, which tho enemy had occupied for nearly two ' years, and which - wero considered impregnable. They wero evidently, built to last for ever. Enormous timbered dugouts with electric light, air pumps, beds, furniture of all kinds, stairways going from 40_ to 100 ft. underground 'with handrails, all going to sEow that they were here for keeps. A Cruesomo Job. "It was a gruesome job , exploring these old trenches. Several of tho dugouts still contained German dead. Unexploded_ shells, bombs, hand grenades, ammunition, and equipment (Gorman and English) simply litter the ground everywhere, and the whole face of the countryside bears evidence of tho fearful waste and destruction of modern warfare. A favourite and dirty trick of Fritz is to leave, articles, such as helmets or other gear, attached to a hidden bomb by a wiro or string, and when these aro taken hold of by sou-venir-hunters, an accident occurs, and in this way quite a number of men have been injured. Wo left this salubrious spot after a day and a half, and being finally equipped were sent into reserve trenches for a fow days—then a so-called rest of 48 hours in a wood famous in the July fighting. The men were then put into fighting kit for the attack the next morning, and sent up to tho assembly trench from which they were to hop over the top and make tho attack they had been preparing for so long. My job took mo up to an advanco dressing station early next morning, as tho dump for taking rations into the trenches adjoined it, and. I had. a very istronuous day. . I Over the Top. "After tliß preliminary bombardment our chaps sprang over at 6 a.m., and as everyone knows carried everything before them, and reached their various objectives" in a style that has brought praise from all the Imperial divisions cooperating. In the evening I had several talks to men in the crews of the 'tanks' which accompanied the troops in the attack, and they were full of praise for the Now Zealanders. These men did not know that I was a colonial, so the praise is worth something. I also heard the same opinion from hundreds of wounded 'Tommies' who passed through the dressing station. Somehow I could not keep away from tliafc dressing station, and I saw hundreds brought in, but all cheerful as far as possible, and never a complaint. 1 spoke to many I knew. The Gorman wounded received tho same treatment as our own, though they had to wait to have their wounds dressed until after our own wore fixed up. Hundreds of prisoners camo in through our road, including many officers, and many wero immediately put to canning our wounded down to safety. "Kainerad!" "Our chaps were disgusted' at the poor fight tlicy put up at closo quarters. They rely on their machine-guns to ropel a charge, and when that fails they won't face the bayonet, _ and do the 'Kamerad' gag for all it is worth after doing what damage they can. Our fellows had been waiting too long for this day to fall in with this scheme, and shot them until the officers stopped it. You can quito understand that it would bo embarrassing to any front lijje of attackers to stop to take largo batches of prisoners, as they have to be escorted back to' tlie rear. If they were jU3t passed by as they were formerly ? these dirty, beggars unearth a machine-gun, and play on the backs of the men that have passed. Our casualties have been very heavy, as was expected, and I have lost many personal friends. Only ono sergeant came back out of my company, and ho has since been wounded. The offi-

cers and men suffered in proportion, and the battalion roll call, when they came out at daybreak on the second morning after, was rather a sad affair. Many good fellows aro gone, in fact it is noticeable that the best seem to go first, as almost all the 'hard cases,' who spend most of their time in 'klink' or who give the most troublo in camp, are still above board. But I reckon that having come through this particular push they have wiped out any previous stains, and can start off again with a clean sheet. The original idea was that we would have been about five days in the thick of it, and then would be brought back right out of it to reorganise and rest. The othe/ divisions have been withdrawn long ago for this purpose, but our poor beggars aro still in it, and completing their third week. Three days now should see tlie finish.

No Dug-outs Now. "There are no dug-outs in the trenches now, the nights aro bitterly cold;' and for several days there has been heavy rain. The exposure to the weather and shell fire is playing up with the chaps who-have no change of clothing, no blankets, and only very occasionally a warm meal; very few have washed themselves for over three weeks. All are ragged and unshaven. But next week they'll all be fresh and clean again, singing round the pianos in the cafes as if nothing had happened. I have bad my share of discomfort, sleeping in the open night after night, wearing the same togs night and day, very often wot through, long and dirty night rides with the rations on limbers bumping along on roads constantly shelled and always dangerous. I'm dirty, very tired, but since being here I have not even had a cold, so the vision of getting , somehow or other into a. clean and comfortablo cot in a hospitaij and, spending a glorious time in bed is still a vision.