THE RAIDING SEASON IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2989, 29 January 1917, Page 6

THE RAIDING SEASON IN FRANCE

WHERE THE BRITISH EXCEL

British Headquarters, France, • December 1. This seems to be the "raiding season." During the past few days the Germans, as the communiques show, have attempted more than ono marauding expedition into our lines, and been paid back in their own coin with the generous interest which wo usually give them in tins particular kind of warfare. For raids are essentially a, matter for individual genius and bearing, and not for machine-like routine; and in "individual" soldiering of all kinds tho Briton" has always proved a better man than the Boche. Thus in raids, as in flying, and tunnelling, and a dozen other branches of the art of fighting, wo get much tho better of the exchanges. Thus in latter days the Germans have not gone in for raids without serious necessity.. British raids may be. executed for a variety of reasons, and that of merely strafing and annoying the enemy is a sufficient one. But the German.hardly goes in for raiding unless he is at a loss. His raids are, for the most part, for tho one purpose of identifying the units against him. That he has to mako raids to get this knowledge marks a great advance since the beginning of the war in the secrecy maintained as to tho movement of our troops. In tho early days, you may remember, our men used to be not a little annoyed to be told by the Germans opposite the exact particulars of their regiment and division, and when they were to be relieved and by whom. 'The Germans cannot shout this information over the trench parapets now. They have to make raids, in fact, to find out who their immediate opponents are, and the extensiveness of these raids in life and effort is good evidence of the measure of tho German need for the information sought. 4 Anxious for British Prisoners. I sent details a day or two ago of an' order issued to the German troops saying that it was essential that British prisoners should be captured, and suggesting means by which theso captures were to be effected. British patrols, said the order, were not to be shot at, but were to bo allowed to come close to the German lines, and were then to be pounced upon and taken alive, so that it might be ascertained as to what regiments they belonged. The order ended with the words "Unless prisoners are captured soon more extensive operations against the enemy's positions will have to be undertaken" —a threat, in short, that unless the Germans could capture prisoners near their own trenches they would ho sent to tho British trenches to look for them. It is clear that the steps suggested were not very successful, and the raids of tho past few days have been the promised sequel. The man art of raiding lies in inventing something new. You have to think out some new device by which to get near to tho enemy's fine and pounce upon him. In tho earlv days the scope for inventiveness was perhaps greater than row, and in those days daring men, crawling forward liko lizards on their stomachs, wculd creep up to the enemy's wire and cut it silently, thus making a through-path for afraid party. In the small hours of the night, oven though the Germans might be firing flare after flare to seo what new mischief our men were hatching, our men have succeeded in getting right to tho enemy's trenches. Thero is the historic case, which has been written of before, of men blackening their faces and hands so as not to show white in tho glare of tho enemy's flare lights. But these ruses have now become insufficient, for both sides are alivo to them.

A German Method. The Germans' favourite method of raiding just now is to concentrate the aim of a number of guns and trench mortars upon oue particular length cf our barbed wire, and to fire all these guns at once. A breach is thus suddenly made in the wire, and through it they stream in the hope of getting into our trenches before our men are ready for tliem.

There is a German unirnaginativeness a.bout this method, and in practice it proves an expensive way of working. For our men, knowing just what to expect, prepare in good time the antidote, and many a German raiding party that has come to get prisoners and shoulder badges for identification purposes has instead left behind samples of the very things they came to get, and has thereby saved our troops the trouble of a raid on the German lines. It is like advancing a piece to attack another, in chess, only to find that you have put the unfortunate thing where it can be taken. Wo have bagged in this way several raiders during this week, and have in our own raids brought back fair bags. Two little raids of ours near the north of our lines in Franco, for instance, gave us twenty-one prisoners, besides entailing the killing and wounding of a greater number of tho enemy's men.