BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3036, 24 March 1917, Page 13

BOOKS OF THE DAY

.: LIGHT AND SHADE IN WAR. • Captain. Malcolm Ross and his clever sou, Noel Ross, the latter now of the literary staff of the London "Times," but lately lance-corporal -with the Anzacs, are to be.warmlv congratuated upon/their jointly produced collection of war sketches and studies, Light and: Shade in War" (Edward Arnold, per Whitcombe and Tombs). As_ a series of vividly picturesque and intimate impressions of military experiences in Egypt, at Gallipoli, and in North-Eastern France, these sketches are possessed of a peculiarly fascinating interest.'.'•"Some of them were, .so the authors inform us, written under fire, the proofs of the book being actually corrected on the battlefield of the. Somnie in a tent over which. British and German shells were passing at the,time. Many of the chapters first appeared as special articles in the.'Times," and three of them first saw print in;the columns of "Punch." All are written in a crisp and chatty style, which is decid£% engaging. Much has been'written upon the splendid gallantry, -fchs patient ■ endurance, the steadfast determination, and the' urifr'unjg cheerfulness of our soldiers as tnqr fought on the blood-stained hills •and in the Bhell-torn gullies of Gallipoli, but the authors succeed in making many i| new points, and recording hitherto unpublished facts. The article in wljich the landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula is described— : "five days of h.ell" as he himself calls it— is by a New Zealander who took part in" the fighting. When it'•' ap'peared in the "Times," it was characterised by that famous journal as being "probably the most vivid personal narrative of the Gallipoli fighting which has yet reached this country." Another. ■ excellentV'article, "Into the Desert," .'describes the fighting in the Suez Canal zone. '■;'•

_'; V'Abdul" and ."Benevolent Neutral-lity"i:.'.ai-e in lighter vein, the | work; I-, assume, of Mr. Noel Ross, who 'proves himself a-humorous writer of high*proinis.e,., His . style is at times suggestive of Kipling, at- others : of Stephen ;Leacoek. Neither of thesefamous writers might bo ashamed to have ..sighed, the articles referred to. The lighter, side of the war is dealt with- in .other articles, notably in "A Cheerful Army," and a grateful and graceful 'tribute is paid to the good qualities' of the Maori soldiers in a specially, well-written 1 sketch entitled, "Tipirere."

.We'all know by this time how the New Zealand and Australian soldier has managed to pick up, scraps of French, just; as in "Egypt ho adopted the Arabs. Sometimes, as the author reminds us in his incurBion into .the. Tommy's strange vocabulary, this leads to rather amusingconsequences.; ; On one occasion an officer asked one of, his men if he was guilty of a certain dereliction of duty.

Oui, oui, replied the delinquent. Very well, seven days C.B. Vous comprenez?" said the officer.

At first the colonial troops, especially the Canadians, were much amiss in the way of saluting. "I saw an extraordinary thing to-day," said an ■English officer ono evening in tho mess. "What was that?" asked a- brother officer. "Well,'.' replied ho, "I saw a Colonial soldier saluting his colonel That story, however, could no longer bo told, for the authors assure us that both Australian and Now Zealand soldiers "now salute as to the manner born." In joking, despite the most depressing environment, tho Anzacs have nothing to learn from the Cockney Tommies. Two examples must suffice:

When the New Zealandera had been ashore about two hours at Ansae a party of them was proceeding down' the then tortuous path from-Walker's-Ridge From an opposite slope a sergeant posted there for -that purpose called out a warning." "That path [is mined," he' yelled down atthe man below. "Then catch us as we come up again," answered an irrepressible humorist in, the front of the party. . ,'.-, On the same path, later in the'day; a wounded Tasmanian was dragging himself painfully down the .'slope, in a,sitting position. He had been shot in the groinj.ajid as he bumpedg&ver the rough ground 'an officer going*, up towards Walker's tried-.to-comfort him a little.' "Pretty hard work,*sergeant,", he said 'cheerily. The answer he got surprised him.: "Damn hard on my pants," he 6aid gloomily.^ The" descriptions of the fighting on', "the Western front are also a notable', feature of a ! book which is of a rare all-round .literary excellence. Nowhere, onthe Somme was there bloodier work than in the fight for Fricourfc Wood and in the capture <5f the German trenches at La Boiselle. Here is a brief exi -tract from Captain Ross's description of the infantry attack at La Boiselle, of which he was au eye-witness: The shelling (from the "heavies" at .the back) .was terribly accurate and dreadfully effective. Presently they ceased from high explosives, banged in a perfect tornado of shrapnel; and then suddenly "lifted." From this we knew thut the infantry attack was on the point of ■ ~boiug' launched, and .suroly enough, in'a lew' minutes' time wo saw tho first of our men debouching from a shattered communication trench and creeping up across a, still more battored German, trench in the direction of what 'had been the village. Others followed, and soon there was a little group in a very; exposed position waiting for. their chance to go forward. The German gunnery at this stage of 41ie battle was magnificent. The position ha'd been accurately registered, and a solitary German balloon far. away behind the woods Of the distant ridge was observing.

Looking from«our grandstand position on the. hillside, it seemed as if no troops on God's earth could over come safely through such a barrage. • "My God! that's pitiless,-shrapnel at La Hoiselle," said the man. beside me. Buit all the time.as wo looked British troops were passing through it. Raked by machinegun and rifle fire, stunned and blown to bite by high explosives, and. pelted with the. bursting shrapnel, many fell, but none wavdred. It was an exhibition of dauntless courage and eelf-saorifice that one might well have risked one's own life to see. We did not know what troops thoy were—clerks and artisans and. labourers, probably, led by young fellows only a year or two away from the public schools and 'varsities. Wo did not even troublo to ask. Sufficient was it for lis from the distant lands of the Empire that they were British lads, turned into soldiers in "a year, and that their magnificent and undaunted courage was typical of the high moral to which the "contemptible little army had attained. Included in the book are several woll-written sketeb.es of scenes in London, in Scotland, pen-pictures of the 'marvellous work done in the shipyards, of the work of tho coast-guards, also" a few humorously-written studies of the lighter side of the. war as it affects London society. The final study, "Tho 'Kneeling Hamlet," is from the pen of "The One Who Stayed at Home," 'to whom tho book is dedicated,. It is a pathetic but beautifully written sketch of a service in a little country church in Sussex., The whole hook is a most interesting and valuable contribution to the literature of. the war. The illustrations, from photographs' by the authors, inolucle scenes in Egypt

and at Gallipoli. (New Zealand price, 6s. 6d.).