THE SERGEANT'S LITTLE HOMILY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 99, 19 January 1918, Page 8

THE SERGEANT'S LITTLE HOMILY

THE WAY TO FIGHT. The bayonet is pre-eminently the weapon of the Foldier, and he is well drilled in its The instructing sergeant (writes Major E. F. Wood in his book "An American at War") precedes each exercise by a lecture, and as lie is alike imaginative and unrefined tbo lecture is usually vivid and practical. Half a hundred recruits gather around him, each holding his rifle with bayonet fixed. The instructor begins his discourses quietly, laying down his premises somewhat, as follow: "The bayonet is not a pocket-knife nor a garden tool. It is not made to chop firewood nor to toast bread. It is the most effective weapon of war, and it is meant to kill Germans with. The only 1 way to win a battle is by 'ard fightin'. You never get anvthin' for nothin', in war or anywhere else, so don't bo afraid of losses.' When you go to the front you want to do it with the idea (i seekin' 'ard fights—under favourable conditions if possible—but favourable or unfavourable, make 'em rough. Get close to yer enemy. Look for 'im, get 'im into a corner of the ring, so to speak, and then mix it up. Rough him. Give, 'im 'ell. Yer must 'ave this idea firmly fixed in yer 'ead when ye're about to take part in your first attack. Yon will bo in the trenches waitin' and not knowing exactly when the zero hour is to be. You may wait like that for several days, with a most particular 'ell of a bombardment going on all about you, some of it comin' at you, bust most of it movin' towards the Bodies, projiarin' the way for you by bustin' up 'is wire and destroyin' 'is trenches. And then while the bombardment is still goin' on as : ard as ever, word comes that ye're to jjo over the top at sucli and such a minute. As the hour arrives the officers keep loolun at their wrist watches, and the time don't seem to go very fast. Be a man. Don't begin tliinkin' of 'ome, but remember what the Germans are tryin' to do to the worl'. 'Think of what they'll do to you if they get you down. Think of, their baby-killin' and their Belgian slaves and their Armenian massacres, and their burnin' and pulagin' and be damn thankful that you've a chance to do somethin' towards stoppin' all that kind of tluiggerv for good an' all. Don't stand with yer" knees sliakin' and yer eyes quiverin', but grind your teeth and tlunk of the way they're niakin' people suffer everywhere with the'r kultur, and their 'me und Gott.' And so about a minute before the time to go over jer wants to say to yerself: 'The time 'as come for me to do'my bit. It's goin' to ->e a rough party, but 1 am goin' to make it a damn sight rougher for the Boclie than for me.' So with yer teeth grittin', yer eyes poppin' out, yer air standin' on end, and yer bayonet fixed ye're ready to go over, the top when the time comes and the order is given. An 'when she comes don't wait a secon' for your chums on the right or left, but clamber over the top and all go at once like a British lion after 'is grub." _______________