AUSTRALIA'S DWINDLING FORCES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 109, 25 January 1918, Page 5

AUSTRALIA'S DWINDLING FORCES

SOME STARTLING FACTS.

An Australian soldier in Eug.and gives some particulars of'the dwindling Australian forces at the front. "The artillery,',' he says, "are now right up in tho open, and the casualties have been heavy, most of the trouble being caused by bombs Jne result is that instead of a man bung sent homo from the firing line for a spell, ho goes into a divisiona ammunition column, and humps shells (tour at a time), weighing 881b., for a week or two, then back. They tell us l.aige ■ reinforcements of artillery, are coming, but so is Christmas, and by the, time some of them arrive, the fellows in France will be past relief. "My unfortunate young brother r.as been wounded three times. He is ieioining his unit on Monday, and will have another cut at it. 'Went mto the trenches in France with the first Australian troops, and has been there ever since, except when in nospital. Men coming back tell me that every watch is settled, the vibrations knocking the hairspring out of gear, while the gas settles the case. Phillip (brother) w.ote me that in his experience, he had never seen such an awful barrage as the troops were subjected to.in early October. As for.tho Germans being up the spout, that $s all bunkum. The men coming here as prisoners are strong and well built, seem well nourished, and put two reinforcements I know or to shame, from the point of view ot physique. Just now they are gaming in Flanders, it is at a great cost in men's lives. "I suppose some time Australian men will wake up and realise the hell their inaction is subjecting their mates in France to. They could give them a decent rest, but they wont. they could let them see their women ioiK again, but they won't and it is only when one is away for months, with only news at irregular intervals, that one realises what the society of those we love can mean. Personally, I should give a whole year's pay for one wiek with my baby girl, and it is on mail days that one realises tho ties that bind us to home. The fellows net far more excited over mail day than wey t do pay day, and the lucky possessor of two or three letters is looked at with envious eyes. I gob 14 in one baton, an accumulation sent to a friend in London, and readdressed. It nearly caused a riot. Over here, too, we are rationed. Each man gets li pound of kead per day, and about once a fortnight sugar in the tea. The food is well cooked, but I could frequently eat more, than the issue ration. "If, as I believe, there is a judgment for mankind in the life to come, then the slackers in Australia will stand a good chance of being damned eternally. This war is not a matter of porsonal choice, it is civilisation agat>:s» a Power whose iniquities find no pasallel in history. Hero they know it, for there is frequently as many as live raids in London in a week, and when one sees houses demolished, and i little ones carried off to the hospital with on arm or a leg missing, one realises that ■ there is a war somewhere, and tint somewhere is pretty close. When, too, men back from Franco tell how the men on stretchers aro deliberately nicked off by snipers, as well as tho hearers, it makes one feel that this . is not war as we understand it, but , bell let loose."