WHEN THE "RELIEF" COMES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 207, 21 May 1918, Page 6

WHEN THE "RELIEF" COMES

« CHANGING. POSTS AT THE MtONT. (By Hamilton Fyfe, in the "Daily Mail.") I have just come out of tho trenches with a battalion on a relief nis;ht. What the colonel hivd said in his noto of invitation to me to visit his battalion was tins: "Si you strike us on a relief night you will realise that oven hell can't bo much worse tlip.n walking in single file in pitch dark aloau a badly duckboarded trench for 4000 yards with telsphonc wives to fall over at intervals." On the whole I believe that most officers, and liny l>B most men too, like Iwirig ii. the front line best. Yet the camp is fdwaye something to; look forward to. It moans baths, clean linen, pyjamas at ,i ; .S"ht, bedclothes, variety in food, a less cramped existence. Belief night is therefore always welcome, if only because it breaks monotony. All rocs on as usual until dark falls. Then company officers go out to advanced posts and tell their men what thearrangemouts for relieving are. I go with one, a man ivlio loves his work and hie life and his men "Did you change yonr Bocks?" he asks at one post, and everywhere "Getting on all right? Had your rations?"

After dinner there- is rapid packing up. Each mess carries all its requirements about with it.' Some have elaborate services of crockery and glass. Others are content with tin plates and tin mugs that serve for whisky, tea, coffee, cocoa— everything. All that the retiring battalion owns as personal property they take away with them. The "reliefs" br ; ng Ihoir own stuff in.

Tho Verey lighta are on now. a famous firework display. On both sides machineKuiis chatter harshly in sndcl«.n. furious burets. Tho night is clear and thousandeyed with stars.

Already porno officers of the incoming battalions have arrived to "take over." The men are on the duck-boards now.

Qtiiftly, silently, they more into the deep cutting which loads from the world Miind into Hint region of dullness and daneer called the front line. Any noiae might attract th? enemy's attention. Then shelling of the C.T. would l>°?in. To catch reliefs is counted a useful "scoop."

In the colonel's dug-out, a Germnn pillbox of concrete with stoel supports,, we sit waiting. There is never any light there but -the lisrht of lamp or candle, for it is twenty feet below ground, and you need your "torch" handy as you come in or you are likely to bang your head. To-night it is cold. Also, the stock of candles is exhausted. We all long for the order of.release.

Last time the sitting was kept up until 4 a.m. Not before that hour was tho relief complete. To-night things are moving more quickly. Enter the colonel and the major of the relieving battaliou. AVe brighten up. Tha dug-out is full. Through the haze of smoko the newcomers descry a plate of "ham sandwiches, thoughtfully offered them after their walk in tho frosty darkness. They fall upon them ravenously.

The telephone buzzes: "All companies hut one relieved." A few minutes later the remaining company reports itself on the move. Now the colonel can movo too. No time is wasted. We struggle into our "wurms" or fleece-lined waterproofs; sling on our gas-mask satchels. The low roof rings on our steel helmets as we crouch our way up the steps into the keen night air. The 4(100 yards' walk on duck-boards is not as bad as the colonel's letter made out. Still, we are glad enough at times to scramble up an<l out of the trench and follow a path across tlie top. The landscape is mysterious and sinister. Grey mist fills the hollows. A thick hoar frost whitens the uplands. To our right a village is being steadily shelled. The enemy believes we bend our transport through it. Away ahead bombs can be heard exploding. Pleasant prospect! So, for an hour and a half nearly, we tramp, and just when we have had enough of it we find horses waiting for us in a dark bay of th , . , "oad. Close by is a train waiting for tiie men. TJiey are having soup served out by the roadside to wnrm them up for their ride in op»n trucks.

Two o'clock sees us in camp. The bright, -warm mess-hut is very welcome. So are coached esss and tea.' It is well worth having beer, cold and tired and hiinep- when warmth and food and slumber are before one.