"GETTING INTO IT"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 268, 1 August 1918, Page 5

"GETTING INTO IT"

A WELLINGTON SOLDIER'S QUAINT . DESCRIPTION. , The first indication wo had of the commencement of the groat Hun. offensive was. on tho evening of. March 21, Ihat momentous day in.the history of this En- 11 , ™F- Wc - ,:hc TIM battalion, Dinks, were then camped just to the east of Ypres, and on the evening mentioned wero-in the act of being paid when orders came that we were to be ready to march out in fifteen minutes. Pay was suspended, and all was at once bustle, and bad language, and there was plenty of excuse for the latter. First a, corporal pops his head inlo tho door of the hut and raps out tho orders, "Overcoats to be packed in valise, leather jerkins to :bo worn, blaukets rolled in sectional rolls—get a bustle on, Diggers!" Five minutes latjr our platoon sergeant heaves' his frame through the dcor, and through the blue air you. hear his raucous voice saying, "Orders are: overcoats to be worn, leather jerkins packed in valises, blankets to Ire rolled horseshoe fashion round vali;:. Ready in ten minutes to fall in outside hut." Remember this drama is being enacted ir. a hut about lift, by fOft., holding thirty men, and lit by the, dim flickering light of two or three candles. Remember also how, when you are packing your 'bag for a week-end at the seaside, you occupy tho, whole of your bedroom in the packing-up process. Imagine, then, thirty men in a confined space, poorly lit, endeavouring with herculean efforts to roll their blankets and pack their goods and chattels in an nil. too small a valise. Remembering all this, you will havo some faint conception of the blueno'ss of the atmosphere. Tho "Diggers' rhetoric'.' was at its zenith when through the barrage in walked-the 0.C., but so intent was everyone in their own troubles that it was not till five minutes later that his presence was noticed, when, during a temporary lull, his voice was heard percolating 'the many murky mutterings of meagre minds: " . . . . And I don't want you fellows falling-in looking like a lot of llw-istmas trees-, with ration bags, dixies, and sugar bags with private gear hanging all over you; hey must (;c all out ot sight. Further, I see that a lot of you have your overcoats out; it's much too hot to march in overcoats. These must lie packed in the valise. Fall ill in two minutes." This is but a typical example of .what happened every time we shift camp.