CLEARING THE BATTLEFIELD

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 27, 26 October 1918, Page 7

CLEARING THE BATTLEFIELD

•' 1 j ' SALVAGE CORPS FOLLOW UP. j ■'. The attack has progressed and snlvagft , parties follow on the heels of the in» : {antry supports to. clean up the battle- \ field. Material to the value of thousands i of pounds is lying about .ready to be i collected by these battle-gleaners and ! used.almost immediately against the'en- ; emy or sent to the. base for' repair.' The i salvage party assembles ih'what was re- j cently No Man's Land, and-is divided ; into squads. Each squal is detailed to j recover different material; one reclaims rifles, another bombs, a third • equip- | ment, and a "fourth machine-guns. The j officer in charge drives a .number of i wiring stakes into the ground, each j stake marking the "site of, a. separate j dunip. All around is the desolation of ! war. A' few hours ago .these rubble- '• filled gulleys were German trenohes, and ' j the shreds of wire that mark the site of' ; the once' formidable wire entanglement, i add further testimony to the work of | the British barrage. Bodies, equipment. j and rifles lie scattered everywhere, and ; the 1 duck-walk ■ track"■• of : .the■_'tanks 'is, j deeply imprinted on the muddy soil.. j Ono salvage party t clusters ftbout two disabled tanks, until a Hun aeroplane •suddenly appears. Men look ! up. The intruder is just overhead' when , j two British scouts swoop down on to j him, ho ; is-,clever. ,Hp loops and twirls j adroitly;'there.is"a" "tut-tut-tut" of ma- ; chine-guns,.butlhe-Boclie is unhit; Away •'; he scuttles, . outdistances. his pursuers, j and disappears.over the horizon, vengo- | ful "Archie'.'-bursts-.trailing in his wake. ] So far the''work of the salvage men has j been uninterrupted. The enemy' has | been too biisv getting his'gnns back to i shell the old battlefield; but perhaps the j prying plane has seen a target worthy ! of a disengaged battery? . • A wise sergeant withdraws thp party' •; from tile tanks. "We'll let them bide a j bit.""ho- says. '' ;' .".'" 1 Hardly liave the men moved away to | pick" up 'other "Salvage, when shrapnel ! clouds burst over tho tank 6 and the ; bullets clatter againsttheiy- steel-hides." j All day the battlcjgleaners work and the j dumps'grow in size. The officer keeps | tallv; especially of the German salvage, j so thai Corps. Headquarters may know i how many rifles and machine-guns can ; be-claimed-as "captured/' The worst i task is burying tho dead, but at.last that j is done, ana it is night when the men ' nssembk; to mwch -lway.—S.H;,.in the I "Daily Mail."