BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 164, 5 April 1919, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

"Men in Battle." '; .■•lt has. been given'■ to a Hungarianivriter, Andreas Latzko, to produce, in his "Men in. Battle" (Cnssoll and Co., per S. and W. Muckiy), a Beries of pic- ■ tui'Ds of the tragedy and horror of modern warfare uueq.uallcd in their dra-inatic-strength. With tie ono exception of that grim and terrible hook, "The Human Slaughterhouse;" which, published'.in'Germany a few years before the war, caused such a.. sensation, no book that I at least rave ever read can he compared with' Lntzko's, work. It consists of six separate sketches, or, perhaps I should suy, panoramic views of ■war in- its vilest, most horrible, most loathsomo shape; There are passages in this hook which it is difficult-' to read without a feeling of positively physical nausea... Hero, is'war revealed as it is, on its :uglfeit side, as a. thing abhorrent •to nil that is good and gentle and spiritual in man's nature, a thing so shockingly out of-touch with present-day civ-ilisation—still-loss with tlfe spirit of Christianity—as to resemble more the deliberate, callously cruel invention of the Arch-Fiend than tlie product of civilised human energies and ambitions. For the most .part' the sketches deal with war as it is seen by the private .soldier, the humble peasant, who.only desires to iive at peace with all men,, hut who is dragged off to slay and be slajn at the behest of.;a governing- power which rules him- as. with a rod of iron, and in the making and ordering of which ho has had no hand. Lntzko's book is.not for;the 'mealy-mouthed or nervous reader. The author is so relentless in his .realism that,.as I have.said, his narrative becomes, at times almost revolting. In this book at least war is invested with no fictitious theatrical glamour, but stands revealed in. all its naked hideousness,-.Most of. the scenes are taken from the 1 battlegrounds of the Italian' front, battlegronn'ds unsurpassed in : the whole war.for the-'desperaition and bloodthirstinc'ss ..(f the; combats. Where these stories' have a special strength and value is in- their keen analysis of human psychology, their lay- j ing bare of the human soul, working eyer with such, intense force of courage; devotion, hatrsd,. elation or despair beneath' the .uniform. .The sltelch entitled "The Ba'ptfcm of l'ire,"' in which figure two Austrian . officers of strongly ' contrasted . temperaments, is a- veritable masterpiece;'and in its poignant pathos' and glim tragedy ■ the story in which, arb related the homecoming experiences of a once handsome hut nowhomdly-disfignrod young coachman is a triumph of realism .iinsiirpassed by anything that -a.- Dostoievsky or Tolstoi could' have given ns had' they, lived to wTite, of ■ ; latter-day .warfare. The objection-may be.~ihn.do that Latzko has depicted only-'one side of tho war, ib tragic' and' horrible side, that he ignores .qualities which war brings forth at their strongest and finest, _to wit," the sublimity, of. personal 'devotion to a cause, the heroism of self-sacrifice.. the splendid spirit of comradeship which, levels'all ranks and makes officers. and moHjbrothers in soul os.well>s.in arms.. Upon all this, and'/much more ..other, writers have,duly...and"'properly."laid' But Latzko's object is clear.iand well defiued. .. It is to paint war. as-a nation's and 'an- individual's agony, an agony inflicted by man upon man, re-' ■gardfess.pf the teachings ot,Christianity' 'and humanity alike, a vile and disgusting thing-of which a world that is worth •living-in at all • should forthwith and for over rid -itself. \ If ,tho 'Peace, Con--ference'ean-'but ;tliis' niucli-: ■desired "and, inuch-iirayed-for 'corisumina'Upn.' tlieii' will 'its very,'.home lio iheld' 1 blessed- ■ throughout • all • general ions; So. mote it ke. The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns.;; In a volume entitled "Modern Crusaders" (Melbourne:- Molvillo and Mullen), Major \V. hi, Kent Hughes, M.C., of the 3rd Light, Horse.Brigade; A.1.F., gives a detailed uind most interesting account of the'campaign in Sinai'and Palestine, up to tlio capture of Jerusilom;. MajorHJughes, : !whose ; book;is.the .first -work in' ..which, the Palestine"• campaign lias been fully describedi: has a'simple, direct style, which is well in taping-'with' t'ho military operations dealt .with, operations in which, as he reminds us, the, men of 'the New Zealand'Mounted,Bifle'Brigade worked'continuously alongsido tho Australian Light Horse in every, action, "sharing .equally with, them in proportion to their .numbers tho honours and burdens', of the day."-' The hot."winds and.sand storms.of- the Sinai desert region'l were ■ very trying.'.'-For five weeks during June and J lily, in 1916, the thermometer never, caice' registered below 100 degrees iir the'shade, and tho-night temperature was generally .over and rare'y under 85. Reveille was'at four in ISie morning, and 'work had to cease at 10 a.m., all clothing beyond "li.iowel or something less" being unbearable. ■ The flics were ;accounted a- worse foe. than the Turk. They were specially bad when tho dates becamo ripe, when,-says the author, "they, bred in millions, and worried men and animals alike, never giving either any peace during the •day." All through, tho two campaigns the question of water supply 'was a most serious one for lha commanders. . Fresh 'water was. almost invariably sent' out withthesupply convoys, whenever possible; but often during operations the troops had to subsist on the brackish water developed in the "hods" or small oases, which was usually 60. salt that "it curdled tho 'condensedmilk when used for making tea." Major Hughes gives a very interesting account of t'lio making of tho railway to El Arish. Here again the water supply difficulties were great.

One very essential and important factor was the supply of fresh water for the engines, ub the : brackish well-water was useiess for this purpose. For this cause, as well as for other reasons, a pipc'-lino was laid parallel to the railway track, with pumping stations and reservoirs at appointed sectors, the ,water being originally pumped under the Canal from tho sweet-water canal at Kantara. The pipeline has been continued all along tho line, and thus do the Nile waters now flow into Palestine, where it is eaitl their value is roughly .about one shilling per gallon, owing to the long distances over which they are pumped.

- Major liugnes gives a fairly continuous if somewhat sketchy account of the later Palestine 'campaign,, paying full and' well-deserved tribute to the pluck and patience of the troops in general and of the Australian and New Zealandors in particular. The campaign was throughout one which presented many special and peculiar difficulties, but it was well planned and carried out with unfailing energy and .determination. Ono very good feature of the book lies ir. its many interesting descriptions of Arab manners and customs. Tho Arab is not always a nomad. In Palestine, at least, ho is often a hardworking agriculturist, getting good results out of most unpromising ground. Hero is a description of how iie ploughs: ■

Ploughing begins after tho first heavy rains in December. Tile whole of the village turns out, and all commence tlio ploughing together, each one- taking a. doflnite strip. The old wooden one-hand plough is used, drawn by two small mountain: cattle, which arc urged into a flow wall! hy ti'o fretiupui' applications of a long polo, with a nail- through the end with tho'point-'outwards. ... ■'. .As often as not'.-dtt .coming to a boulder the Aral) lifts--.his plough up with one nand, and nuts .-it'down on the other side,' continuing -with the . ploughing until '• another rook' obstructs his progress, and tho action is .repealed.' The old lilljlioal parable of. tho sower that wont forth'to sow ist still very evident''Amongst, ■ these hill people. •'. Sometimes the need is scattered on the'barb ground, and.then ploughed in, while at other limes tho ground is ploughed first, the seed sown, and then ploughed m. In cither case it is easily BOPii.l hftw "some fell'on stony ground mid withered .away—some fell by the wayside —and others wore devoured by the birds of the air" oven as happened nearly two .thousand years ago. ■Miiior-lliixhcS's wiill-wTiMoii and very roadnblo.book contains n. large number of intoresting illustrations, reproduced from snapshots lind photographs,