THE SERGEANT’S LITTLE HOMILY.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1918, Page 4

THE SERGEANT’S LITTLE HOMILY.

THE WAY TO FIGHT.

The bayonet is pre-eminently the weapon of the soldier, and lie is well drilled in its use. The instructing sergeant (writes Major H. F. Wood in his book “ An American at War ”) precedes each exercise by a lecture, and as he is alike imaginative and unrefined the lecture is usually vivid and practical. Halt a hundred ’recruit?* gather around him, each holding his rifle with bayonet fixed. The instructor begins his discourses quietly, laying down his premises somewhat as follow: “ The bayonet is not a pocket-knife nor a garden tool. It is not made to chop firewood nor to toast bread. It is the most effective weapon of war, and it is meant vo kill Germans ivitli. The only way to win a battle is by ’ard fightiu’. You never get anythin’ for nothin’, in war or anywhere else, so don’t be afraid of losses. When you go to the front you want to do it with the idea of seekiu’ ’ard fights —under favourable conditions if possible — but favourable or unfavourable, make ’em rough. Get close to yer enemy, hook for ’im, get ’im into, a corner of the ring, so to speak, and then mix it up. Rough him. Give ’im ’ell. Yer must ’ave this idea firmly fixed in yer ’ead when ye're about to take part in your first attack. You will be in the trenches waitin’ and not knowing exactly when the zero hour is to be. You may wait like that for several days, with a most particular ’ell of a bombardment going on all about you, some of it ccmin’ at 3 r ou, but must of it movin’ towards the Bodies, preparin’ the way for you by bustin’ up ’is'wire and destroyin’ ’is trenches And then while the bombardment is still goin’ on as ’ard as ever, word comes that ye’re to go over the top at such and such, a minute. As the hour arrives the officers keep lookin’ at their wrist watches, and the time don’t seem to go very fast. Be a man. Don’t begin thinkiu’ of ’ome, but remember what the Germans are tryin’ to do to the world;.’ Think of what they’ll do to you if they get you down. Think of their baby-killin’ and their Belgian slaves and their Armenian massacres, and their burniu’ and pillagin’ and be damn thankful that you’ve a chance to do somethin’ towards stoppin’ all that kind of thuggery for good an’ all. Don’t stand with yer knees sliakin’ and yer eyes quivering’, but grind your'teeth and think of the way they’re makin’ people suffer everywhere with their kultur, and their ‘me und Gott.’ And so about a minute before the time to go over yer wants to say to yerself: “The time ’as come for me to do my bit. It’s going’ to be a rough party,, but I am goin’ to make it a damn sight rougher for the Boche than for me.’ So with } r er teeth grittin’, yer eyes poppiu’ out, yer ’air standin’ on end.- and yer bayonet fixed ye’re . ready to go over the top when the time comes and the order is given. ‘An’ when she comes don’t wait a secon’ for your chums on the light or left, but clamber over the top and all go at once like a British lion^.after ’is grub.” ■=.