YPAES DRENCHED WITH GAS.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 July 1918, Page 4

YPAES DRENCHED WITH GAS.

STORM OF SHELL ON

KFMMFL

(From Hamilton Fyfe.)

With the British Armv, April 20 In all battles there are certain points of vantage round which the fighting rages, "most furiously. Sometimes these are villages, sometimes cemeteries or brickfields or mills, like the steam mill at Bailleul. Sometimes they are merely crossroads or the remnants of little woods all torn to pieces by shellfire. ' Often it is hard to see why these points should be so determinedly fought for. Occasionally I have known the motive to be merely rlie spirit of “Won’t, be- beaten.” Neither side will admit itself worsted. It is around to vantage points of this character that the most violent struggles have been happening these last two days. West of Kem- j me). Hill is a village called Locre. | North-east oi it is another small, collection of larms known as Voorme/eele. I wrote “is. I should have written “ was,” for neither village exists now save as a heap of ruins. Yet those heaps ot ruins could hardly have been fought for more valiantly if they were rich and nobly situated cities. They have changed hands several times. As I have" travelled about in the battle zone during the last 48 hours I have heard so many times “ The Boche is back in Voormezeele ” or j' "• The French have got Locre again ” that who has them at this moment it is imposedb!e t*> f " |

There is a little spur ot rising ground above Yoormezeele which gives a slight advantage, and Locre is a useful point in the protection of the Scherpenberg, the hill some little way from Keramel Hill, which is the present chief objective of the enemv in this part of the field. But neither is really vital to any line of defence. The more important aspect of the fighting round them is that the enemy has been suffering severe losses, as he has also in Ridge Wood, not far away, which place Scottish and other troops have been holding with resolute grip. allies’ prick for krmmkl. We know Irom a prisoner that I one company in the 7th German 1 Division began yesterday with 12c men and by evening had only 40 The German casualties have beer far heavier these last two days o less concentrated action than the) were on Thursday when . the) stormed Kemmel. Indeed, tli< possession ot the hill has been ver) much more costly to them than tin taking of it. If you could listen, as I have been listening! to on heavy guns steadily pouring a hai of death on to the Germans wli< occupy the crest and slopes, yoi would very clearly realise why. Partly in revenge and partly ii the hope of disturbing any move meat which might be going oi there, the Germans have boei drenching Ypres with gas. wonder if that bald statement which you have read so often be fore, conveys to your mind air sharp and exact idea of what 1 means. Try to imagine yourself ii the ruined city with an atuiospher of poison' all about you. BreatJn this atmosphere and you will be either at once or after an interval of hours, seized with torturin; pains and agonising shortness c breath. The whole population therefore, goes about with face am head covered, with nose tight, pinched by a spring inside it mask,with eyes looking out nr iittfe windows, and wait blob of rubber in the m u h. It is a strange sight an a w-- . a :> vastly comic if the cause wme so deadly. Working, talking, eati m even sleeping—all have to be n* - in this disguise. The burden add enormously to the tedium and it; : tation of life in this hideously de vastated, very damp, and togg. place. I BRITISH GAS, WITH INTEREST.

In return for this we make the enemy’s life as unpleasant as possible. I mil across a gas expert this morning. He was studying a map, and when I asked him why, he said he was looking for the best place to gas next. “ I’ve got my blood up,” he added savagely. “ I feel my reputation is in the balance. I have got to go one better than the Boche, and I mean to. Tam in an ugly mood. Putting a thousand of them out of action for a fortnight is no good to me. I want to kill them. They began this dirty game, but we can play it unite as well, if not I’m going to prove that to some of them without’ delay.” That is the right mood in which to make war on an unscrupulous enemy. The Australians understand it well. They have made the Germans so nervous of being attacked by them in their sudden, stealthy way that in a certain part of the line the enemv is digging and wiring himself in. Each German soldier in this open warfare digs himself a little hole for cover- an individual trench one might call it. These are usually behind hedges, if there are hedges, and they are moie or less connected up by shallow gutters. In the area I have mentioned the digging is more elabo: ate and wire entanglements protect it, but this does not keep the Australians inactive. Most nights they are out doing the most valuable and accurate patrol work harrying the Germans and bringing back prisoners.

A night or two ago they made an amusing capture in a farmyard. They foitud a German officer hiding in a pigsty. They pulled him out, and, finding he could speak some English, they asked him what he was doing alone. Ke replied that he was not alone. “ Where are your men, then?” they demanded. He tohhhis captors that two men were in a neighbouring farmyard mounting guard over three pigs. He had been sent out to round up sausagemeat, and he was searching for more when the Australian patrol caught him. With him ami his two men there went back to the Australian camp the three pigs,- for which the Germans 111 their quarters were hungrily waiting.

The spirit of the prisoners depends a great d--al upon the experiences they have been through and the way they have been fed. If they are captured in the course of operations that are going on well they are confident that the war will soon be over and that Germany will come out on top. If they have just been cowering under a fearful barrage of exploding shells or if their rations have been reaching them irregularly they say that they arcsick and tired-of fighting, that they only light beem se they have to. and tiiat tliov do not care how it ends.

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