Life in the Trenches.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 1 December 1917, Page 1

Life in the Trenches.

AUCKLAND OFFICER'S DESCRIPTION. An Auckland officer serving with thc First Canadians, writing fron; the front under date of September 16, 1917, states:—"l am sitting in a cellar a short distance from the Boches' lines, with nothing to do excepting to keep awake and attend to anything that may arise. Fritz seems to have more shells than ever, and he is extremely generous with them. He' evidently did not know which were our outposts, or which of the dozens of trcnchcs we were occupying therefore he threw more shells, minnics-and rifle grenades than I have ever known him to do, and yet we did not have a single casualty. From one of our posts wc could look through a hole in a wall and see the German sentry walking up and down in front of what was apparently a headquarters. Soldiers were coming and going all day long with papers, and officers were wandering around arm in arm. There were also some soldiers strutting around without equipment, steel hats or masks, in blissful ignorance that, had wo liked we could have shot them as easily as picking apples off a tree. NEAR NEIGHBOURS.

"He did not know that wo were in a house just across the street from him, or he would not have been so quick on the promenade stuff. Unfortunately that was the only spot where we could see them, and had we started shooting, although we would most likely have bagged a few Germans, wc should ourselves soon have been blown to smithereens. It suited our purpose more for getting intelligence than to use for sniping from. Fritz is having a very anxious time here, and starts his S.O.S. artillery on the slightest pretence. We slipped a bunch of gas last trip, and he turned all his artillery ou, but fortunately for us it was on a trench that was unoecupicd. "Every night the Germans are working feverishly, strengthening the defences and seem to be always expecting us to attack. I'll bet that thc officer in charge over there heaves a sigh of relief at dawn each morning. Unless a miracle happens wc will, of course, spend the winter in thc trcnchcs, but next year will see old Fritz where wo want him. Everybody is a kind of war-weary, but I think thc Huns will soon realise that our boys will neyer bo weary enough to quit without finishing the job, and finishing it right."