Australian Patrols.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 8 January 1918, Page 4

Australian Patrols.

ACTI v lriiis Bsf iMiaiir.

Mr Gordon special correspondent of the Australian and New Zealand Press Association, who is visiting the western front, writes: — '' The continuance of favourable weather and the German inactivity have enabled me to visit another divisional front where the Australians are holding the line. I edged my way down deep, trenches past the Australians, looking clean and fresh in their steel hats, passing the time chatting, reading and cleaning their weapons. But the night brings work for all. The guns of both sides open more lively, and the Germans throw over a sprinkling of gas-shells, hoping to interrupt our nightwork. The most ticklish job is patrolling out to and beyond the forward posts. This is a test of nerves, and the Australians do not fail. They have not shrunk from any nasty job throughout the war, though I have seen many a smile camouflaging an anxious soul. "Recent night patrols have been unusually hazardous because the tiny frozen pools crack loudly, and the patroller must lie still, with his heart in his mouth, hoping for the best. This adventurous roaming in the neutral belt keeps track of the enemy's movements, and sometimes gains valuable information, as the captare of a solitary German reveals the disposition of the enemy troops. Our line consists of a series of posts, -nith fortified shell-holes wire ringed. Further back small parties of men frequently have little battles on their own account, giving prowling Germans a merry time with their Lewis guns. "During the daytime there are probably no Germans within 1000 yards of our front line. They retire to well-dug concealments, and come out like rats, in the dusk, and occupy the foremost pillboxes and posts to watch our move,inents. Raids, great and small, provide occasional diversion.

"Despite the rigours of the weather, there is not a nhadow of depression. They never read the war news. Their days are brimful of things that have to be done."