LITTLE PICTURES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16751, 5 January 1915, Page 4

LITTLE PICTURES.

VIVID FLASHEB OF WAR. i. GENERAL JOFFRE HONOURED. President Poincare has conferred upon General Joffre the Medaille Militaire, the highest honour that can ho conferred on a French soldier. The presentation -was made in the presence of Premier VivianJ, Minister of War Millorand, the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and the members of the general staff.

In making the presentation President Poincare said the simple medal, which was the emblem of the highest military virtues and whioh was worn with equal pride by illustrious general ß and humble soldiers, was a mark of the nation's gratitude to its command-er-in-chief. M. Poinoare added that ho associated with him in his sincere congratulations General Joffre's devoted collaborators of the general staff and the magnificent armies of France. "The horrors of this sanguinary war," M. Poincare continued, "will not dampen the enthusiasm of the troops. The grievous losses suffered by the nation will not disturb its constancy nor shake its will. Franoe exhausted all means to spar© to humanity this unprecedented catastrophe. She knows that to avoid its recurrence Bhe must, in union with her Allies, definitely abolish its causes.

'' Indecisive victory and a precarious peace would expose to-morrow the genius of France to fresh insults from that refined barbarism which assumes the mask ofsoienco the better to slake its instincts of domination.

'' France will carry on to the end, by a union of all of her children and with, the unflagging aid of her Allies, the work of European liberation now begun. And when, she has completed the task she will find a fuller life in glory, concord and security." Tho Presidential party afterwards left army headquarters for an extended tour of tho battle front.

The Medaille Militaire was established in 1852 for non-commissioned officers and men of the army and navy. An exception was made in the case of a General or an Admiral for valorous work after such officers already have attained the highest rank in the Legion of Honour. It is therefore considered the greatest honour that can bo conferred on a General or an Admiral. 11. A GERMAN HERO. The first field marshal's baton of the present war has boon award«o. to General von Hindenburg for his seriea of victories in defending Eastern Prussia against the flood of Russian invasion. His chief of staff and collaborator, General von Ludendorf, has been promoted to a Lieutenant-Generalship for his share in the success.

The award to von Hindenburg comes with the great Eastern battle still undecided as a reward for the preliminary victories at Lodz, which are said to have thrown the Russians on the defensive with a loss of 60,000 prisoners and 100 guns. It is taken here to indicate that the Emperor has confidence that von Hindenburg will completely defeat the Russian army. The honour of reoeiving the grand cross of* the iron cross, the emblem given a field marshal, is the highest military distinction a German commander can receive, and was won by von Hindenburg, as in the cases of the first von Moltke, Crown Prince Friedrich and the Prussian "Red Prince," Friedrich Karl, on the field of battle. The elevation of von Hindenburg will be generally acclaimed in Germany, where ho enjoys great popularity.

The newspapers comment appreciatively on the honour conferred on von Hindenburg. The "Tageblatt" says:— " Tt is fitting that the first man to receive the rank since the death of Field Marshal Count von Schloiffon, the great teacher of the Clausewitz-ian-von Moltkean art of war, should be von Hindenburg, who repeatedly has demonstrated the teachings of the

Cat master, namely, that German lers must learn now to inflict a decisive defeat oven with inferior numbers. .

"The victor of Tannenberg holds good in Poland what he promisad in East Prussia, and in his advanoe to the Vistula, his retirement to the frontier, and by his new blow at the elowlyfollowing enemy, he has always remained master of the situation.

"The German nation has confidence that Field Marshal von Hindenburg will do all within the limits of human power to defend the eastern borders and overthrow its most dangerous enemy."—Berlin correspondent, San Francisco " Chronicle." in. GERMANS ARM-TN-ARM. Lieutenant Ralph Broome, son of Major-Geaieral Broom©, writing home, says:— "This is tho eighth day we have been in these dug-outs. Yesterday tho Germans made some very lierco attacks on our position, but were held back, with very severe losses to them. I cannot understand how they manage to get men enough to be continually attacking us, and lose so heavily each time. We all admire tho pluck of these Germans. Of course, it is not so much the men as the staff who are so good. They havo got tho men under suoh very strong discipline that they can order them to do almost anything. " About a fortnight ago they got orders to attack and break through our line at any cost, and this is how they tried to do it: They gave their men a tremendous lunch, and any amount of wine, which wo think was drugged, and then made them advance aaainst us in solid! linos, each man linking arms with the men on either side. Thoy came on in several lines, and finally did break our line, but lost simply hundreds in doing so. Their men were all rolling about tho place half senseless. Captain Mosby and I share a dug-out, and I have carved a bit out of the wall and a hole in the roof, and made a fireplaoe. "So we go to sleep each night with a nice glowing fire and' a good bit of omoko, but that does not matter; it is the warmth we want. You would laugh if you oould see us in our rabbit warren. When there is no shelling ffoing on you see heads and men blobbing in and out of little holes in the around. Immediately a shell is heard coming not a living soul can be seen anywhere." rv. THE LOOTERS. Strange details have been received hero (Bordeaux) from the front showing the Gorman looting instinct in all its naively cynical simplicity. Special "plunder trains" aro regularly run from the battle-line to German' towns, conveying the booty, such as furniture, piotures, valuables, etc. A letter found, dated October, from Getenau, Grand Duchy of Hesse, • sent to a troopor ait Sain to Marie aux ITsines, says: "The shoes you sent Karl don't fit him, unfortunately. Otherwise all the things received are useful, especially the French saucepans, which are excellent. Do send more, also all the French crockery you can, find, which is likewise very good." Particulars of fresh dishonest German war stratagems come in day by day. Here is their latest. Parties of strange, hulking females were seen picking potatoes in the fields, and convoys of provisions were also escorted by some parties of curious-looking women. When sniped the females picked' up their skirts and ran, showing beneath their petticoats the top boots and grey-green trousers of German troopers. —"Daily Telegraph." V. ILL-JUDGED HEROISM. This is the burden of a letter which has been addressed to the '•' Hospital " by' one of tho medical officers at present serving with the troops in France. The heavy proportion of casualties which has been suffered by our army doctors has, he says, resulted largely from their mistaken bravory in advancing right to the firing line. " The wounded," he writes, " are far safer lying whore they fall —provided someone will apply the first field dressing which every soldier

oarries—than befog taken away inr daylight while the action is •lill proceediaig. The Germans seem io hava apjwpiated this-muoa sooner'than waj VI. EFFIG&CY OF lODINE. Lieutenant H. Lancelot Tells, writing from one of the hospitals in the neighbourhood of Rouen, makes an appeal for safety matches. " Tommy," he says, has an intense dislike to French matches, which, he has christened " Wait-e-bits." Lieutenant Tells adds:

"This huge battle in the north still; drags on without any definite result, but all agree that the Gorman losses are appalling. Of one thine lam sure, and that is that the Germans pile up their dead, cover them with' earth, and use the dead bodies as protection from our fire. "We have had a few cases of tetanus, but the mortality is very high. Now every shell wound gets a dose of anti-toxin on the field as a prophy-. laotio, so we hope to reduce the hum-] ber. It only follows shell wounds, due, it is supposed, to the intensive system of agrioulture prevalent in all parts of Francs. Also we get bad oases of gangrene, due to the B, aerpgenes capsulatus; but the treatment of this is much more satisfactory. We injoot the whole limb with 20 vol.: hydrogen peroxide till the limb is completely swollen up. It is most; painful, however, and the difficulty is to make the solution alkaline without destroying its efficiency. lodine is figuring very greatly in this war, and what a difference it makes. If a man comes in here having had iodine painted on at the field ambulance he rarely cots sepsis, or at least only slight; but if ho has not. it is a dead certainty that his wound'is septic." "vTT~ FIGHT FOR A HAYSTACK. There is something almost inhumajj about the modern artillery; duel, where the flying death strikes'like a. bolt from heaven, and men hare died in thousands who have never seen the face of a foe. The war of the trenches, fierce and stern as it is, t has yet oertain'touches of humanity. Men are men at a hundred paces and not so much food for steel and lead. Reund Arras, where French and German lines are, at some points, only a hundred yards apart, there are returns sometimes to the old conditions of warfare, \ if not of the strongbow, at least of,' the.flintlock age. There are individual' deeds of daring, there is a seasoning of humofcr and ruses, and insolts as oli as Homer are exchanged. The "Libert©" tells the story of % harmless haystack, which found itself, by its position between th© opposing trenches outside Arraa, a point of coa* sidorable vantago. For forty-sigh* hours it was alternately occupied a\ very short intervals by French and German signalers. This was what would happen. A couple of French. soldiers would make a run for the hay* stack, soramble up it, take observations, then, as the fire grew too hot, slither down and return to their trenofies. No sooner was the haystack thus unoccupied than a couple of Germans would hasten out from thsir tronohes and assault it in turn. It bea Samo - amon 8 the Frenob. to time the successive occupations, and bet« of dgarettes were freelv laid. UninSa^ y k tlus 6om ; ce of amusement n S? A? n ?S t tendC ° nd da *> when the' much-disputed haystack was fired in OnTntl f a f™ 0h *■*■»•« One night, a foggy one, there came to the ears of the French the soundot an accordeon being played in the German trenches. Now the soldiers in this portion of the Allied lines were Bretons, -who are great dancers. The sound of the accordeon got into their feet—so squadron by squadron tlio regiment left the shelter of its trenches, formed circles, and danced to the enemy's music. They paid their debt next day, when they made the Ger- ! mans dance to theirs—and to a different tune.