IS THE BOCHE DONE?

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17281, 23 September 1916, Page 6

IS THE BOCHE DONE?

AN AUSTRALIAN'S VIEW. (Correspondent " Daily Telegraph.") I will record here, from notes of the last of the new arrivals to be interviewed, the remarks of an English temporary officer and an Australian private, bo Ui of whom woro wounded in the advance from i J oaieies, in which our troops gained some fiOU yards upon a dvAAj-jaro. irout. .both liio Australian ana tue 8 in ad gooa nutu of vwiai; tiieu' own 1 nau seen, and spono traniiiy, _ Witnout rear or favour. jne iingash oJncer, of a south country regiment, auvanced troni tno ieit of the position of cue Australians, tliat is, from tne siae nearesst linepvai, a. notaole German strongnoid. iae said: —■ " it was almost darn when we went over, and we'd a iongish way to go, on an up-grade, too; uio Doner pare of oW yarus, 1 thniK. 1 don't tlinns tlio iiocue was expecting us. At all events, nis niuchinu-gun are was not so not as 1 had oxpected; nothing near J so intense as wo nod in advancing easterly Horn Authdle way on July 1. At the same time, there was quite enougn of it, and more than a tiuru of my piatoon were wounded before we got to tdo Boche front fine; and 1 mink the proportion in tue rest of the company—my leit, that was—was heavier. "The ground had all been pretty much torn up, jou Know; tnere wasn t a yard of smootn gouig; but as for the B*ocne trencnes tnemseives —well, they were haraly trencnes at all. The wnole place haa been pulverised. \cu may guess, when 1 ted you that at thirty or forty yards 1 wasn't quite suro where their trench began: and 1 came to the conclusion that there was no bodies holding it at all. "Then, quite suddenly, they appeared ; seemed to spring up out of the earth all round; and i must say they fought well and hard. I saw no oases of hands up; not a singlo one. Tve been in a good many scraps since July 1, and some before; but I never saw the Bocho stand up to tho steel and use the steel himself as wcli as he did that night. "We heard afterwards they'd had tho most emphatic orders ' that they must hold that line at all costs, and I can believe it. They certainly did their best. We got no prisoners at all • there. I honestly think my platoon accounted for two of theirs, but there were mighty few of mine left on their feet at tho finish. "The Boches won't let you admire! them; at least, that's been my experience of tho beggars. However much you may want to treat '"em like sportsmen and soldiors they won't let you. chaps fought so desperately hard, you felt liice respecting 'em, but they wouldn't let you. Every " chance you gave 'em they'd 'do you dirty,' as our fellows say. But they fought hard; by God, they fought desperately hard. There wasn't a yard of their ground we got without hand-to-hand scrapiping for it; and the last of 'em struggled as hard as the first. Their casualties must have been very heavy indeed. It was the bloodiest business I've seen; and the way our chaps stood up to it and saw it right through was just fine." FOUGHT LIKE WILD CATS. The Australian private had advanced' from the extreme right of this particular push. ' His wound was a clean one, from a rifle bullet, and will not keep him out of things for long. And this was the way tho show had imI pressed him:— " We had 'em fairly on a string this time. The blighters never thought we were coming. I'm suro of that; but if they had, they never could have stopped us. They hadn't snap enough left in 'em to stop a school treat. I reckon the Bocho is done; he's fairly got the wind up him. Why, you'd never believe the difference between the scarecrows we struck this time and the sort of men we had to fight in taking Pozieres. They were fighters then, all right. My word! They fcAtght like wild cats in Pozieres. Why, there was a Bocho there who'd been knocked out; one of his legs was helpless, and he tackled me with his bayonet as I passed him, spitting and cursing like a cat. Nearly ripped the breeches off :ne, he did, and after IV biffed him, blessed, if he didn't fasten his teeth in my hand, so that I'll never lose tho marks of him See! I liad to kill that cnap, and really 1 was sorry for it. My word! I never thought to bo sorry for killing a Boche, But he was that game! " But this crowd on the Friday night . Well, as I say* they were fairly done before ever we saw them. We didn't do any shouting, you know; just went over, as though it was a patrol, and got across No Man's Land steady .and quiet, as though we were going to billets. I believe I was the o.dy man in my platoon hit while we were crossing. And when we got there there was no scrap in it. They ju3i bobbed up all rcund like frightened kids, giving themselves up. You could no more fight the beggars than if they had been kids. There wer<s three came to me, and I give you my \.ord the tears were running .down their cheeks. Enough to make you sick. Wo just, bunched 'em like sheep, and sent 'em to tho rear under escort. " The trenches were just dust-heaps, and I saw two dug-outs that were fairly smothered. Tho men had to crawl out of them on their hands and knees, and one more shell would have buried 'em altogether. There was a place between two trenches, or ail that was left of trenches, where I saw a Boche sergeant driving a doi.<:n men at us, and it made me think of sheep being driven. Fighters! Why you could tackle 'em with one hand tied behind your back- Two or three of 'em dropped thoii rifles as they shambled on. Moaning and groaning, they were. Only a Boche sergeant could have driven such miserable cattle at all. Ho was prodding 'em with his bayonet, and cursing a good 'un all the time. Every one of 'em dropped . his riile when they got up to us. Up went their hands. ''Mercy! Mercy! Don't shoot!" They learn a little English, ycra know. "You couldn't touch 'em. They were too far gone. But that sergeant fought, for he stuck a mate of mine clean through tho thigh. Before i got him I didn't dare to shoot for fear of hitting my mate, but I swung the butt of my rifle on his jaw, and then [ stuck him as he stepped back, ne was the only r«al man in the bunch, tbat I saw. "My opinion is the Boche is done. He'll have to go on fighting, of course;, bis bosses will see to that. But 1 think he's done. There's no two ways | ' about it, but that lot had the wind up 'em, anyhow; fairly dono, and broke to the world, they were." A. EEKAItKABLE CURE FKOM .RHEUMATISM. | ♦ Eecd thi3 loiter irom ono who suffered a"ony from. Kueuuatism —ho tclla how he was cared by lihuuojo. Mr J. Briggs, of Wellicgtou writes: —'" Eor a coiißiderable time I suffered very severely with .Rheumatism. I tried all kinds of liniments and pills, but they did mo .10 good. I heard of several people who had taken your Rheumo, and to ■/ they bad been benefited, bo I took a few bottles, and I am pleased to say that it did what you claim for it—gave relief and cure for Rheumatics. All suffering from Rheumutism and Gout should give it a trial, as J em confident they will be cured. Don't delay Got Rhsumo at oooe—2s 6d and 4s 6d feottk 1« JBarraclough's Mogio Nervin* is ft certnin, (rare cure for Toothache. 1 p-»reelough'B Progandra cures Corns. 2