HOW BRITISH FIGHT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1344, 7 January 1915, Page 4

HOW BRITISH FIGHT.

SOLDIER’S MODEST LETTER. A letter has been received by Mr F. Bell, ot Forest Hill, Dunedin, from his son, private J. Bell, who was wounded at Ypres. The letter is dated November ist, 1914, and is written from the General Military Hospital, Lincoln. In the course of his letter, Bell says he was wounded by a bullet passing through his left arm. He continues:—"l expect to be out of hospital soon, and by the time you get this I will be back at the front again. We got a great sendoff from Southda:plon. When we left for the war, ladies ran into the ranks and kissed us and gave us cigarettes. This was nothing compared with our reception in France- One would have thought he was King of England, This is a terrible war, and believe me, if it were not fox the British forces the Germans would doubtless have been in Paris to-day. The British are holding the Germans off. The Fiench are very good fighters. Of course, the Belgians are splendid people, and will fight while there is a man standing. Never refuse a poor Belgian anything if you should see one. They would give us anything. It is a pity to see their beautiful country wasted, as every inch of it is cultivated. I was wounded at a place called Ypres. Our division went into a trench on Friday, and we were told to hang on for reinforcements, which came on Thursday. You may guess we were pretty tired. The Germans kept charging bur trenches, but they never broke our firing line. It was my bad luck to get wounded after reinforcements came up. We were coming back from a bayonet charge at the time. I am sure the German was not aiming at me. The finest sight I have seen was at night, when the Germans soaked a number of trees with petrol and set fire to them. They attacked us by the use of the light.”