A SOLDIER’S LETTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1406, 3 June 1915, Page 4

A SOLDIER’S LETTER.

IN THE VERNACULAR. There is a real unedited soldier’s letter in the current issue of The World’s Work : “Dear Hairy,” It begins, “you would have given a quid to see the show that night. I got hit. Well, it was about half past four in the morning, and there was a heavy fog on. You could not see ten yards in front. Of course, we had all night sentries on as usual, when all of a sudden Jimsy Douglas woke me up by saying, ‘Come on Jock, the Germans are on the top of the trench.’ I looked up, and here there was a big dirty German standing right above me. Of course he never stood a couple of minutes till he did a somersolt into the trench with a bullet to keep him warm. There was no officer there, but Mr Craig he was locking after a platoon of B. Coy. and us as well, so he told me to work by myself and went along the trench, and if he killed one he killed thirty without a word of a lie. That wasn’t all, I got on the parapet and let them have a couple of belts —500 rounds and didn’t miss them either. Then the boss came along and told me to bring my gun to where he was. Of course I had to go out of the trench to mount it. I just had ray tripod up when I got knocked back into the trench with a couple of holes in. You should have heard the nicknames I called the bloke that done it. I think I called him everything but a minister’s son, and if I could have stood on my leg I would of been after him. I was that angry. We lost about a dozen of B. Coy. and your humble of the gunners, so we did not do too bad considering the trench was full of dead Germans and God knows how many was outside. But there is no doubt, Harry, if the Germans had have had any pluck in them we would havehadtosay good bye. Imagine standing on the top trench shouting to the jocks to surrender.”