BRITISH ARTILLERY FIRE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1615, 26 September 1916, Page 4

BRITISH ARTILLERY FIRE.

The devastating effects of the British shoil (in* on (ho Soin.uu> front !iro emphasised by Mr Phillip Gibbs in :t recent despatch. Ho sin (.os (hnl in spito of nil his inndustry in digging, (In 1 enemy hns not boon nhle to uinke any system of trenches and dng-outs to withstand the British shell-lire. As soon as lie gels on with a tronoh (ho British guns register upon il and lay it Hat. TTis only protection is in artillery retaliation, and however great its obstructive [lower it cannot give cover to the Berman infantry crouching in shallow ditches, and having to come up through communication trenches ploughed by high explosives. They belong to battalions hurriedly gathered from other parts of the line ami (lung in to slop the gap. They are the victims of the general disorganisation of the divisions and the staffs which have suffered most heavily from repeated attack's. Behind them, no doubt, the German Headquarters Staff is ns cool and deliberate as ever, not allowing itself to he (lurried by these reverses, organising new lines of defence in case of need, shifting its guns, playing the old hlood-and-iron game with cold, scientific brains that fire not .affected by the losses or the agonies of men, except as they have an influence upon (In* operations. Por they are highly-trained scientists of war, these German staff officers, and in defeat, as once in victory, (hey will he as cold and as hard as steel. Therefore it is idle to hope for a sudden and sensational collapse of the German warmachine or to argue from local weaknesses and symptoms of bad staff work a general disorder. Nevertheless, there are many signs (hat the enemy is beginning to feel a severe strain upon his defensive strength, and that Ids men are being put to an ordeal which not even all their discipline and their courage can make endurable. Bor men of a certain kind of science are apt: to forget I bat there are oilier things in human nature besides the chemistry and llesh and blood, and that not even the. finest soldiers can he made to light well if their spirit is broken by repea toil losses.