BEHIND THE GERMAN LINES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1782, 29 January 1918, Page 1

BEHIND THE GERMAN LINES.

MANY CIVILIANS IN CAMERA I.

TROOPS FROM EASTERN FRONT.

A Great mass of interesting and valuable information about conditions in the enemy’s line remains to he sifted and analysed, a correspondent at British •.headquarters wrote shortly all or ihe breaching of the Himkmlmrg line. It consists of statements made by prisoners in various captured headquarters. I cannot: recall any successful operation which has yielded captures of so many different kinds of units. In addition to ordinary lighting men wo have soldiers who were employed exclusively in hack areas, railway units, central telephonists, camp commandants, headquarters servants, and officers and men who bad not been at Hie actual front for more than (wo years.

While the captured otiiccrs generally say that the morale of (he German troops in front of Cambrai was good, many of them admit that there lias been a steady deterioration in (he past year, and more than one of them commented on the inferior (dass of officers now in command. Various methods of persuasion have lo be used to induce the men to undertake special tasks, such as raids, and those methods are very often unsuccessful. Full details of one raid made on our lines at Gnillemonl Farm on the ISlh show this unwilling spirit. A battalion of the 183rd Division suffered heavily and continuously in the front line from our trench mortar batteries. The Divisional General ordered an elaborate attack for the purpose of destroying them. Two hundred volunteers were required, but few responded —in one company no one came forward —and It) were selected by the captain. The raiders, totalling 220 men from three battalions, were sent to the rear to practise the raid on fullsized models of our trenches wherein (he supposed positions of the trench mortars were indicated. They were paraded before the Divisional General on the 151 lq and were praised for their progress and exhorted to do their utmost to help to destroy the trench mortal's in order to save the lives of their comrades, and to lake as many prisoners as possible. They left the practice ground on the 17tb, and arrived early the next morning al Ihe trenches, where (hey were given schnapps and (old (hat wine and cigars would ho distributed Unit night. A number of the men tried to (jseape in the darkness, and sentries wore posted to keep them together until the. raid —which was unsuccessful —took place, Among the prisoners are many men recently combed from (he Russian front. At (he end of October a, large number of regiments seem to have been depleted in Ibis way, then refilled with hoys of the Itlli) class. The veil that has hidden Gamhrai and the populous districts behind it for nearly three years is lifted slightly by our victory, and we can see, dimly il is true, ye| definitely, the dreary daily life of the inhabitants of that other world beyond the Hi mien burg lino. Until a week at least before the British attack Cambrai still contained some thousands of civilians. They wore confined rigidly to certain areas, they were wholly prisoners by night, and they had very limited freedom during the brief period of daylight. Tramway ears were still running and shops were still open, though there w.‘is*lillle■or nolhing to sell. All industrial life was in the hands of t lie invaders)* who devoted it to military purposes. Many trains arrived and departed, bill, all of (hem carried troops and munitions. Prisoners who were in the (own on the morning when wc attacked have mentioned a vague excitement nmong the civilians remaining there, wild rumours of a possible British entry, u wave of hope that rose higher and was plainly apparent to the Germans dspite brave efforts at self-control. All the villages behind Cambrai were apparently inhabited. In fact, the entire countryside appears to have been nearly as populous as on the day the Herman armies engulfed it. But, of course, the events of the past week may have wrought, a marked change in the affairs of thousands of civilians, whose homes are thus brought nearer the battlefront.

Refugees from Alasnieres stated that there was no communication between the villages. People living in them knew as little about their relatives and friends four miles away as of the outside world. Field gendarmes policed them harshly, and they could not move beyond the street wherein they lived without a special pass.