TOMMY CLOSE UP

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1825, 11 May 1918, Page 4

TOMMY CLOSE UP

AS SEEN BY lAN HAY. The British soldier is a peculiar individual. Other nations cannot understand him at all. In the eyes of the German military man his qualities are the very ones that unfit a man to bo a soldier. The picture of the Tommy which Major lan Hay draws in one of the chapters of his recent hook is graphic', and helps us to understand how the little British

army stood so doggedly at bay during the terrilffv discouraging days of 1914: —

It is thin, very faculty—philosophic trust, coupled - with absolute lack of imagination—which makes the British soldier the most invincible person in the . world. The Frenchman is inspired to glorious deeds by Ids great spirit and passionate Jove of his own sacred soil; the German fights as he thinks, like

a machine. But the British Tommy wins through owing to his entire indifference to the pros and cons of the tactical situation! He settles down to war like any other trade, and, as in time of peace, he is chiefly concerned with his holidays and his creature comforts. A battle is a mere incident 'between one set of billets and another. Consequently he docs not allow the grim realities of war to obsess his mind when off duty. One might almost ascribe his success as a soldier to the fact that his domestic instincts gro stronger than his military instincts. Put the average Tommy into a trench under lire, and how does ho comfort himself? Docs he begin by striking an attitude and hurling defiance at the foe? No, he begins enquiring, in no uncertain voice, where his dinner is! He then examines ids new quarters. Before him stands a parapet, buttressed, maybe, with hurdles or balks of timber, (he whole being designed to preserve his life from hostile projectiles. How does he treat this bulwark? Unless closely watched he will begin to chop it up for firewood. His next proceeding is to construct for himself a place of shelter. This sounds a sensible proceeding, but here again it is a case of “safety second.’’ A British Tommy regards himself as completely protected from the

assaults of his enemies if he lay a sheet of corrugated-iron roofing across his bit of trench and sit underneath it. At any rate, it keeps the rain off, and that is all his instincts demand of him. An ounce of comfort is worth a pound of safety.

He looks about him. The parapet here requires fresh sandbags; there the trench needs pumping out. Does he fill sandbags, or pump, of his own volition? Not at all. Unless remorselessly supervised, he will devote the, rest of the morning to inventing and chalking up a title for his new dugout—■“Jocks’ Lodge,” or “Burns’ Cottage,” or “Cyclists’ Rest” —supplemented by a precautionary notice, such as No Admittance. This Means You. Thereafter, with shells whistling over his head, he will decorate the parapet, in his immediate vicinity with picture postcards and cigarette photographs. Then he leans back with a happy sigh. His work is done. His home from home is furnished. He is now at leisure to think about “they Gairmans” again. That may sound like an exaggeration; but “Comfort First” is the motto of that lovable but imprudent grasshopper, Thomas Atkins, all the time.