GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1846, 29 June 1918, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

50,000,000 FIGHTERS. . ;

It is estimated that there are 50,s 000,000 men under arms at the present time, and behind each fighter there are four workers. 800 MILE AIR RAID. The Petit Parisian says that Lieutenant hßeriiapd, .a' .native of Lyons,;t ha's carried out a daring raid with • a squadron in Southern Algeria, flying 1,300 kilometres to bomb cantonments of hostile Touaregs. ALIVE, THOUGH TWICE “KILLED.” Captain Gentry Birch, Royal Berks Regiment, who has been twice reported killed and mourned by his family at Reading, is found to be alive, though wounded, and a prisoner in Germany." Captain Birch was educated at University College, Reading, for which ho rowed in the eight at Henley Regalia a few seasons ago. GAS MASKS RUINED BY SPY. The Frenchmen were recently issued a new type of gas masks, says an American soldier in writing home. They only wore them a few days when an order came not to wear them any more. Our interpreter explained that they had caught a German spy who had ruined them all before they left the factory,’ What do you think about that? OVER 600,000 MISSING GERMANS. General von Wrisberk stated in the Budget Committee of the Reichstag that on March 31st the mini-, her of men reported missing had reached a total of 604,104, of which number 236,676 were prisoners in France, 118,000 in Britain, and 167,000 in Russia and Roumania. Most of the others must be regarded as dead. FLYING ACROSS THE SAHARA. The Echo de Paris states that the crossing by airplane of the Saharapl he ha If of which had -already been carried out for the first time, has now been completed by three machines which left Ouargla and arrived at Salah, having completed the trip in seven hours with a solitary landing at Inifol. The six aviators who pari impaled in this accomplishment will be.mentioned in the orders of the day of the French Army in Africa. VON LIMAN IN PALESTINE. To judge hy an article in the Muuchner Ncucsle Nachrichlon, hy Major Endres, who is regarded as a specialist on Turkish affairs, the Turk's have got rid of General von Falkenheyn, and he has been succeeded in Palestine by General Liman von Sanders, the former head of the German military mission at Constantinople. SAVED HIS ENGINE. Among many remarkable stories of airmen’s feats which were recorded in a special supplement to the London Gazette was the following, of which the hero was Temporary Captain P. Huskinson, Notts and Derby Regiment and R.F.C., who is awarded a bar to his Military Cross. “When tiring at roads from a low altitude he received a direct hit from a shell, which carried away a portion of his machine. He, however, regained control, and, landing upside down in a shell hole full of water, was suspended in the water until nearly drowned. After his rescue he remained all day working under shell-fire until he had salvaged the engine.” REPAIRS WHILE FLYING. Particulars are given of a plucky feat performed by Leading Mechanic Sydney Francis Anderson, D.S.M., who is awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. After repairing while in flight the petrol system of his machine which had been damaged in action with enemy aircraft, he noticed trouble in the right engine. Asking the pilot to slow down as iiiueh as possible, he climbed out on to the lower plane and made extensive repairs, Thework, which was done entirely in

the. open and in a wind force of 90 miles a A hour, took over *IJ hours,’ and saved the machine. “RECEIPTED IN FULL.” The Hon. James M. Beck, of NewYork, who is in'Montreal, to receive ah honorary degree from McGill University, in addressing a large gathering in St. James’ Methodist Church, referred to a prophecy- of his which, he said, had been greet-*ed%ith-enthusiasm by American audiences of stock-brokers, hardheaded business men and others, that when, after the war, Great Britain and France come to settle for the £800,000,000 they owe. now, and the £1,400,000,000 which they will owe before the war is over, the reply of the United States will be: “Receipted in full. It is paid already by the blood of your sons, who died as much for us as for you.” UNFOUNDED W.A.A.C. RUMOUR. Widespread uneasiness still exists among relatives and friends of the thousands of “W.A.A.C.” girls in France in consequence of persistent rumours 'that many of them were captured by the Gormans in (heir advance towards Amiens. At Headquarters in London anxious inquiries have kept the staff fully employed for many days. The officials of the corps state definitely that there is not a word of truth in the rumours. No girl was ever within, twenty miles of the firing, and they have been removed further back. There will never be any danger of “W.A.A.C.’s” being captured by the enemy. HUN SOLDIER FREE IN PARIS. A German wearing the uniform of a French soldier has been arrested in Paris. He was stopped in the street by a military policeman, to. whom he produced a French soldier’s identity booklet but no leave ticket. At the police station he admitted that lie was a German, and said that he belonged to the 76th Bavarian Infantry, which took part in recent fighting on the Somme. His regiment suffered- terrible losses, and. in order to escape from (he in-: ferrlo he crawled out one night into No Man’s Land, took the uniform of a dead French soldier*, and joined a group of men going on leave to Paris. The prisoner speaks French perfectly. His manners and education suggest that he is an officer. DECAY OF THE CLASSICS. The classics are not in great demand in America just now, judging by the report of the president of Harvard University for the year .1916-17. A course in Herodotus, Aeschylus, and Pint arch attracted but. two students; a course in Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Euripides, six; another-along similar'lines and including Sophocles, twenty. A course for beginners, in. Greek was attended by twenty-nine students, and another covering Plato, Lysias, the elegiac, iambic, and lyric poelSj thirty-two. In' Latin the interest was only slightly greater.. The.most frequented course was in Livy, Terence, Horace, and other Latin poets, which had eighty-three attendants, of whom seventy-four were freshmen. A course in Suetonius, Pliny, Juvenal, and Martial, conducted by the ranking professor of Latin, attracted only fourteen students, and others from two to twelve,