THE LAST SHOT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1936, 6 February 1919, Page 4

THE LAST SHOT.

FRENCH SOLDIER’S REVENGE

The last shot in-the war is believed to have been fired by a sergeant 'belonging to General Gonraud’s Army, t a point about; 500 yards behind the firing line between Mozieres and Charlevillo. The sergeant, whose name is not ascertained, is a veteran of the colonial wars ami a crack marksman with a 37-itiillimelro cannon d’accompagnement. He is generally known by the nickname of “Tunbib,” which is Algerian slang for “Doctor,” from the fact that as a long sufferer from malaria he habitually carried .with him a generous supply of quinine, opium, and pills, which he insisted on prescribing for every imaginable ill to which his comrades were victims. Toubib had sworn a blood feud against a certain Buehe machinegun crew which had been making themselves very objectionable from a clump of bushes half a mile inside the German line. On the Sunday night previous to the signing of the armistice he took the trouble to walk between nine and ten miles to set his watch exactly right by the clock at divisional headquarters (says the Paris correspondent of the' Morning Post). At 10.59 on Monday morning, one minute before the time fixed for hostilities to cease, Toubib carefully sighted his gun, and had the satisfaction of watching his shell drop plump into (he bushes which concealed the oflending machine-gunners. “Now,” shouted Toubib, “the war is over, and for once I shall be able, lo see just when l my shell dropped.'’ And he started off at a run to see what had happened. Unfortunately for Toubib, he was implacably brought to a halt at the French outposts, and told of an order strictly prohibiting any men from passing beyond the lines. He walked hack to his gun a sad and bitterly disappointed man.