VIVID PICK OF THE BATTLEFIELD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 249, 20 November 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

VIVID PICK OF THE BATTLEFIELD.

A wounded Highlander lias given the following account of the four days' fighting that began around Mons on the Sunday, and ended on the road to Amiens on the Wednesday evening:—"At first the Germans came on with easy confidence, as if they were out for a picnic, but when our fire began to tear through their ranks, leaving ugly gaps a yard wide here aud there, they apparently liegan to realise that a funeral march was more appropriate than the skip of the heanfeaster. and their approach was less confident. When we began our first retreat on Monday tho Germans pulsed forward all available arms to harass us, and they tried desperately to shepherd us into positions to the south-wr»«. that would have broken our communications with the main French Army and enabled the Germans to force a thick wedge into tho allied Army. We knew as well as thev what was the game, and we fought all'wo knew to pi event I hem achieving this end. That was why our losses were so heavy. We could have got away with comparative ease had we gone the wav they wanted us to go, but wo would have uncovered tho French left, and everv man knew that the salely of the whole French Army depended on our stand. Thoreforc wo held on and fought inch by inch until we nad fallen back on tho French left, "Tho heaviest losses occurred in covering the retreat on the Monday and following days, for it was then that the Germans fought all they knew in a desperate effort to transform our retirement into a rout. It was here that tJ u. guns were lost. Halted out in the open with weak infantry support, and doing their best to stay the onward rush of the bluish-grey clouds of Germans, the artillerymen suffered terribly. German marksbmen picked off the horses one by one. and then when the German cavalryswooped down the men could not get the guns away. So long as possible they stuck to their posts, but the officers realised that it was a useless sacrifice attempting to save the guns, and they ordered their abandonment. I saw only one battery lost in this way. "In another case, where the German lancers swooped down and killed the last man of one battery, the situation was .saved bv a couple of companies of an Irish Fusilier battalion—the Ministers, I think—who rushed at the Germans with fixed bayonets and put them to flight while the enemy's artillery poured a merciless fire on them. .Many of tho Germans around that bail y were killed, and of course the losses of our men were not light. The Fus t.ers were furious when orders came that ihey were to abandon the guns, as no horses were available. You could see th■.• i casting loving eyes on those guns all i e rest of the dav, and a t night when the time came to fall back, the poor devils were dragging the guns with them, having raptured a few German horses and supplemented them by men who wero willing to become boasts of burden for the time."

WITH THE RED CROSS. How a German ambulance party cooperated with members of the British R.A.M.C. after the fighting on August JS6th was told by a wounded soldier landed at Southampton. "I lay for three hours in a circle m German" dead and wounded lief ore the bearer company picked me up. The 1!. A.M C. worked under fire, and must have lost a lot of me*. Two ambulant*, parties. English and German together, came up at the same time. The English officer and the German saluted, and the German asked if our doctor had any iodine. They went off to look at one of the German wounded. ai»d our doctor amputated his foot on the Held, while the German chloroformed him Then they had a good look at me, and the German said something in German and our doctor laughed. •' He say s you'll take a lot of killing!' Kiid our doctor.

"One wounded German told an artilleryman that before leaving Aix lie and »S men were photographed—they all came from tho same small town in Germany. "1 am tbe only man left alive; wo were split up into different sections. The Germans expected to envelop the British and French armies on the anniversaries of .Sedan (to-day). From .several sources it is made clear that the exact positions of the British forces were known, and the men who swept forward to attack the British lines were made aware of their mission. They were told that if they .smashed the British force England would ask for peace and desert her ally. "Another man said that he found himself 'mixed up with a French regiment on the right.' He wanted to fall in with his French comrades, but the officer in charge smilingly shook his head. They will spot you in your khaki, ami put you out in no time.' he said in Fnglish. Make your way to the left—you'll find your fellows ou that hill. ' •'The Britisher made hLs way alone through an avenue of trees. There be found a German Lancer lying dead by the side of the road. Someone had crossed his hands on his breast, and piu a little celluloid crucifix in his bands Over his face there was a beautiful little handkerchief-a lady's—with lacv edging. 'lt was a bit of a mystery.' added the soldier, " because there .vusn't ft lady for miles.' "

THE UOlill WAR A PICNIC. "Altogether 1 «us lighting tor :.cy<:n-ty-two hours before! was hit." a corporal of the North Lancashire Regiment, who arrived in Loudon v. ith a hatch ot wounded. "Only about !H)U of the thousand* I was with got properly entrenched. Tlio Germans shelled lis heavily, and 1 received a bplinter iji tue leg. It is nearl'v right now, and 1 hope soon to get ahek again, lost fairjy heavily, nearly all from artillery ftlv. Tho German forces appeared to be no er ending. They were around about ih like a swarm of bees, and as I'aM a* one man fell there wore do/.tns to take his place. Our artillery did not halt get it! They suffered most-, and some ot iliem woro terribly injured.'' The corpora!, who went through tli«* African war unwoiinded, added: "The lioer war wu s a picnic to tbit-. A largo Dumber ol our imalids b.i'e Col Iron hurt in the Held, but are differm ; from varii uw veins and trouble prod j< ■ <d hv h-ird marching. It they only !'t:>>»' • ••eating our I'oundvj *h:r' ,«'.uM b'. the devil to pay.' A MODKItN HAITI.K. The ii en wlni have i lt« they tiieiiiM-lvi - phra-e ii. ' '<> be miti Ii t'd up," speak modestly nf their pcr-oti-»1 exploits. On" fael clearly emerirwl from c.iincisii inn w ill' ib< in lliiil ■ ( mnin if.- m•ii---1 »lli' ii • and men, ,illd <n n

uiuot lonuniobionod ofljeeii., li.no a

vague and hazy idea of the general for- j tunes of a modem battle. The secret is with the General Commanding-in-l iiioi ;ind the staff. The vast body of serving officers attached to regiments are given orders, which in turn are communicated | by them to the non-commissioned officers, and filter down to the rank and file. Most of the wounded tankers who wero m the battle of Mons speak or it as having come to them in the nature of a surprise. "We thought." said one, "tho Germans wore about fifteen miles away, when suddenly some German aeroplanes wheeled over us, and soon afterwards the artillery opened firo. before niv regiment had time to take cover. We were badly mauled in the opening rounds, but there was no confusion in our ranks, and we were able to take in good position and open lire on the .'•« i '.nan infantry when it advanced S .i should just have seen that advance. ! lie Germans came on in solid forma tie:, .ike a moving wall, and the fiiv ircni .'iir magazine rifles mowed them down like grass. As fast as the men in tin- Iront rank fell the rear ran* men stepp i into their places. It was murderous work, and whatever may be said about them the Germans are brave men.'' Without exception the soldiers who were present at Mons and th* days in.lowing speak with astonishment of what one of their number called the nun.headed method of fighting adopted b\ the German infantry. The advance iu close order is entirely opposed to all tho theories of warfare taught in England, and British soldiers lining trenches could hardly believe their eyes when they writhe enemy crossing open country in massed formation well within the range of rifle fire. "1 was in the trenches," said one man, "and we had suffered a good few casualties from shell fire. The gunnei v of the German artillery is certainly very fine, and their aeroplanes helped them greatly in finding tlw range. What fairly astonished us wato see the way the infantry came on. A.i'ast as wo could load and empty our magazine we saw men tumble down in heaps. But the advance was never really checked. At last, when they got close up to us, we rushed at them with :ho lmvonet. and that fairly broke them up. The German Tommies seem to let oil their rifles anvhow. 1 saw them rushing forward and apparently firing from the hip without any sort of aim."

RAN LIKE HARES. A non-commissioned officer of the Royal Berkshire Regiment (one of those in Brigadier-General R. H. Danes'* command; Invalided home, has given the following account of the fighting around Mons: — "The fighting really began on Saturday and continued with very little intermission until Tuesday night, when we fell back under cover of darkness. I need hardlv say that it was a keen ' sappointment to have to fall back beforo the Germans after the grand way in ivhich they had stood up to them i)f nearly four days, but we have every confidence of our officers, and we all knew that if the order was given there rrusi bo good reasons for it that we could* t see at the moment. From the first Jit ,vas clear that the Germans were trying to turn our left rather than risk an attack on the strongly entrenched position extending along our front for nearly ten miles. But they were a bit put out by tho quickness with which we turned about and gave them a hot time there. "After a pretty steady artillery fire they came on with a rush, evidently hoping to drive us out before wo rad time to entrench; but they didn't make enough allowance for the speed vvitli which wo got to work, and when they camo "long ,vc wovc rcad - v to receivo them in a fairly strong position. As thev came into view in the open in Iroat of our hastily-dug trenches our men op ened on them with a steady lire that never oneo went wide, and we could see clean-cut gaps in the tightly-packed ianks as the hail of lead tiro tore its jagged wav through them. 'Jhey were a game lot" however, and they kept closing up the naps in their tanks as )l they were s<» many marionettes. l"U»u Mild blood cannot stand this 6 orl ol thing lor ever, and after a while they began to come along with less confident btep. Then thev halted for a few minutes, gazed about them in a dazed sort of way, and ran like hares. ••Their places v.ere taken by another bluish-grey mass hv.i. d them, and this body came on in much the same way. until thev, too. had had as much as t «\v could stand, and then there was another bolt for the rear. This advancing and retreating went on for hours each retirement" unmasking a fresh body ot men. and by the time they were close enough to" hurl themselves on «,.. trenches it was an entirely fresh mass of men. who had suffered little from our lire. , , , "As thev scrambled up they seemed • oeksure of themselves, but they had forgotten our men posted under cover on their right, and just as they were steadying themselves for one lust n>u iit us a withering fire was opened on I hem. and at the same time we cleared the way for the Hussars, who were at litem right and left as soon as the fire of our men ceased. Hell's fury blazed II om the eves of the trapped Germans go they tried" to grapple with their new foe. and we stood there, silent spectators, lest w e should hit our cavalry, it look them only a few minutes to make up their minds, and with a blood-curd-!;n<* wail that I will remember to my dvin« day, thev ran as if all the uonds v'ere after them. They were cut down like chaff., and it was at this point that most of the prisoners were taken by our men. Rifles, bandoliers, caps,, and everything else that could be east off v. ere sacrificed to speed, and many of the seared men outpaced easily the tired horses of the Hussar.-. "Later, during a lull iu the tight, we went out to collect their wounded ij-ng near our trenches, and you would hardlv believe the fury they manifested against us. f think they hate us ten times worse than they hate the Trench and that is saying a lot. Those o Ihoni who talk English tell us that had I ii not been for our interference they won Id have been in Paris now dictating t; mi, (j| peace, and that is why Mcy !. ite Us so. "