THE LIGHT AND SHADE OF WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 8, 29 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE LIGHT AND SHADE OF WAR.

A Gruesome Incident. A wounded private of the Yorkshire Regiment relates a pathetic story A bedridden girl had been left in a house behind the Yorkshire s drenches. It was impossible to move her and the soldiers sent her the best of their food day after day. Eventually the Yorkshire's Position was discovered, and the home of the invalid girl became involved in a fierce shelling. The house caught fire and the poor girl was burnt to death.

B T r Royal Warwickshire Regiment who took part in he battles of Mons, Soissons, and the Ai "w'hHsf inThe trenches I saw something that I shall never forget. One of the officers had been wounded, and a private went and put him on his back to carry him to safety. Before he had gone far, however, a shell struck the private's arm and took the biggest part of it off. The nrivate, however, managed to get the officer out of the firing line, where a surgeon was in attendance. The surgeon unfortunately had to explain that the officer had been dead some time."

Saved by Petrol Tins. Telling the story of the sinking of HM S. Hermes, a surviving Royal Marine describes what happened after the captain gave >( the order ■"Every man for himself." "The water was simply alive with sailors and marines," he says 'I was one of the first to be picked up by a destroyer's- boat. The coolness displayed by the men in the water was remarkable. They sung, shouted, and joked as if it was a matter of everyday occurrence to have to swim for your life after being torpedoed. "The empty petrol tins saved many a life. For some time these tins, carefully screwed down and made airtight, had been left loose about the deck so as to be available if the .occasion arose. The occasion did arise, and valuable life-savers they proved. Two will keep a man afloat.

Game to the Last. Mr Donald Thompson, the special photographer of the "New York World," described in the "Daily Mail" the execution of a British soldier accused of being a spy. The scene was a village near Nieuport. Mr. Thompson describes the man as a big blonde fellow in civilian clothes, but unmistakably a British soldier. He was not allowed to attend the trial, which lasted an hour. Then they brought him out, just four men with loaded rifles and an officer. He was not bound, bat walked quite free between his guards, very straight and calm and quite unmoved. • At the sight of that Englishman going to his death with eyes shining, head up, and shoulders squared, the tears fairly came into my eyes. I forgot all about being a neutral, all about being an American, and all about the Germans, and just felt I couldn't bear to see what was going to come. As he passed me I said aloud —I felt I had to speak—"Goodbye, old chap, and good luck!" He just turned his head and looked at me and smiled a little smile, as if to thank me and to say he did not mind. They stood him up in the middle of the road. Away in the distance the shells were falling, and farther down the road a German regiment was coming along with noisy drums and fifes. As the firing squad—just the four guards—stood back to take up their position the Englishman drew himself up at attention with a click of the heels, braced his shoulders, and threw up his head, game and brave to the last. It was all over in a second.

A Surrender. How 400 Germans surrendered is described in the following dispatch: A few minutes later, a single German left the enemy's trenches. He was unarmed, and origan painfully to crawl the distance between his own and the Belgian lines. The Belgians allowed him to advance. Every now and again he raised his arm and waved a piece of paper he carried. In this way it took him more than half an hour to cover the distance between the trenches. As soon as he reached the Belgian lines an officer advanced and inquired his purpose. The German mutely held out his crumpled piece of paper, and the officer read: "Our captain wants to surrender with 400 men if you will promise that their lives will be safe." "Why do not you want to go on fighting?" said the Belgian officer. "We are hungry," was the reply. "Our trenches are practically swamped, we are up to the waist in water. Your shells :ire continuously falling among us. We would rather die and be done with it, than go on with this war."

"Marching on Paris." Here is another amusing incident described by the Paris correspondent of the London "Telegraph":

Presently another procession emerged upon the scene. It, too. was composed of youngsters, but they were all as solemn as professional mutes.

Then it was sfc;:n that they also were engaged in a military travesty, and that thp instinct of exaggeration, so dear to the juvenile heart, was being indulged to the full. With dignified step they advanced. Then, at a sharp word of command from their pompous chief, they halted on the open space by the Palais de Justice, and commenced to execute a highly-amusing travesty of the famous "goose' step. For a quarter of an hour they went on in this way without budging an inch forward. The onlookers laughed incontinently. But it was evidently more than Herman officialdom was prepared to stand. An officer advanced, and demanded to know what the youngsters were doing there. The reply of the leader of the band might be historical. "We are marching to Paris." said the precocious juvenile; "and in marching to Paris one ought to march without advancing—is it not so?'' The officer paled with rage, end made, a gesture as if to draw his revolver, but there wen' 2,000 people looking on, and he simply raised his shoulders in sheer'disgust whilst the crowd applauded the gamins. Brussels I'l-chins Make Light of the War It was quite natural Hint tlm spiked helmets of the German invaders should appeal to the youthful imaginations of the gamins of the city in contrast with the rather ("sutureless forage-caps of King Alberts soldiers.

But who would have expected that one fine morning hundreds of the Brussels gamins should solemnly march in cohorts through the streets with carrots protruding vertically through holes they had pierced in their caps Passers-by laughed outright at the rough-and-ready caricature of the spiked helmet, but the Germans, of course, did not appreciate the joke at all.

Plucky Belgian Boy. A young Belgian Boy Scout named Raymond Bourgeous, who, although only fourteen and a half years old, has had some thrilling experiences in the war. He is now a refugee at Doncaster. . . He speaks French and Flemish fluently, and is of the greatest use as an interpreter . When the Germans entered Brussels this lad was delivering telegrams. A German officer demanded them from him, and to save his life he handed them over, regaining them later by shooting the He was imprisoned in Germany, but crawled through a window, escaped, and walked to the Dutch frontier.

Wounded German's Treacher}. From the letter of a private of the North Lancashire Regiment: "We occupied the trenches all night without anything happening, and early next morning saw-one of the Germans in front. This man was waving the white flag, and when brought in he said there were scores of their wounded in front who wanted to come to the British lines "They looked the most pitiful object anyone could possibly see. We were bringing them in all day. One of our officers was bringing one of them in and got in front of him, when the German, drawing a revolver shot him in the hip. "One of our privates, who was doing escort duty, seeing the action pit* drove his bayonet through him The treachery of some of the Germans is indescribable.

"Scotland for Ever!" A wounded member of the London Scottish gives a vivid account of the now famous charge of that cracK Territorial Regiment. "We were now near enough to see the fierce glare in the eyes of the enemy as they waited for us. We gave them one great volley, and then bayonets were fixed, and in a long line we charged down on their tre 'The S 'madness of that charge I shall never forget. There was no time to think of fear or danger. We were mad drunk with the excitement. The blood was coursing in our veins at express speed, and our only thought was to close in the death grip with the foe. Some of our boys yelled out, 'Scotland for ever! ; others were as silent as the grave. "Their lines were strengthened at every point, and they made a great stand against us, but we were fresh and we slashed right and left with a Wl "They weakened after the first shock and gradually fell back, fighting inch by inch, but each step we forced them back their pace became quicker, and then they broke into a made race for life. "Our chaps were well satisfied with their first day's hand-to-hand fight with the Germans and were eager for another when I started for home.

How It's Done. According to r the "Western Mail this is how a Frenchman described the "Heligoland Affair" to a party of Britishers at Barry Dock: "German warship: Boom! Boom!! Boom!!! "English no speak. "German: Boom! Boom!! "English: Boom!!! Finish!"

Paid in His Own Coin. Shortly before the war a German and a Frenchman sat opposite each other at table de hote in a certain hotel in Switzerland. "You are a Frenchman, I suppose?" inquired the German, at the commencement of the meal. "Yes," was the reply, "but how did you manage to find out?" "Because you eat so much bread, said the German. There was a long pause. When the dinner was over, the Frenchman in his turn questioned his vis-a-vis. "You are a German, I presume?" "To be sure, but tell me, pray, how you made that discovery?" "Because you ate so much of everything," was the dry retort.

The German Officer. The arrogance of the German officer towards mere civilians is thus described in the "Outlook": One very painful but not uncharacteristic episode will serve to illustrate at once the relations between soldier and civilian and the singular 'code of honour' prescribed for officers. Certain tables in a popular 'kneipe'—i.e., tavern —were by custom reserved for the use of the students, one being assigned to the members of each corps, and it was a matter of unwritten law that no other customer, military or civilian, should occupy these favoured places. One evening, a young lieutenant, unfortunately Just sufficiently the worse for drink to care nothing for custom and less for courtesy, strutted into the room, and, seeing a vacant table, which, having been stationed a year or to in the town, he well knew to belong to the "white .-aps." flung himself into one of the empty chairs, calling for beer. A buzz of expectation went round the room when the rest of the company realised this breach of etiquette, and this was followed by a more significant hush when three students rose from an adjoining table and politely requested him to be so good as to sit elsewhere.

At. first the young fellow took 110 notice of thorn. Then, when one of die trio laid a hand on his shoulder, lie sprang up, kicked away his chair, and half drew his sword. The denouement was rapid, for the three unarmed youths threw themselves on him, one slapping his face, while a second held him, and the third brone his sword. Then they released him. and. v, hi to as death, he picked up the dishonoured weapon ''lid left the hall. Thai night he was found in his quarters with a revolver in one l and and a hole through his forebod, the sequel, it was said at the iii w\ to a short and sharp interview witii his colonel, who pointed out that death was the one salve for,(lie direr;: e of b<j : ng disarmed by Chilians.