GRIM BATTLES FOUGHT IN THE DARK.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 129, 7 January 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

GRIM BATTLES FOUGHT IN THE DARK.

NIGiiT ITCHITNG COSTS MAM

LIVES

A battle is a trying experience at niiv time, but when fought under tin 1 pan in night it is an interne ot horrors whicn shakes the stoutest nerve. .Nothing steadies a man more ipucklv than to see lis enemy mid recognise that lie is flesh and blood like himseu ; but to be struck ctownby :m invisible toe, and leit to per s.'i nooly yet miserably on the battlefield without seeing tile light of day again, is a thought chilling to even the unemotional man. A prudent commander will uevei commit iiis men to a night attack unless there is some outstanding advantage to be gained, and then only if ne has complete conudence in his forcis and a perfect know ledge of the country, few 01 us have forgotten the many deadly night ventures in the Boer Wat, prominent among which were Stor.uberg, Mugorstontein and Spun Ivip, ad 01 them grim, ghastly Jail lies, despite the fact that the pick of BritUsi' regiments was involved. in tin.' present war there has been some sanguinary n glit lighting . 3 iustance tue recent demoniacal ig-itiug m and around Loos, and many a trench has changed hands in black darkness. Tins particularly has neeii tne casa on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where the Turks have sought to put to advantage their superior topographical knowledge by tierce attacks between Minset and sunrise. Several times, laxoured by the intense darkness, they penetrated trenches vvh eh defied them in the daytime, only to discover in most eases that the handicap of night is apt to re-act disastrously on attackers whose cohesion even in daylight is not beyond reproach. The last Turkish nocturnal essay was a .signal failure though its beginning was highly flattering. The 'J urks took the inmates of a thousand yards' stretch of trenches completely by surprise, and gained entire possession. But trenches arc made to be defended from one side, and ere the victors could re-construct the back into a defensive front the searchlights of warships in the offing exposed the whole posit on in a glare of light as bright as daylight, bewildering the enemy and giving the dispossessed tenants an opportunity to get their own back. This they did to such purpose that very few Turks ever reached their own lines again. ANIGHT SURPRISE. But there are instances on record of decisive battles being fought either under cover of night or by the direct aid of a silent night march. To the latter expedient was due the completeness of our success against the Egyptians at Tcl-el-Kebir, the enemy being engaged preparing breakfast wiien the troops which he comfortably assumed were at least twenty mles away broke in on his reflections.

But, even apart from Sntli Africa, the use of the night for surprise ventures has not always been so encouraging. It was largely due to darkness that our first and only real defeat ever sustained at the hands of the Chinese tame about. This was the tremendous little battle of Pei-ho River. So quiescent did the wily Chinese become aftel our bombardment of their lorts tbr.t the natural impression made on oil'. leaders was taiit the enemy—if, indeed, he was still there—would fly from the sight of a landing party. Night m >.. rapidly closing in when a strong bo.!*/ ot British Tars and Marines 1 set loot on the yellow sands, and pitch darkness fell like a mantle before tiie charge was signal'cd. For a iniunto or two nothing broke the dead silence but the dull thud of the attackers' feet. Then into the air screeched a hunrded lire balls, followed by an appalling discharge of art llery from the lorts, which had been reckoned dismantled and at their last gasp, sweeping men away in ••cores. In the jet-like darkness, too, companies became inextricably mixed, and officers got out of touch with their commands. In short, it was more than flesh and blood could stand, and the retreat to their boats, bearing with them as many of the wounded as they could liud. A BUNGLED ATTACK. Tu the same quarter of the world. French troops received one of tue fr ghts of their lives by the medium of a night attack. It happened at Sou Tai, the enemy being against the Chinese, who had never shown the least partiality for a night offensive, and, as they had been heavily dofcau i lire rlny before, not a Frenchman but expected a quiet, restful night. Never was an attack more skilfully arranged, and never was one worse bungled at the finish. The French troops were awakened by the crackle of musketry, to find themselves at the mercy o( an exultant foe, who dominated the camp from al l sides. As men ran frantically around to form section, or tumbled out of tiie little huts which formed their bivouac, they were shot down by the score, but just when all seemed lost the attackers vanished into thin air, and the one-sided light was over. For some reason never satisfactorily explained, the Chinese were abruptly drawn off bv the sound of the recall v'gnal. The most snng'nary encounter of the lungivt drawn out campaign of a hundred ye::is, that between the Northern and Southern States of America, was the direct sequel to one of the most trying night marches that war can show. General Johnston headed an army of 45,000 men, hungry and in rage, through a night of blinding s'eei with the object of surprising General Grant's army at Shiloh. At five o' clock in the morning the Confederates almost indistinguishable from the mud of the country around, came into louWi with the enemy, fresh after a night's rest, 2nd numerically as powerful as the attackers. The outcome of suen a struggle should have been free I torn any di ' iety. but the terrible rigours the Confederates' bad endured seemed to possess them with a desperate abandon and utter disregard for death, qualities which proved irresist : b!e. The Northern Army was shattered from -tern to sti in, .;nd half of its artillery captured Ro-inforeed, however, next day the federals came on again, when sheer stamina, aided by a lucky shot which killed General Johnston, prevailed, the two day' battle ending in a | notable Federal triumph. SAVAGE WORK. )7«S«P*»S ffr «%■'£•",*"£■ TO £*£** *TiJ<S| *W» Perhaps the fiercest rrght battle ever waged was that of Luiidy's Lane, fought in I V U. within .sound of the Niagara Falls. The nutation ist.s were mostly men of one blood. British Canadian and American, and. possessed as they were of much the same degree of grit and obstinacy, a strugg'e. which latterly developed into downright savagery, continued for twenty-four boor's., ending as it began in pitch darkness!. Who won the dreadful bat- ' tie will remain a vexed question for J all time. Both sides claimed it then. |

and the Americans claim it to this any without doing harm'to anybody. As a matter to fact, the battle ended in iso. lated hand-to-hand struggles of urn paralleled fierceness. AKCHIJiALD DOUGLAS.