FEMALE SNIPERS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 138, 28 January 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

FEMALE SNIPERS.

STORIES J'HOM GALLIPOLI. A young gimnor belonging to the Royal Field Artillery affords an instructive glimpse of the conditions in Gallipoli m a recent letter. Dining the two months I have been in Gallipoli, he says, 1 have had many thril's. but if you offered me the choice ot being at our bases at Alexandria or Lomnos on a soft job, I would prefer to remain in Gallipoli, with all it* excitements, hardslrps, and dangers.

The Turks are stubbornly clinging to their ground, and fighting hard for every inch. They deserve credit for their mode of warfare, considering they have no " Kultur." They are issuing no poisonous gases, such as their ;>'- lies use, here at least. The Turk has, I bo'ieve. deservedly earned the reputat:on of being a bloodthirsty, cutthroat scoundrel, but to be lair, I must say they have proved themselves clean lighters so far a.s our cxpericeo goes. There have been main cases of kindly treatment to our wounded, such as giving them a drink and bandaging their wounds. Their snipers are not doing so much harm now as at first. when men, women, and children were all at tile game. Girls of sixteen have been caught, and when searched, as many as twenty identilicat : on discs were found around Viieir necks. \ot a bad toll for a girl!

SNIPERS AND NERVES. Those- snipers keep you always on the 'qui vive.' One day, in the twilight. I was sitting in my dug-out. when I heard a suspicious rustling m the bushcH near by. Snatching my best frien 1, the rifle, f said to n,;, t If, "Now for tne Y.C." Imagine my surprise and disappointment when 1 discovered it was a huge tortoise wandering about. One night I got in conversation with a young fellow who was on sentry go. He was a bundle of nerves, and started telkng me of all the bushes he was certain there were Germans in. T was feeling creepy, but told him he ought to lie with hi« nurse yet, and other things more forcible than polite. That night I -'opt underneath a wagon, and as sure as the sentry said, the snipers seemed to be all round. After a few days, our infantry were sent to scour tiie bushes, and now we are seldom troubled.

The visits of Taunes are few and far between . Our anti-a'reraft guns have kept them all at a respectable distance. We would like to see a Zep.. but there is nothing do : ng of that kind here. There are no women and children to slaughter here, so those Hunnish vultures of the air prefer to confine their heroic action of slaughtering the innocents to London, where they are certain of such victims. QUITE PLEASED WITH THE FOOD. The food we are getting now is » great improvement. We have fresh meat and bread nearly every il:.y. and plenty of jam, raisins, currants, etc., so don't"want for much. Tiie skil" and ingenuity ol our cooks are wonderful. They trim out some fine stuff. Would you' believe that for dinner to-day we had soup, or '\jippo," as wo call lit, with barley, etc.. in : t then steak and onions, followed by a nice pudding done to n turn in an oven made by ourselves. Of course, we have had a good turn of the bully beef and biscuits since then.

The Australians and the New Zealanders are of the right mettle. They do not know what fear is, and go for the enemy with an impetuosity and dash that has struck terror into the Turk. Our dug-outs are now comp'ete, and I am sure the boys m France can't neat them. Several of them are just like rooms inside, lined with wond throughout, and with wooden floors. This morning I was down at our post office. You would be surprised if you saw it. It is a huge dugout, with everything up-to-date, and like an ordinary post office. I got os, worth of stamp-, and while inside, took a look round. Every person was busy among the huge sacks and stores. -Motor trollies were running all over the place, and you would think vou were in a city post office.

Thank goodness, winter is coming on, when we hope to get clear of U.J innumerable pests that trouble us :n the hot weather. We have here tiu\-( beetles, locusts, and every creeping and crawling thing the devil has over invented 'to plague mankind, i'lio-i, at night, a million other tribes come and biTe and nibble at us. The flies won't move by shaking your head. You have actually to push them off.