THE SPIRIT OF THE MEN IN THE TRENCHES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 179, 2 June 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SPIRIT OF THE MEN IN THE TRENCHES.

BY JOSEPH HOCKING

Since my return I have lieen besieged with questions. "How are things looking?" people have asked. "How does the situation strike you? What are our chances ! J Do the men at the front feel that we are getting near the end? Do they !>elieve the Germans arc lieginning to crumple up? What is the real spirit of the men in the trenches?" The.se and similar queries have met me on every hand (writes Joseph Hocking, the famous novelist, in ''Lloyd's Wecklv'' of March 27.) On ,nv reply that I am only a layman, and know nothing about strategy, and that one can only give a common-sense opinion, their reply has been that what they ivant is a common-sense opinion. "We don't understand the article* of these military correspondents," people have said to me again : n.l again. "'They use hosts of military terms which have no meaning to u«, and they hide the truth in mountains of words. How do tlie real facts appear to an open-eyed man who looks at things from the standpoint of ordinary intelligence ?" Tn this article I am going to give only general impressions. I shou'd be foolish if 1 tried to describe anything in military terms, or to profess to explain anything of military strategy. I know, too, that the soldier at the front, even if he is more than ordinarily intelligent, is likely to know less of the general situation than the man who stays at homo and daily studies his newspapers. The soldier is confined to the narrow limits of his own compandor battalion: hv sees nothing but what is happening c'oso around him, and therefoie cannot take a comprehensive grasp of the position as a whole. It is on'v by gathering up the impressions which one has received along the whole line, and judging those impressions by the standards of common intelligence that one can arrive at anything like a correct conclusion.

MIRACLES NOT POSSIBLE

In judging the position at the fornt, one has to consider the cxa f t circumstances under which our armies are operating. During the last few days 1 have constantly heard statements something like this:-- " We are doing nothing, our men at the front are only marking time! Everything is a matter of stalemate. Why don't we do something? Why don't we dash forward, break the German lines, and recover lost ground? We are told 1 hat- we have plenty of men, and plenty of ammunition; sure'y itis time to do something definite."

This may seem a cold-blooded, heartless way of looking at it; but it is the way.

Do not let us l»e carried away with the idea, however, that warfare in the wnter is entirely a matter of artillery. it is not. Small actions are constantly being carried out. I was told ot some while 1 was at the front, and t'es-3 because of our preseit super-. iority in ammunition and the fcetti r calibre of our men, nearly always result in our favour.

"Do you come into contace with the Germans at all?" I said to an officer "That is, do you ever get a chance of knowing their feelings and hopes?" "As it happens," was his reply, "I have up-to-date news to give you. Last night 1 was in the trenches, and some German deserters managed to get to us. They told me that there vero num. hers of Huns who only wanted the chantj to escape, and they wou'c! cune •.,' (urns. These poor fellows," ho flcnt. on, "were in ;i terrible condition, shivering with the cold, and half-ftarveil. They declared that hosts of the Germans were sick of the war; nervous because of the terriVo bombardments, and eager to get to a place_ of safety."

Of course, this may mean but little, but it is a straw which shows which way the wind is blowing, and is significant of much.

"'But what of our own soldiers?" 1 asked. "What are their feelings?'' "Co and talk with them yourself,'' was his reply. "Go into the trenches, or meet them after they have come back from the firing line, and learn for yourself."

I did this, both in Belgium and in France: in the trenches and in the rest-ing-places I talked with sco.vs, and everywhere- only one spirit was manifested, only one desire was made known. Whatever pessimism there >s in England, there is no pessimism at the front; our lads there arc cheerful brave, determined, firm.

"Of COURSE, WE SHALL LICK EM.'' "Lick 'em!" said the men to me all along the line. " Lick 'em ! Of cou.se we shall lick 'em; don't you rouble about that, guv'nor. You tell the people at home to do their bit, and you may depend upon it, we will do ours. We" have got the upper hand of the Roches now, and we mean to keep it. It was terrible for us when we hadn't enough guns and explosives; but now wo have got 'em, we give it to 'em hot. Wait till the winter's over, and then you will know!'' The reasons for the confidence of our soldiers, both officers and privates, may be summed up in this way:— A year and a half ago the Germans were prepared and we were not; they

the liberty of the world at th<s uegnning of the nineteenth century is ag:un fighting for the liberty of the world at the beginning of the twentieth. Napoleon was crushed, his dreams were shattered, his great army became fugitive, and his bambastic thrcatcnings were of no more weight than the anger of a puling child. What England was, England is; we have not lost the resolution, the foresight, the power of execution, nor the faith which lias made our nation great. AVc have still the same strong arm, the same keen eye, tho same brave heart, the same clear brain, as when our cause was, as it is to-day, the liberty and the well-being of the world. As I stood and took a last look at our men 1 felt more than over the truth expressed in the lines of one ol our modern poets :

As sure as God's in His Henvcn, As sure as He stands for Right, As sure as the Hun this wrong hath done, .So surely we win this fight!