GERMANS GO MAD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 257, 9 March 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

GERMANS GO MAD.

HORRORS OF THi: TRENCHES. A terrible picture of life in the German trenches on the Somine during the Hiitisli bombardment is painted by u ,\ ouiijr Bavarian officer who was formerlv employed bv an English commercial houso in their Birmingham and Glasgow branches. Discussing his experiences vvitli a journalist friend, ho said:—"l have been through all since we first crossed the Rhine. The two >ears oj it were as nothing compared to the concentrated honor of the nine days I spent on the Sommo. They were nine days of torment noise than anvthing ever pictured bv Dante. "At the beginning of October we moved irom the Vser. At once we went into trenches on the Hapaume road with orders to stop the British advance 111 that direction at once. It was easy said, but very hard to do. Mv experiences I shall try to record for you as briefly as I can, beginning with the day of arrival, which was a Tuesdav.

'•Trenches had been under fire for three days. Through the night I heard ceaseless cries of terror and bitter sobbing from som? of our youug soldiers, who had never been in anything nearly so horrible before. One shell burst at the entrance to our dug-out. Five killed. Sixteen wounded and three injured in the falling wreckage. The sixteen survivors were almost mad with terror. Before morning we movd again Three had gone mad entirely. One bad to be shot- Fight others had to be moved to hospiil. MORE MEN GO MAD.

\\ cdnesday.— Phis night was worse than all. roof seemed to collapse. \\ e were buried in the wreckage. Eighteen escaped alive. The rest killed. We sought ue.v shelter. The British guns still pursued us. After three hours of it sonic of our men v ent mad- Two had !o ho shot. The survivors fled to a second line trench. "Jhursdav.—Second line fr(m early morning. Guns roared incessantly. Impossible to reassure men. As day wore on panic became greater. Finally mm were unmanageable. Every minute we expected to bp our last. I wo of my men went mad. One rushed outside and was lilied instantly. Others started to dig deeper to escape horror of it all-

"Friday.—Still cut off from the outer world. Bombardment became more intense. Men bop an to suffer terribly from thirst and lack of sleep. Saturday.—British fire irore intense. After two hours of it shelter collapsed. Eight men buried in ruins. Survivors lay in terror awaiting the end. An attempt was made to re-open communication. One message got through asking how we were, and telling us to hold on for 24 hours- Shells came into the trench. The dug-out next to ours was wrecked. Our men were desperate. Thev had neither water nor food. Loss of sleep was beginning to tell more tl an ever. Five hours of unrelieved terror followed. "MILLION TIMES WORSE THAN HELL."

''Sunday.—Bombardment all day. We were forced into ne.e refuge, which we found with twenty-two men of a Saxon battalion. Thev were mad with terror- 'I wo died before morning with fright.

'"Tuesday.—Fire never slackened. Dug-outs on each side were shattered. The defenders were buried in the ruins. Attempts to re-open communications ceased. So far as I could judge, we were completely isolated. Part of our own dug-out was wrecked about noon. Our rations were used ut< at four o'clock.

"Wednesday.—Our position was desperate- All day we were tortured. At night pun-fire slackened, and rifle fire was renewed on the left and right. \\ e thought the British were getting through at last, but gun-fire was renewed. and continued u;» till midnight. Then it ceased, and at last the British did appear . Never were foes more welcome. We were too exhausted to offer resistance, even had we thought of doing so. We surrendered after nine days of ceaseless torment in tho bowels of the earth, under hell-like conditions, le inah who said war is hell was an ontimist. It is a million times worse tfian hell."

In spite of her boasted organisation, Germany is clamouring, as all tho belligerents are, for a more business-like management e? the affairs of State. The Herald's correspondent has gathered some interesting notes from various sources. A barrister who recently visited Germany talks of the spread of revolutionary tendencies. He says there lias been rioting in Berlin, and Cologne, that Berlin is under martial law and that in certain garrison towns troops are retained for the purpose of quelling riot-;. From an ''absolutely reliable source" it is learned that a formidable riot occurred in Hamburg on August 2.> and 2fi, and '"trustworthy information" lias lieen received that Dresden was the scene during the last week of August o." a big riot, in which 280 persons were killed and 16(1 wounded. A neutral minister who has lioen in Germany twice in the la-t six months found 011 the occasion of hi- second trip, at the end of July, that the situation had undergone a great change for the worse. lie was especially surprised to discover how bad and scanty food was in Berlin; but it was not so much the exorbitant prices as the actual shortage of everything that struck him most. Another neutral minister says that the Berlin Government i> much preoccupied with the internal situation and has to weigh careion of any contemplated action. A Dane v.ho has lived in Berlin for six or seven years declares that ''the spirit of the people is sinking rapidly and the public begin to lose faith in final victory." However, all these opinions may havo been framed especially for the consumption of pro-AIIv readers, and thev need not Ik> accepted at their face value.