WHY WE HATE SNOW

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 281, 1 June 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

WHY WE HATE SNOW

THE COLD TIUTH. By AX OFFICER AT THE FRONT. .Snow is pretty stuff to look at; n fact, in a moment of great enthiisiasn one might concede that it even beauti ties the battlefield a little, but beyoin this no trench-dweller will go, even if h. gets so far.

Tiio cold truth is that snow stand tho toreiront of the nuisances whicl the inhabitants of the trench world hav, to put up with. When 't is snowing what little space the snow t-ikes leav< in the air is filled with -1 Aftej a week, everything is in a state of per feet beastliness.

Jt always happens that snow fall hard during the night and then th»wi with equal entuuaasm during the dav Ihen the world falls to pieces. Thl laboriously created chaos of sandbag and eaves which make the universe fo: Thomas Atkins, trenches, gun pits, an* drains, are all in a state of gallopim disintegration. ;

You can stand in tho front line an< see whole chunks of parapet, to all apl poarauces: as sound as the British Con stitution, subside like lumps of nielt'ni butter into a welter of wet earth an< mud at the bottom of your carefulli drained trench. Of course this upset, the drain so that it cannot work, am in a fow minutes the appearance of ex '•-ted and burred scarecrows from thei: hole., and oaves betokens the fact thai the water has begun to rise. j 1 remember a certain infantry subaf tern emerging from his dug-out, an« for a few minutes we did;uss.Ml thj weather, the crops, Verdun, and simi lar topics. We had jirst arranged th< terrific discomfiture of the Hun, whci a strange sound as of a sandbag in I slipping mood caused the subaltern U turn. His dug-out lay, a grinning ruin in the mud. I fled. Ido not mind th| noiso of guns, I can stand it quite well 1 but not a Canadian subaltern in his bitj ter moments. ,

I wrote "grinning ruin" just notf and probably it will be asked how j ruin can grin, but it is the only wort 1 can think of to describe the,aspeet o, a dug-out or a piece of parapet wbei it has thus misbehaved. It slides Jowl with a sort of solemn defiance which ij infinitely maddening. You leave a yeah old babe for a moment with some prizeo trinket lie has worried from you to plaj with and on your return he holds rj uj) —thoroughly smashed —soberly and with no word inviting ycur inspe/tion] So it is with sandbags wlien the snoo begins to melt. j A subaltern of a battery] known to his brother officers as Litth Lord Fauntkeroy, was calmly slumber! mg one night in the forward observal ton officer's dug-out, when half thj wall fell on his face. Ho chanced ti wake, and, he said, thought there waj an attack and that a Him had smitten him. With admirable presence of mine he lay still, thinking that the Hun] imag'n'ng he had settled his victim] would go on and bayonet somebody else! Nothing happened for about a minuted when movt of the remainder of the wall fell un his legs and Little Lord Fauntlcj roy decided it was time to move befort ho was buried alive. So he extricates] himself with difficulty and passed tnj remainder of the night painfully enj sconced on an empty brasier in thecomj pany connnander'9 dug-out. j In other ways snow is a real danger tJ tho soldier. At this moment there arj dozens of (apparently) fair wh'ie field! in rear of the trenches which may hi derth traps to the unwary. They arej of course, studded with shell-hole*, any! thin;; up to 10ft. in depth and full oj water. Comes the frost, and the? freczo over. Comes the snow to covei up the i'-e, and it is impossible to tell there is a hole in that place at all. The snow on the ice looks like thi snow which lies on the good, firm earth Soon along comes an artillery signaller perhaps, patrolling his wires or a "run ner*' taking a short cut. He walks ove; the hidden hole and the next moment i' immcrM-d in irv water. Men have beeij drowned 'n this way. All pouts hate uiow. A man j ( creeping about snow-covered "no man'i land." when up goes a flare, and h< know-; that he is outlined in Mac! against the ground a* clearly rs a mar on i kmomatogratuh film. The gunner adds his voice to tin: chorus cl complaint. Officer* and ser geant 1 -pond their days in seeing thai tin men do not make Ir.i<k>- in and oul of the posifen for the Hun airmen U read. Every night, .after the ammunitions and rations have been brought no all bands have to turn out am? covei vr> the wheel track*. In some mv-t.-rious manner the fusel are affected." and suells bur<t everyl whore except- where tiicv are wanted The ob-er-vint officer finds every tarw pud landnnrk hiden out of sight. Th< thawinc slu-h freezes ns/am in Uk ni»ht -o that roads are like >kat'ng ,;„!■-< The farrier regretfullv puts tlu frosf-eocs on the norses' Aoes, am everv tim> thev go to wate- the imfor tunato animals, frisky with the km air strike each other with their beeh>| •Signals" weens aloud. One a'T-Un« :l f t ,V "another -naps under the burden of flnkes.and irascible bngajle-mc'or and .taff-eaotains make themsclve almost purple in the face tryin* t, |,oli! convert with The flving men ar« the only n«H* wh> get anv benefit frcm snow, for tb fort of men and hoi-es pr.nt many sC Sjtel its whit, surface. But not ere, IKo airman has a pood word ff. tb< cold: ,