The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1916. AT THE BATTLEFRONT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 50, 26 September 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1916. AT THE BATTLEFRONT.

It was never for one moment doubted' but that the men New Zealand sent l to do battle for the Empire would up hold the high traditions of the Motherland. Privileged to take their place with other of the Empire's sons in the great push on the Western, Front, Xew Zealand's soldiers have added to the glory of their deeds at Gallipoli, but as was inevitable, many of the best and bravest are in the lists of fallen. For months past tho New Zealanders have occupied an' important salient and side by side! with tiie intrepid Canadians, they' have firmly, withstood all enemy as- 1 saults and have acted splendidly in I attack. It is almost impossible to' imagine, unless one has been there,! what a terrific strain is involved in' holding trendies—and they are com- 1 parativoly shallow trenches at Ypres' owing to the sodden nature of the' ground—against frequent determined assaults of the enemy. There was I scarcely an hour without an artillery' duel and scarcely a day that does not' witness a raid on the trenches. It' has been well said, in face of tl*e splendid work of the men from Overseas who hastened to the battlefront' at England's bugle call, that the Dominion divisions have developed "a now type of colonial manhood, never so noticeable as now that they start on their greatest adventure of the war with bronzed faces, bright eyes that look you straight in the face—men who are simply afraid of nothing on earth—faces that reflect bully courage through which shines a certain fierceness which causes you to comment mentally that it is better to have these men as friends than as •enemies." Mr Victor IU unlock, of Kansas, after a visit to France sa:d the other day that lie was chiefly impressed by the great gain to the national spirit and traditions which the ' Allied nations are already reaping ' from the war. They have Undertaken t

and half carried through the most stupendous material feat in history and it has been done for a purely ideal object. Sacrifice has boon the keynote of the whole groat war, from the Allied side. Without thought of conquest, \*ithout hope even of recouping the enornfons losses which must certainly be sustained, the great task was begun. With ever-increasing resolution and cheerfulness it has been carried on. And not in vain:

the detestable German is m a vice. and the sham and boast of the "superman" have broken down. Writing in "Land and Water." Mr Hilaire Belloc says:-"No matter what test, you take—the number of unbounded prisoners taken, the number of divisions against which the blow was delivered the accuracy, the rate, and the weight of the artillery prepara-. tion the expense in'men necessary to the 'result, the artillery captured, or even the acreage of territory over whi»h the advance has proceeded, the offensive on the Somme has shown itself in every single point, superior, to the German effort upon the../\ er- ; dun sector last February and early March. The blow was struck against forces more numerous than the forces! holding the line from Ornes to the, Mouse. It struck against a wider; front; captured more ground more, quicklv; took far more prisoners and far more guns. By any test you like to applv it was at once the greater and the better of the two operations. It i s a curious proof of the way in which the war may be misunderstood; that such a contrast has not general-; 1 V occurred to the public mind. It] will be .interesting to note the effect of the general offensive to which the eneiuv is now subjected upon his official casualty lists. The result will be a very good measure of his present confusion.'