"CUTTING OUT."

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 83, 6 April 1916, Page 3

"CUTTING OUT."

POPULAR METHOD OF WARFARE. "Last night" runs a passage in a British communique, 'a raid was carried on by our troops east of Armentieres. About twenty of the enemy were disposed of. A machine gun emplacement in their lines was blown up. The party returned to our trenches, bringing two prisoners." This is what is known amongst our men as a "cutting-out expedition." It has become so popular with keen subalterns—the type is legion—and restive Tommies that (s'ays the Press Association correspondent at Headquarters) commanding officers' have to keep a restraining grip upon temptation. The Germans do not at all like cutting-out tactics. They keep the moonless nights lurid with flares and star shells in order to search the ground between the lines for any stealthily creeping forms. They waste a lot of ammunition upon shadows. No one is so foolish as to suggest that the Teuton ordinarily sufferers from nerves. But the frequency with which such little exploits as I have quoted are carried through keeps him extraordinarily vigilant. And yet the wastage from this deathsneaking method go steadily on. The Canadians are particularly adept at it. The instincts of the trapper are •very much more suited to such insidious stalking than goose-step training. The bomb is the favourite weapon when the moment to spring is reached, although the bayonet is always handy. The machine gunners hesitate to open a fire that must needs prove as deadly to their own men as to their enemies. The toll is levied even before the surprised foe realises that he is paying it. Probably most of the prisoners taken in these attacks are men who have only been waiting the chance to desert in any case. One of the little problems which our authorities are doubtless seeking to solve is how to facilitate the frankly admitted intentions of numerous Germans in this way. It is such a desperate venture to try and cross the dead ground betwixt the trenches. If the Germans see one of their men making off they naturally speed him with a feu-de-joie. If our men spot a German approaching, they instinctive'y let loose their rifles first, and wonder what he was up to afterwards. In any case the result is equally satisfactory from our point of view, but the conditions do act as a deterrent upon th e great body of potential deserters.