A GERMAN FUNERAL PARTY.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 109, 9 May 1916, Page 6

A GERMAN FUNERAL PARTY.

, An American who is serving as a •lieutenant in th c British Army, in the course of a Jotter to his parents, wsieh is published in the Springfield Republican, tell s of a .striking incident, as follows:—"I a on » t , know whether I told you or not, but we are going to make 'the big push' pretty soon now. The Germans from Russia are arriving on this front to meet it, evidently.

Here is a story which you v.-ili' hardly credit, but which, at the same time, is absolutely true, every word of it. The other day we Avere in the first line tnenches when all of a sudden a German funeral arrived between our first line of trnches, distance about 300 yards between one another's trenches. On

came the funeral with a priest in front. Our men, avlio happened to be a company of the Grenadier Guards, stood up, 'and bared their heads. No sooner had they done this than the German 'sham' coffin was uncovered of its German flag and the 'dead man' came to life in the shape of a machine-guiy The priest and mourners, of course. were all disguised soldiers of the Kaiser. Most of our men were killed by th 0 machine-gun, but when the boys in our second trench saw what Avas going on, you should have seen that funeral break up and run. The funeral' was- caught in its own trap, for on the other side the Germans wouldn't fire for fear of hitting their own men, and Ave had the pleasure of picking off all the "funeral." party from Germany, and somehoAV I don't think that bunch will go to any more funeral parties for a while. This is absolutely true, and happened just as I tell it to you. And then they say Germany is 'civilised.' Why, believe me, they don't wnoAV the meaning of the word. It is really awfuL some of the things the Germans resort to, to take a 'life. I will have many a story to tell of German barbarity to tell you if I come out of this alive, which I hope God will grant me."