FEAR OF THE BAYONET.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 2 December 1916, Page 3

FEAR OF THE BAYONET.

! GERMAN. MACHINE. GUNNERS ! RAISE WHITE FLAG. ; "The Germans cannot; stand up to I the bayonet!'' These striking words I occur in the letter home of a plucky . young officer who has been through i some ot the worst >Somme fighting. Our ! Lewis guns and our snipers, he writes, ; were in a position to account .for a con- ! siderable number of the Bodies, and i just at the moment when the CO. of I the battalion immediately concerned j was deciding on a certain device up I went a white flag from the strong j point, and Fritz emerged therefrom. • iioldnig up his hands and begging for ; mercy. ! i-'ur once in a way the German macll- ! ine aunners —who are amongst the very j best, ana bravest troops m the Kaiser s ! army —simply anew up the sponge. | The guns' crews surrendered to the l \\ arwicks, who also took possession of ! the guns, passed on to the rear of I our position some 250 prisoners—the I unwounaed remnant of the garrison dr | tlio strong point. It is the first instance within my ! knowledge or German machine-gun I I I crew s giving themselves up so freely. j *'\Ver-e you not surprised.'" I asked I the commanding officer. "Well," was j tne reply, "I was immensely relieved, i for it enabled us to continue our adj vance till w 0 had won everything — [with a slice added on." 'Before the ' Warwick left their tranches they had : been subjected to a vigorous bombard- • meat by the enemy. j The Bocho apparently suffers fromuo i shortage of shells. He scatters them like hailstones all over the landscape.

In this instance he threw a great number, of gas and tear-shells. "We were weeping," said an officer, "but the goggles served out to us are quite a protection. Of course, the mask is a nuisance but our men fight jolly well all the same when they've got them on"