SPOTTING THE GUNS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 16 January 1917, Page 2

SPOTTING THE GUNS.

AND SPOTTED. ■ FRENCH OFFICERS THRILLING STORY. A special correspondent of the London Daily Graphic says: — After a long walk through the uni- I form chaps of the Somme, I came upon the underground headquarters of a cer- , tain General. A captain whom I had ; known in Paris had been —and indeed I still is—attached to his staff, though lie was away recovering from the effects of his fifth wound. The golden story of his pluck and adventure, may, perhaps, be put forward as some slight compensation for the cruel moral and material devastation of the war. His first wound was received in the battle of the Marne. Between the Marne and the Somme he had been wounded on three accasions, and ho rccievcd his last wound on the Somme. He had gone out to a German observation post to try and locate the position of some batteries of Sin guns, which were causing a great deal of annoyance. This post had just been captured, and the only way of reaching it was to crawl from shell-hole to shellhole. It consisted of a small tree sufsficiently high to give a fair view over the flat plains to the south of the Somme. The Germans had fitted up round it a kind of scaffolding, which made it possible for them to have a view of the French lines without being exposed. STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHES. The captain found that when he had crawled to the tree and climbed up the scaffolding that he was in full view of the enemy. His appearance was greeted with a galvo of shells, which buist much nearer than was comfortable. A splinter, or two hit the scaffolding. Said the captain: — “ The platform on which I was standing was getting very shaky, so I tied myself to the trunk of the tree with my belt. I reckoned it would take a direct hit to bring it down. I had no diffiiculty in spotting the batteries that were firing on us, and, having accomplished my mission, began to climb down. ‘ ‘At that moment an S-inch shell exploded immediately beneath me. I was in the very centre of the explosion, and consequently was untouched by any splinter. This displacement of air knocked m e clean out and, as I discovered when I came to myself, stripped off my breeches, vest, and tunic, leaving me as bare as a worm. There veic SCO franks in my tunic, and never a trace of them could I find. They had vanished into thin air. Pulling myself together I pulled a greatcoat off a dead Frenchman lying near, and with only this to clothe me went back to the poste de commandante. PICKED UP UNCONSCIOUS. “Just before I got there a large splinter of shell hit me in the head, my helmet took most of the shock, but some small fragments entered my brain. I was picked up lying unconscious in the trench, and no one coiTUT T-odorstand what was the meaning of a naked man lying there witli nothing but a private s greatcoat to covjer him. However, someone who know me identified me, and I wa s able to give an account of my mission. ’ ’ As a matter of fact, the captain remained at his post, refusing to be evacuated for three days. He only consented to be carried to the rear when the effects of his wound rendered him completely blind and had paralysed him on pne side. The operation of trepanning pas satisfactorily performed, and now it is only on the express orders of his superior officer that the captain consents to remain on sick leave.