AN EERIE AND DRAMATIC VIGIL.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 10 February 1917, Page 2

AN EERIE AND DRAMATIC VIGIL.

E have run almost the whole gamut of the new and exciting type of adventures which modern warfare may bring to a man is not exactly an enviable experience, yet a young Highlander who has been invalided home rejoices in the amazing fact that such has been his lot. These adventures of his make a thrilling sum-total, for they included night-sniping against snipers, a night raid upon the enemy trenches and the resultant capture of a goodly number of Huns; participation in the wild bayoent charge which made tile capture of a certain village Immortal; and last, but not least, an "interview" as he facetiously termed it, with a shrapnel shell which blew him skyhigh and left him and a comrade derelicts on the field of battle. "Yes," he smilingly agreed, in answer to my remark, "you may put me down as a veteran if you like, although, as a matter of simple trutn, my whole life at the front only lasted a few weeks. But things have been going at a rather rapid rate since the ball opened on July 1. It was longafter that date before I had the pleasure, as you might say, of meeting Fritz face to face. And I may tell you right awa}' that I don't like him one little bit —either soldier Fritz or sailor Hans. No, I've never been to sea, but I met Hans all right. He took part in the defence of —•, quite a lot of him, in the shape of marines. It was a surprise for us, but I think I may safely say it was a bigger surprise for them when we got in amongst them. "Let me give you my adventures in their order, however. Practically my first real taste of warfare was that of I sniping duty—sniping the snipers, as we called it. Of course, I had had the customary, and, I suppose, necessary baptism of fire in the reserve trenches, and witnessed all the terror and triumph of our artillery work, and so on, but it was not until we were shifted into the very first line that I had my first supreme test. And, taking it all in all, it was the hardest one. You see, you were practically dependent on yourself, your nearest chum being yards away and completely out of sight. The night-raid and the charge were different. You went into these in the mass, and the rush and fury and companionship made you forget nerves altogether. You were simply a madman while the battle-lust lasted. "At the spot where I was placed on sniping duty our trench was exactly seventy-fTve yards from the Germans. Near enough to exchange compliments as you say, but the only compliments exchanged took the form of bombs; and they were numerous and sincere enough on both sides, I can assure you. Now, it so happened that this trench of ours was a sort of bow-shaped busi-

ness, and, as a charge was contemplated sooner or later, it was decided to straighten it out before the bayonet rush was made. That meant risky night-work, likely to be interrupted by the sagacious and ever-watchful Fritz. "It was the most eerie and awesome work. You knew perfectly well that if you showed but a fraction of your headgear a bullet might get you, for the German is a crack hand at 'that sort of thing, and yet you had to look around somehow and see that the enemy was not making any move while the work of straightening ouT the trench was proceeding. WONDROUS NIGHT SCENES. "And here came the real test. You were out as we said, to snipe the snipers. The most trying and most wonderful part of it was that the enemy

sent up his flares. You can have no conception of the weird beauty of it all. One moment the world was in inkydarkness; the next it was lit up as if by magic, and the vivid panorama of the battlefield stood revealed as on a stage. You saw the Germans moving about. It was then, I think, that I fully appreciated the extraordinary discipline and courage of our men. "Some nights later I was selected along with others to participate in a raid. I need not trouble you with a description of that adventure. It was lik e scores of others that have been } described—only on this occasion we had the extreme felicity of catching Fritz napping and bundling him into our lines before he had recovered from his sleepyheaded repose. We might have laughed at our captives but for the seriousness of our task. Wc had to get them alive, and we managed that all right. Wrestling is like second nature to a Scot, and there were some pretty tussles but we won.

"And then, at long last, came the charge itself, the charge for which all ihefcie frdvenfeurous preliminaries hjad been made. It was timed to take place between four and five o'clock in the morning, and our objective was the village of . My most vivid recollection of the whole affair was the barrage which preceded us. Unless one had seen it one can never realise what it was like. But let me give you my own impression. Out in front of us there suddenly dropped, as if fiiom the heavens a thick and perfect curtain of shells. -The guns were far behind us

but the screeching and roaring of that avalanche, behind which we raced, was such that some of us, the youngsters I mean, nearly lost our heads in the excitement. We were fascinated by that curtain which streamed and shook in front of our eyes. I shall never forget one incident. "Some of us, the novices, were tearing ahead as fast as we knew how, when a warning voice suddenly shouted: Cannie, laddies, cannie; don't rush." I looked around, and saw an elderlv chap —a real veteran —calmly trotting along as if at practice manoeuvres. "Don't rush. Watch the curtain. Keep your place.'' ' His voice was at once a guide and an encouragement. He was simply splendid. We kept at his side so far as we could, and always when we were about to out-distance : him, his hearty, cheery voice would steady us. Of course, the incident was only a matter of seconds, but it was the salvation of many of us. Soon wo had other things to think about. A redoubled fury of sound proclaimed the fact that the German barrage had opened, and, before we had fully realised it, we were racing under the canopy of enemy shells. "How we got through I don't know, but we succeeded —some of us—and then, with a rush and a roar, we were upon the first German trench. Our barrage had already lifted out ahead, and, under its protecting screen, we pitched like furies into the Hun-rats who had emerged from their underground burrows to receive us. It was a fearful scramble, and I confess to being bewildered, on, I should say, astonished, by the appearance of the men | who confronted us. Many of them were dressed as marines, fine, fresh, eagerlooking fellows. They had put up a stiff fight with their machine-guns and bombs, but once we were through their hot fire and were at them with the bayonet they soon began to squeal. At that game they were worse than useless —at least they made a pretty poor show —and in no time they had been rounded up—what was left of them—and were being escorted to the rear. Their fighting days were over meantime, both on land and sea. "It was immediately after this exciting struggle that I got my knockout. We had the first line cleared and were speeding on to the second line when the German shells began to fall thicker than even. I felt inevitably that I could not escape, and just as the thought was passing through my head there came a mighty, stunning crash, and I felt myself being lifted higher and higher into the choking sulphurous air. "When I came to myself I was lying flat and in agony. I recalled a chum who had been racing neck and neck •with m e a few yards to the left. On looking round I saw him lying still. 1 got near him. It was the instinctive feeling the wounded have for companionship. He was alive but badly hurt. After a while we managed to get up and help each other along. Comparing notes, as it were, we found that his his right arm was shattered and my left was ditto. What had happened was that a shell had burst midway between us and had caused exactly the same damage to both of us, although on opposite sides of our bodies. And the curious thing was that he had been trailing his rifle in his right hand and I had been trailing mine in my left, i with the result that both had been knocked to splinters in our hands. It ; was the strangest coincidence imaginable. But we were safe and soon we were proud, for the village had been ' taken with all the honours of war.