LITTLE STORIES

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 23 July 1917, Page 6

LITTLE STORIES

TOLD BY SOLDIERS

In the heat of battle, while the shells of the British barrage were dropping with beautiful accuracy, the stentorian voice of a Canadian sergeant was heard to roar at one moment, “Steady, you Canadians! where the dickens do you think you are going?” And the next moment, “Come ©n, you big stiffs, let them have it!” the din his voice towered above the combat, and when it was all •over and the objective won the only ■thing he could think of to say was, “What souvenirs we’ve left behind!”

The Bavarians in a captured trench the moment our fellows appeared automatically put up their hands, yelled “Merci, kamerad,” and formed up into single files for passing into the cages. A stolid Tommy, noticing the precision with which they carried out the latter movement, exclaimed, ■“What organisers these Fritzes are. They even practise surrender drill!”

In sight of a Yimy village a perspiring khaki warrior fell wounded, a ma-chine-gun bullet in his leg. Someone in the next wave seeing him fall called out, “Hard luck, old chap, when you’re so near, but if you jump on my back you can finish up with us.” INeedless to say, the offer was not accepted.

Some of the captured Bavarians remarked that they had only come into their trenches the night before, relieving the Saxons. When they saw that it was the Saxons they were replacing they knew that there was dirty work afoot. “The Saxons are not trusted,” they added. In their turn the Saxon prisoner said the same thing of the Bavarians. Obviously there is little love lost between the various Saxon tribes.

The Prussians in one part of the line made a bit of a stand, shooting steadily at our infantry until they were within ten fe6t of them, when Ihey'-dropped their rifles. Thy admitted, quite candidly, that on seeing our men’s bayonets their courage fled, and It was noticed that in no case had they got their own bayonets fixed.

A dead Tommy and a wounded Hun t e the occupants of a shell hole. The latter, was seen to be searching the pockets of the fallen Britisher. 'A Tommy in an adjoining shell hole bore this sight as long as he could; then -crawled over to the German and the two struggled together until a shell ■Striking near blew them apart. Told to take a certain trench, a battalion went over in fine style, but for some minutes remained in doubt as to whether it had reached its objective. The trench had been absolutely obliterated and was undistingulshable from 2fo Man’s Land.

Passing one of the cages, a Canadian heard his name called out. Thinking tMs strangle ho listened ,again Jand lieard his name repeated. “One of those blessed Fritzcs is calling you,” said his mate. And sure enough it was so. The man proved to be a GermanCanadian who has worked for a number of years in Toronto. Asked what the deuce he was doing in this mix-up lie said that he had gone back to Germany to have a dust-up with the British, and seemed quite pleased at his exploit.

A Tommy in a famous British regiment told the sympathetic visitors who gathered round his bed that, he was fighting from the Monday morning to "Wednesday evening without seeing a single live German.

As some of the battalions in support ■were passing up to the trenches they exchanged greetings with the gunners, who laughingly pointed to the guns that were wheel to wheel. “Boys” they said, “rely on us. The Somme mixture this time is extra special.”

A captured German officer said he was glad it was all over. For over a month they had been expecting the attack and the suspense was getting on his nerves. He said that the Bavarians the night before the attack ■brushed themselves up and cleaned their rifles, and, certainly, the majority of prisoners taken looked much more presentable than usual. Two nights before the great attack an English spaking Hun shouted out to the Tommy on outpost duty the name of his regiment the number of his battalion, and the number of the battalion that had been relieved. Apparently he had been able to catch traces of the conversation in the British trench, for "by means of saps the two lines had approached within a few feet of one another.