THE NEGRO SOLDIERS.

Taihape Daily Times, 10 December 1918, Page 3

THE NEGRO SOLDIERS.

FINE FIGHTING MEN. AFRAID OF NOTHING EXCEPT DARKNESS. American negro troopers are regard- | ed by their officers as exceptionally good at patrol work, as raiders and scouts. They seem to have some qualI' ity lacking in the white man which enables them to slink and crawl across No Man’s Land in a way that defies detection. I But the nlegroes never lose their latent superstitution and fear of the dark. Without white offiicers to support them morally their value is said to deteriorate quickly. They “see things” with ease. 1 The negro troops timidity at night is be d illustrated by the experience of a captain, who found one of his men at work after dark. The negro was talking violently to himself: “Niggah, pick up that wheelbarrow and push it over there! ” Now put that barrow down!” “Tip it over and empty it-” “Now wheel it back and fill it up again!” To all of which the negro answered “Yes, sah!” and suited the action to the word. He explained to the astonished captain that he felt less lonely and scared in the dark if ho pretendi • .A. A. A A A A A A A. /V A A. <3,.

ed a white officer was there to give him orders. 1 ILet the average negro soldier halt and be forced to He down for a time, and he goes to sleep almost immediately, unless he is forcibly kept awake, i The loaders of at least one regiment have had to adopt a plan whereby all members of a patrol when they lie down join hands with the white officer r at one end. He keeps the squad awake I j then by pressing the hand of the next man to him, who repeats the pressure of his right or left and receives an , answering pressure as evidence that ! his companions are awake. Nevertheless the negroes arc always ready for a fight, One regiment had bogged its way into a portion of the line where action was assured in the last German offensive, and that action suddenly began. Five of the officers of that regiment alone were in hospital but heard a few hours in advance of what was coming. The colonel left the hospital on crutches two other officers were carried to the trenches on litters and two more hobbled in—so as to be w»h their men and be assured they gave a good amount of themselves. They did. The negro troops are deeply attached to their white officers, and will go through fire and flood for them—or with them. In the main also the officers are attached to the men, take pride in them and father them. The negroes arc punctilious in such details as saluting and deference to officers and superiors, though lax in other matters of discipline ■which they do not understand.