WOUNDED NEW ZEALANDERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 133, 29 October 1914, Page 8

WOUNDED NEW ZEALANDERS.

TELLS HIS EXPERIENCES. SCREECH OP SHRAPNEL LIKE SillfjJi'K. UF HALE. London September 12. The first New Zcalander to bo wounded in action, was Mr M. Ryan, who, a few weeks ago, went out to the front as a lance-corporal in the King's Liverpool regiment. He is at present in one of the territorial hospitals at Souths'ea. "Our battalion left Aldershot throe weeks ago for an (to us) unknown destination," he wrote ,to a friend last week. "It. turned to be Havre, whore wo arrived early on the morning of the 13th ult. The first thing that impress-, ed the majority of us was the hearty welcome extended to us by the French people. 'Vive l'Angeltem' and 'Vive ('Entente Cordiale' was shouted at us as wc passed up the river to the docks. Then, after disembarking, we inarched to, No. 2 camp, live miles away. It was a cloudless day, and the sun was fiercely hot, but our battalion stuck it well. i . . . . \Ve stayed here two days, and : then took train for somewhere near the : frontier.

OFF TO THE FRONT. "We passed through Rouen (a city of railway tunnels so far as we were concerned). The Lyttclton tunnel (New Zealand) is like a culvert compared with one of those near Rouen. We travelled all night, and reached a small station on Sunday morning, had an hasty breakfast, and started our ten mile march to Hanappes, where we billeted for five days. On the 21st wc started for the 'front,' and marched eighteen miles to Landroci.-s (since shelled by the Germans). Our platoon wa s on outpost duty, over a bridge, and got little rest, hour next morning saw us on the move again. We marched all day through some of the. best agricultural country 1 have ever seen. The.roads were dusty though, and, on account of no sleep on the previous night, the majority of No 6 platoon just dropped their packs and fell asleep at onee as soon as the billet was reached. Two o'clock Sunday mornnig saw us off again, and we marched steadily until 8 a.m., when we had a hurried breakfast. At 10 we reached Maubeuge, the temporary headquarters. Hero our lucky (?) platoon was again selected to watch the roads for Uhlans who might take a fancy to raid the little town and eapttire our staff, At 2 we were instructed to rejoin our battalion eignt miles awav, at Givri.

AMONG-THE SHELLS. tnT"™ T, 8 arr iT cd tl,e J' ! >ai Just left Sf,n ? ur r ,; tlrc ™nt of the South Stall or, Is. We had heard the boominof guns since daybreak, but now we v.-re ni!-„np the shells. The enemy employed what is known as 'searching' fire, but our luck was in; they didn ? t find us e caught the battalion up and learned that our Cvc!e Division had been Smashed up by the enemy's artillerv--ten wounded and one has died since "We ivured at dusk, and, dead beat though we were, we worked all ni«ht entrenching • ourselves. At about l°3u the enemy's searchlight played on us and at nawn the guns opened'again. Our artillery was hopelessly outnumbered, and, at tins particular place, outranged fne shells were beautifully'timed, burst- , mg about f!0 feet above the ground. | Shrapnel is about as weird a contrivance as you could imagine. First you hear the rushing of the shell throiU the air. It makes a noise like a small whirlwind, accompanied by a dronin« sound like an electric car rod make* a° it is drawn a'ong the wire. Then the &'°r 3" <l th , c 23 ° bl,llets »ntai„ed by the shell are driven downwards, making as they go a sound something like * t>-j[.ical Wellinflrton galo in the "wires outs.de the G.P.O. To our surprise, we were ordered to retire at 9 a.m. GENERAL DA VIES COMMENDED. "Another day's marching ensued, and ve react,ed Bovai about 5 pJn Our ~„ .adc acted as rearguard to the expeditionary force, ami 1. mi s ht add the 1-r.ga,lier (our „wn General Darics, of -New /en and} was praised by the G.OC for Ins masterly handling of his troops'. At b next morning the Germans were \t '» again A 1„, taliou 0 f in f,, lt j tuo cavalry r-iments tried to turn our flank, and C and I) Companies, bv a WeU-d.rcetrd lire, held them off. \\\. tell oac.v again, and now they tuned the guns on us.

bullet pass.ng through mv left calf vnnl7l, * S '' lH f, i,m si "» ;a ">- to what would lio caused by a l,low with a hot P'eeo of iron. There was YcW littleI»u», although yon could gut two fingersin the ho,e. I had it bandaged immedmtHv and managed to march with the rest to lout an Sommes, ten miles away, t WM y, CIl fc on amb j tia.u ami Sl ,,t to the (ie!d hospital at Koilell. ]t has been sfrm.l '7 ii.is men .-.truck on account of the proximity of the enemy, «*d 1 armed .hero on the L.S.W.B. tTut latiulv. I expect to be at it am in ; n a couple of weeks."

IX THE BWTISH CAMPS. ••The British C amps," gays a Times lough t c ,mril, ls .never unrestrained; all his°mriht P V ereal B " at wUh '"But wait a little,' aid a aftrgaartt to mo, and you'll see what nmr »ur«'fr y< "?' r / WaS thrt>u « h ">e Boer vi ar, and I u n ow. Wait till the Germans touched them and their blood All l.glm-and we haven't the French spirit, perhaps, .but we can he u«l T • e had scarcely .spoken when three o the horses that were return,!,,;, ttom he water,,,- up the long ,)Z took fright and bolted.° V 17 chubby-faecd, fair-hair,.,] B,Hj,* „n w««ichar g eofthei1 l ree,;„d , fo , V "■onijiit things 'ojrfdM decidedly na st T tor him B.H only for a moment With a,to„.sh„,g promptitude he swung him%JJ? ° # ro,llltl . al,( r, throw!™ hi, weight on the leading Lpe,, managed to bung the runaways up together j„ .i manner wl„eh effectually B t o pp ( .J tl.«n. As he'passed me I noticed w angry flush on hi*, face "The sergeant gm iied , n( ] nocMcd 16 will -be iu»t like «,«* on a b Xr H-ale presenify/ he said." "'"