FROM THE BATTLEFRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 191, 21 January 1915, Page 6

FROM THE BATTLEFRONT.

GLIMPSES OX'' THE WAR. EVERY MAX AM) (Jl'X NEEDED. [lll the ioici!\ving letter, Dr A. A. Martin, ol i'aiicicrstoii North, continues his narrative of his experiences ill France and Flanders. He is still attached to tiie loth Field Ambulance with the Eittli Division of the British Army, and at tile latest advices was engaged witiiiii reach of the fierce fighting that is still going on around Ypres. .Dr. Martin's letter will be read with interest, affording as it does a graphic pempicture of the conditions under which the great war is being waged.] For the first time since coming out here I have seen a New Zealand paper, and have got a glimpse of what New Zealand has been doing. I see that the racecourse at Awapuni has thrown oil' its holiday mantle and settled down as an Imperial asset, a training ground for young Xew Zealand soldiers about to engage in one of .the world's greatest wars. We shall welcome theiu over here, and, believe me, every man is needed. Every gun is required, and every rifle will have its work to do.

EARLY MOVEMENTS. I arrived at Havre when the first guns began to play from the British up towards Mons. Here trenches were being made and some.attempt organised to stem the German advance, which was reported to be thrusting its menacing front towards Havre, the great French port and the British base. Orders then came to evacuate Havre, and make !St. Nazaire, 011 the Bay of Biscay, the new base. ORDERED TO THE BRITISH RAILHEAD.

So again in .a scene of indescribable confusion and noise and tumult wo took ship for St. Nazaire. At night we travelled without lights, and every' little while a British torpedo-boat destroyer ur a French gunboat would throw its searchlight upon us, recognise us, and — darkness again. We reached St. Nazaire, hungry, very tired, and glad once again to be off the sea. Directly I had reported my arrival, 1 received orders to go at once by train to the British .railhead. GERMAN" FILTH IXESS. After a very tedious and hot journey in a dirty cattle truck, I reached the town. It had just been evacuated by the Germans, and the Germans left it as usual—in a German mess. The German army makes its presence knows always by the filthy dirty habits of its soldiery.

, WITHIN SOUND OF THE GUSTS. From Coulommiers I got a friendly lift on a motor car as far as Douai and here joined the headquarters of the 13th Field Ambulance. We marched at one,, in broiling weather .and over hot, dusty roads. It was a famous march on the Manic! Six hours -after joining, I was in action with our troops advancing over the Marne, and for the first time heard the German guns, and heard the British artillery in reply. A STRENUOUS NIGHT. Our troops marched rapidly, and at S o'clock that night I crossed the Marne river, with the 15th Brigade. We camped in a field on the farther side, and that inight I was out with stretchers and stretcher-bearers bringing in our wounded. We wore.operating until midnight. Slept on my valise on the grass under the ambulance waggon, and was up again at 4 a.m. and again on the march. THE I'A 111 FIELDS OF FRANCE.

' We now traversed a lovely countryside. Lovely from its scenic natural beauties, but unlovely from its immediate surroundings. Dead Germans littered the roadside, and under clumps of .trees. The presence of retreating Uerjuaiio was everywhere seen. ; It was curious to note how a wounded German would crawl from the open to some cover. I helped to pick up one man of the aJegar battalion who was shot through the abdomen. Ho had crawled from the road to the shelter of a ditch, leaving a bloody trail behind him. There he lay now in the ditch on liis back, eyes open, and staring wonderfully up into the sky; his German face wore an expression of curious surprise, and his right hand was grasping a clump of grass at his side, .Mayhap his last thoughts were in the Fatherland, perhaps he again saw his wife and children and his little farm. Who knows ? We buried him in a hole beside the ditch and laid his rille on the grave.

ON THE MARCH. All this day we marched, stopping at intervals owing to the oMigestion oE traffic by our heavy columns on the road, but ever pushing on. At night wc slept in the field, under haystacks, in ditches, anywhere. Our food consisted of biscuits and bully beef. Wo ate licartiiy at all times, for we were hungry. We slept heavily—tired men sleep well. For five days we did not wash or take our boots off. Officers and men loosed like pirates with stubby chins and ingrained dust and dirt. But the spirit was good, for we had the Germans on the run, and we hoped to keep them running. THE ENEMY AT BAY.

Alas for our hopes. We one day found that we had advanced too far —the German- was at bay. We knew this speedily enough when shells came hurtling over us, and our ambulance had to retire two miles back. Then co....Sliced that phase of war which has continued up to the present. The German standing behind carefully planned trenches in splendid natural positions; behind these again his infantry reserves and his magnificent artillery. You have heard how this lighting has been going on week after week. The French and British pressing hard and the Prussians holding and defending as hardly. ( Hir brigade fought through the battle of the Aisne, and our whole army suffered terrible losses. It was a period of battle, murder and sudden death. MEDICAL CORPS' LOSSES.

In one day we lost three medical officers killed in action. The death rate amongst the doctors has been very high from the outset of the war. It must necessarily be so, for the doctor has to go anywhere and everywhere, for it is anywhere and everywhere that tlie wounded lie. IN THE SHAMBLES. After the battle of the Aisne, our brigade was moved up to La Bassee, and here the fighting was of the most bitter an<£ most sanguinary description. Our favorite phrase for the fighting to-day that it is simply "Bloody murder." Indeed, I cannot give an apter description. It is a bloody murder in all its moods and tenses. The shambles of wounded i and dying made by the thunderous ■ bursting "Black Marias," the devastating j effect of shrapnel, the gleet of bullets

.ind heavy hail of Maxim fire daily and hourly illustrate modern fighting. EVERY MAN A HEBO. The work of our men in the trenches si'iM-ly defies description as a tost of a n "'s endurance, and every man to-day wi ,i goes down to earth in a trench \vi; , his V.C. and a crown of glory. Our men obey the call with a jest on their lips and a spirit tnat makes one proud j of the tenacity and grim and stubborn | determination of our British race.

HOSPITAL WORK. At La Bassee the wounded came in such numbers that a section of this ambulance was sent into a neighboring town, Bethune, to find accommodation, and rig up some temporary hospital. 1 was posted to this town for the surgicai operating work, and commandeered a French hospital for the purpose. It had a splendid operating room fully equipped with instruments and sterilising apparatus.

THE DEVOTED SISTERS. I enlisted the Sisters of Mercy as nurses. The. Reverend Mother was a trained anaesthetist, and she, administerj e,d for me all the chloroform. Here for ■ two days and one long night I was operating without a stop. The Reverend Mother and the Sisters fortified me all this time by giving me hot coffee and j "brandy to drink. The people of the town | hurriedly came to our help and made straw mattresses and pillow cases, provided blankets, hot soups and warmth for our mutilated and dying men. The work -of the Mother Superior and of all the nurses was beyond all compare. They were angels to our men, and worked night and day with the most uncomplaining spirit and devotion to the cause of duty—the great care of the wound - I ed,

THOUSANDS OP WOUNDED. In about fourteen days five thousand wounded were passed through our temporary hospitals and from the fighting round La Bus: «• ."A n;; about seven thousand wound;'.l men were sent back. I am not counting the dead. My work dealt 1 with those requiring prompt surgical operations, and here my hands were full night and day. One only need watch a military surgeon trying to repair the ravages of shell and bullet to scoff at the pomp and magnificence of war. Yet Bernhardi, in hiff "boolc "The Great War," says that wars are necessary, and that battles are for a country's good. At Betlmne we had beside our own wounded British a great number of wounded Germans. Need I say that they ■got exactly the same treatment as our own men. We made no distinction, and did all we could to tiie wounded and crippled foe.

DREADED G>ANGRENE. ! At Betlmne, one met for the first time, cases of gangrene. This gangrene is due to the soil of the trenches containing a dangerous bacillus or organism which gets into the wounds. This bacillus sets up a form of gangrene Which speedily kills the patient. The only resort in many cases was a speedy amputation, and it was unfortunately necessary in a large number of cases to amputate arms and legs for this dreadful infection. •ON BELGIAN SOIL. Our brigade next moved up to Belgium, and I am writing this from Belgium soil. The fighting round Ypr>;s is of too recent date to inquire any details. It has been of a singularly pitiless and bloody type. The attacks of the Prussian Guard and of the Bavarians on one front at Ypres led to their being repulsed and annihilated. The attack was made by these famous troops in enormous masses. They rolled on like waves towards our front end v, (l e mowed down in swathes.

THE MOST HATED FOE. Prince Rupprecht, of Bavaria, issued an army to his troops the day before the chaige exhorting them to crush the "most liated foe." The most hated foe met them with a hail of lead and a cliff front of bayonets, before which the Bavarians, splendid and gallant soldiers as they were, had to recoil, waver, and retreat. This victory was not achieved by us without severe losses, and tlie crowded dressing stations, ambulance, and hospitals bore witness to this sanguinary encounter.

DR. ANGUS MeNAB"S FATE. Dr. Angus McNab (brother of Dr. Robert McNab, of New Zealand), met his death recently. He came out as a surgeon with the London Scottish. The Londoners took a village at the bayoct's point and occupied it. At dawn next morning the Prussians turned them out, also with the bayonet. Poor Dr. McNab, while attending to the wounded at his regimental dressing station, was bayoneted in five places and died. He was a very old friend of mine, and was today one of tly; recognised authorities in his specialty—diseases of the eyes.

BITTER WINTER. The weather is now bitterly cold. Ice, snow and frozen sleety wind tax the endurance of our troops in the trenches. But be the war waged by the elements or by man, be it waged by a few or many, we must make victory sure. Already signs are setting in indicating that the great German army lias delivered its heaviest blow. Our hardest blow has not yet been given. FATE—THE REFEREE. Like a clever boxer, the allies have sidestepped and parried the German thrusts, dangerous and menacing though they were. They wait till the first sign of exhaustion shows itself on the face of the adversary and his blows become less heavy. Then our defensive changes to the offensive, and the German must then retire to his corner or fall while the referee, Fate, counts the ominous numbers.

THE WONDERFUL AIRMEN. I Yesterday, we were very cheered. A | German Taube surveyed our position i from a great height, and then rapidly ! planed towards us, and dropped a bomb. I One of our biplanes pursued the Taube, 1 which tried to escape. The observer on | our Taube had a machine gun, and by 1 some beautiful firing brought down the Taube. The German machine was smashed, and the aviator made a wonderful escape—got off with a broken arm. The work of the French, British and German aviators is wonderful. The flying men daily carry out reconnaissances with the utmost coolness and intrepidity. A few days since I watched one of our heavy batteries take up a position in an orchard. The men rapidly dug pits for the six guns, and carefully concealed the guns from observation by cutting down fruit trees and hedges and planting these round the guns. Then a British aviator mounted into the sky and dropped a signal.