THE NERVOUS STRAIN OF TRENCH WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 204, 5 February 1915, Page 6

THE NERVOUS STRAIN OF TRENCH WAR.

SOLDIERS' HUMOR. DR. MARTIN'S THIRD LETTER, j] i. ! ;-. A. A. Martin write to the Manawatu Standard:— RESPITE FROM THE TRENCHES. When I last wrote .you I wag in Bel}'inm, a few miles across the frontier To-day I am again in France, just a few miles from the frontier. Our division is renting, equipping, receiving reinforcements, and allowing the men a muchneeded rest and baths and good sleep. Well they deserve it. The nerve effects of living in an atmosphere of bursting shells and constant exposure to German bullets are very trying, even to the hardiest of men. We am all living in a "nervy" state. We are "wrought up" in the highest sense, and a week's rest will act as a wonderful soother The trenches are as comfortable as one can make them, but they are not very "comfortable" for all that. Two nights and two days in a front line trench leaves one frozen and numbed physically and intellectually. On one occasion I could hardly bend my fingers sufficiently to handle the hypodermic syringe in order to inject some morphia into a wounded ma n near me. But there you are—we are resting for a week and we have had baths and good meals and good beds. Not quite as good as one has in Palmcrston North, but still very good. I am sorry that I shall be unable to see the New Zealanders here, for we heard to-day that they had been disembarked in Egypt. I should like to see the New Zealanders in a bavonet rush against the Turk. The devoted of Islam. I am certain, would not like the Antipodean cold steel with Antipodean muscle and weight behind it. We are approaching Christmas, and all its_ great message of peace on earth, goodwill towards man. The orchestra of driving rifle fire, of the typewriter note of the maxim, of the whistling shrapnel, and the clattering burst of the high explosives will accompany the "choir of angels" composed of the Allies and the, Herman troops, but the time will not be "peace on earth," I will warrant. CHEERFUL AND CONFIDENT We are very cheerful as things go and very confident. I heard a regiment on the march singing lustily the other day as they tramped along a sloppy { and greasy Belgian road. This was the 1 song (hey sung: I Kaiser Bill went up the hill j Breathing fire and slaughter, Bill came down without his crown, And so he damned well oughter. I hope you like it. The soldiers seemed to. It was certainly sung well in choruu, and the song is very easy to learn. I shall try to introduce it into the Amateur Operatic Society of Palmcrston North, of which I am a past president. I think that I could teach the tune to the beautiful chorus girls of that Society. So, mon ami, one dav you will have a treat! " ' HOLDING THE ROAD TO CALAIS. lint revenons a nos moutons. We are still "holding the road" to Calais. Nothing can get past us now. () lir army—l speak of the French, too-was never so fit and was never such a terrible and effective fighting machine The German attacks at Ypres and Dixmiide have recoiled again and again before the pitiless sleet of lead and tindeadly bayonet work of the British regiments. ° THE GALLANT FRENCH, ° ,u ' tan ~ warmly of our gallant French colleagues. The French «re splendid. It is a sight and an experience never to be forgotten to be behind a French battery in action. Th" dm is frightful, and the calm insouciance of the French gunners fills 'one with joy at being their allies. I saw some weeks ago a French brigade char.'Ing and the reckless daring of these bold fellows as they swept across a neck of land full of barbed wire entanglements and swept by shrapnel made one realise what a gallant and heroic nation we are fighting with to-day. . I have not seen their cavalry This is no war for the horsemen. The cuirassiers go down to the trenches and use the rifle and bayonet like the infantry Later we shall hear more of the French and British cavalry. Their hour has not yet come, but soon the haughty Prussian will know that his Uhlan is not in it with the British dragoon or the l'rench cuirassier. I ALPHONSE-THE BOY HERO.

I mot in a Belgian village recently n very gallant French bov. Another medical oflicer and myself had entered an ostammct and had ordered a glass of vin rogue" of the country. Then mi came Alplionso, a youth of tender years but with a proud military mien and a ferocious swagger. He ordered his glass of new wine, and polished it ofT like a FalstafT in minature. "Treize ans, nion ollicer. '-How many Hermans have vou killed?" "Ah, Peutetre quatorze \> u quizne.' "Admirable, mo n petit soldat and how did you kill them?" "Avec mon carabine"—this with a smack of his carbine and a salute to us ended the interview. He, as a matter of fact, had killed fourteen Germans. He is a dead shot and a splendid scout. He crawls out of his trenches at night, and scouts well into the enemy's lines. He was a Prussian newspaper bov, a gamin, ami attached himself to this'particular r ,„ri. ment at the beginning of tile war. lie is only 13 years of age, and small for his a#e, but he is old in knowledge and sin The regiment could not shake him oil', and so at last, like a French regiment, it "adopted" him into the regiment and' gave him a uniform and a carbine:. He is immensely popular with his regiment! He is the mascot and they trot him out on all occasions amidst shouts of laughter and badinage. Alphonse takes the position seriously. He lias a severe and military air; swaggers when lie walks and is never without his carbine. He has been presented to President Poineaire, and the President savs he will get the Legion d'Honneur wh'e„ he is 2] Alphonse is happy, but I think that one day Alphonse will be killed. Tin- gallant little Frenchman is too daring. But boys like him teach men their duty sometimes. UFK IX THK THKNT-lIFS. We have not been gelling many wounded lately as the fighting has not heen of such a sanguinary character. All the armies are living in'holes in the ground, and whe n the ''coal boxes" are hurtling over the landscape, a hole in the ground is a very good place indeed.. Frostbite is somewhat prevalent with' our men, and it is an important factor, I for a bad frostbite can incapacitate a soldier for many months. Charcoal braziers made out of perforated buckets and petrol cans are used in the trenches. The position of the men is very cramped and only muscular e.vrti'in they get is that produced by shivering. Vou will agree with me that mils, ctilar fibrillation produced by shivering is not a very good form of 'exercise. It is obviously unsafe to stand up. So crouch they must and they must still shiver. PIvAOUBS OF VF.riMIX". Another factor that has to be attend-' ed to in the hygiene of our troops is the unsavoury one of vermin. It is very ' J o

difficult to keep down lice from the body. Officers and men get this affliction. Lice are vuy .diMtitll to get rid of, Boiliit.,' the clothes will not do it. Petrol is us'ful \vhe n the skin is smeared with it. A large number of our wounded came in ' .villi lice through their clothes and en their bodies. At the. front we try to j .teriiise the clothes by dry heat, which is quite effective. But dry heat is not everywhere available. The lice disturb the men's sleep and the constant rubbiag produces sores and excoriations. It is not, therefore, a matter that one can disregard. One meets it with Belgian, French, British, and German wounded, ar.d the nieiiiiul officers have to devis,ways and means to kill oil' these peats. RUMOR AND REALITY. Wo live on rumors and more rumors, up here. Daily we get a fresh rumur. The favorite one is that the Kaiser is dead. He has been drowned, assassinted, suicided, shot, bayoneted, blown up, died in convulsions. Daily or almost, daily some calamity has befallen the Great William, but from last accounts the War Lord is still alive and asserting that the Almighty is on his side. When we don't kill the Kaiser, we kill the Crown Prince. He has been buried in all parts of France and Poland, but lie always gets out of his grave and turns I up elsewhere. He, I believe, is still alive and well. On dog days we kill and bury Von Kluck or Bulow or Hindenberg. But if we do not kill and bury , these august beings we certainly kill daily many of the lesser German fry, and when we bury them, we also do it i very effectively in a deep long trench , and cover them up well and truly. , AT A BASE HOSPITAL IN ROUEN. Directly this letter sets out for yen > I also set out from the front to Rouen, ! wher- I have been posted to take charge . of the surgery in a large base hospital. . It is only temporary, while we are siti ting by i n this war of trenches. When we advance again, 1 join my ambulance. 1 There is a lot of work to do in the base , hospitals at Rouen. The city is a wouf derfully beautiful one, situated on the ! Seine. It is intimately associated wiih , Joan of Arc, with William the. Ce.it- - querer, who died there, and with many f historic events in thi Middle Ages. 1 ; do thiuk I will admire the Seine from t the Point Cornellle as much as I would the Manawatu froi.. the. Fitzherbert Bridge, and I think I would rather stroll across the square than along the famous Rue de la Republiquc. But "L'homme .) propose —" you know the rest.