GLIMPSES OF WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 242, 22 March 1915, Page 6

GLIMPSES OF WAR.

BIRD'S-EVE GLIMPSES. The privhte letters of officers and men at the front, and the personal yams those home on leave can sometimes be induced to tell over a cigarette or I'ipe, are of absorbing interest. An officer serving with the torpedo llotilla in the Mediterranean has a line story about the Turks at iAlexandretta. Our "ships threatened to bombard them unless tliev blew up the railway, but the Turks were "'quite coini*"." They protested that they had 110 gun-cotton. So our navy offered to oblige with theirs. i Then the Turks pleaded that they had no one competent to do the job. So tile navy offered to lend them an officer. Then the Turks said the officer must be under the Ottoman Government. This was a bit of a poser. Tien the naval officer selected cheerfully volunteered to take service temporarily under the Ottoman Government for one day only. This adventurous soul actually landed in the dual capacity of British officer and Turkish demolition expert, putting on a Tarhosh and doing tlte tiling in style. The officer who narrates this episode, laments the slow progress of the Turks, but thinks "wo ought to have seen some fun in the spring." A captain of the Royal Fusiliers gives a .description of the tit-for-tat tactics approved for dealing with German snipers. ''Whenever one of my men has been hit, I have taken one loophole and the three best shots among the XC.O.'a one each, and we snipe till we get our man," he says, "and T generally reckon 011 hitting a six-inch loophole five time out of six at 150 yards myself with a rifle." When the brigade staff billeted "Les Fusiliers Rovale-Regiment de Londres" in the local asvlum_ there was a great joke about it. "The men's sense of humor—out of place and no end of a nuisance in the piping times of peace —becomes a priceless boon when on actio service," says this officer. "In the whole of my service at home and abroad I have never seen Tommy Atkins to better advantage. A man whose cheery optimism will make him crack a joke in the small hours when tilings are bad and his best pals have gone, and after spending the night shivering in three feet of mud and water, is 'some'-sol-dier and a worthy representative of the country he is fighting for. His warmhearted generosity and unfailing courtesy to the civilian population have made him the idol of the people. It has teen a revelation to me, and I always thought I knew Tommy pretty well." This testimony conies from a very discriminating and exporienced soldier, who also gives nn amusing account of the rival flooding operations. One night the men managed to let loose by sapping operations afjout 14,000 gallons of water, which effectually drowned a good many snipers, 'kit. he adds, "it is not always so successful, of course. In fact, I could almost swear that I have seen water run uphill ill this country! I don't mean after the nun ration has been issued either!" With inimitable gaiety the same officer describes trench work as bottle at that—and only seeing out of the neck." lie cannot reconcile the pictures of our brilliant cavaliers who fought in Flanders in 170 i with the present conditions. But he is quite prepared to believe that aur army in Flanders two hundred years ago "swore terribly."' At which art he is nevertheless prepared to back any of his lads as good runners-up for a Grand Prix for efficiency and vocabulary. "I believe Napoleon's fifth element in warfare was mud," he says in conclusion, "f forget now what the other four were, but my orderly (who comes from Whitecliapel) could tell you where to put them in his own language." Another officer describes a most exciting football match played in the snowstorm under shell-fire. Three shells pitched among the players, killing one man and wounding nine. Within a quarter of an hour "'reserves'' had been chosen to fill the blanks, and the men were, playing football again. The same confidante tells of a merry visit at the base tliat lie and his men paid to see a performance of the "Follies." The entertainment was got up by tho Suvcnth Division, with the addition of two local ladies. "It was awfully good; some of the talent above ordinary, especially a corporal from the Army Service Corps." Somehow, one can picture that corporal —the sort of corporal that men would call a "thundering good chap."