LITTLE PICTURES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 250, 31 March 1915, Page 5

LITTLE PICTURES.

VIVID FLASHES OF WAR.

HOW THE GREAT DUNE WAS CAPTURED.

The ruse whereby the Algerian horsemen known as Goumiers succeeded in gaining a footing in the important postposition, the Great Dune between the Ostend Road and the: sea, has just become known.

The German position appeared almost impregnable, the Germans having made the place a sort of warren, whence they sniped the sappers attempting to mine their position. The French advance was slow until the Gotoniiers imagined a little plan. One morning six fine Arab horses wandered, apparently quite accidentally, between the French and German lines. The enemy were careful not to fire on them, preferring-to capture the animals when they got neap enough their trenches. On tlie following days, towards nightfall, twenty-four horses appeared on the same ground. In the half light the Germans vi-ere onlv able to distinguish their vague outlines, and to see that they were unmounted. They were preparing to welcome "them as another useful capture, when, i n response to a sharp cry, the two dozen horses, kicking up their heels, galloped back io the French trenches. Thereupon twenty['our grey forms rose from the ground to throw themselves into the German tenrches. Concealing" themselves in Easternfashion under the bellies of thcr mounts, the Goumiers had' arrived almost at the edge of the hostile trenches, which they proceeded to attack with fury. The second German line dare not fire for fear of shooting theiroo n men in the uncertain light, and the Germans wavered. At this moment the. French infantrymen, arrived to support "their dusky coin rades.

At ten o'clock i n the evening thev had gained possession of the Great 'Dime with but small losses.- ,-flexiter.

THE BARREL RUSE. During the past fortnight many night! attacks have been made by both sides. These attacks very often succeed, but they usually yield to the victor indefensible sections of trench which are recaptured whe n day breaks. Wire entanglements make it almost Impossible to capture trenches except by surprise. That is the reason for the night attacks. The Germans creep forward, pushing before them as shields sacks full of earth. Sometimes metal shields are used; also barrels full of water or earth, which the creeping man roll before him. The only weapon against these is the, hand bomb, thrown so as to fall behind.

In one of the few picturesque incidents of the fighting near Bolimow these barrels played the chief role. The ■Russian and German trenches were both at the summits of slight slopes. Our men sapped clown the intervening valley, and up the German slope to within fifty yards of the enemy's trench. As the hand bombs made It impossible to go further they dug a trench parallel to (lie German, and at night strengthened it with barbed wire. At dawn next day the Russians had a familiar spectacle (if half a dozen barrels rolling slowly towards them. Whe n the barrels got to within ten yards of the Russian barbed wire, bombs were, thrown. Some of the barrels were smashed or blown sideways, but nothing could be seen of the pushers. The other barrels rolled imperturbably on. AH the hand bombs available were exhausted. An attack was expected. The Germans, however, did not follow their barrels, but made a surprise attack on a trench some way off. After this had been repulsed the Russians saw something inexplicable. Two of the barrels began to roll slowly back up the slope. The soldiers concluded that Germans had lain behind them all the time

and that these were creeping up to their trench and dragging the tavrols behul them as cover. More hand bombs weic brought and the last ban-els were destroyed. There was still no sign, of a dead or wounded German. All day neither side ventured into the dangerous zone between the. trenches. At nightfall some Russians crept out and explained the barrel mystery. The Germans had stuck sticks through the barrel-heads, thus making axles, and to the axles on both sides had tied strings. The barrels without any men behind them had been let roll slowly the slppe, This aim

was to compel the Russians to .cxhaiist. their stock of hand : bombs, aud : to mislead them into expecting the usual'infantry rush. Meantime, without any barrel l -, or other preliminaries, the infailtry rush was made at another po'nt.■•■ Warsaw correspondent, Westiuin,-i(.er Gazette.

LIKE CLOCKWORK. In the course of my bfihmd the lines I hav e seen,: pra«:tali? the whole mechanism of the jjr.t'su" Army in France, from ita base to■ within sound of the guns. I must not give <!.•- tails, but by universal consent there m\ Liwas a hetter equipped army or a more perfect military machine. The supply department goej like clockwork; it K mu not only good but varied food—a point of great importance when the inevitable monotony and hardship of trench life are borne in mind. 'The. Hospital and Ambulance Service is how admirable and working to a high pitch of scientific efficiency. It is a rare pleasure to see the hospitals provided with their laboratories and the best brains. all the time busily engaged at work to prevent disease and isolate it when it appears. There never was such an assembly of distinguished surgeons, physicians, and bacteriologists, as may be found at this moment in certain French towns, and all the time they are gathering experience which will advance medicine and surgery for the 'benefit of the civil population "when the war is over. Amid all the misery and suffering that are.piled up behind the scenes, it cheers and "inspires one to see this zealous, humane, disinterest* ed service so faithfully and willing] v rendered. The R.A.-M.C. may be proud of its organisation and its chiefs, and no less can bo said of the British Red Cross, which is working in complete harmony with it. Nothing -could exceed the ingenuity with which unpromising buildings are converted into good hospitals, or the cheerful courage with which the most quenching circumstances are met.

But tli e same ig; true all along the lino. The age of muddling through is past. .Everywhere one meets capable, active young men, (bringing resource and initiative to new problems, improvising most ingeniouslj) to meet unexpected difficulties, serenely cheerful in seas of mud or blinding'sleet, making dry camps in wet clay, miraculously housing and feeding a thousand men who descend on them suddenly from nowhere. It is realised tha't some of the best men in the Army are needed in the lines of communication and must be kept there, however ardently they desire to go to the firing-line.- So while the "Eye-witnesses" tell the glorie3 of the fighting men, the public at home must not be allowed to forget tihe engineers, th e transport officers, the basecommanders, the Army Service' men, and a thousand others who are working all day and often a large part of the night that the Army at the front may lack for nothing that it needs. Let a' word, too, b e said for the Veterinary Department, which '. is caring for 'nick and wounded horses with all the humanity possible, and has even, started a hospital whore they; may ba~ operated on, like humans, under anaesthetics: The : R.S.P. C.A. has a part in that good-work. " To gat the picture right it must be remembered that this army is-operating in a country not it 3 own'.' True, it is the country of a most friendly a«d welcoming ally, but the condition Inevitably affects th e problem, • You must think of a community within- a com-self-contained and furnished completely with its own supplies and munitions, brought and replenished from across the seas. To speak, 83 some people do, as if we could take any .juantity of men and pitch them into Fsinpe, and leave them to .supply themselves when there, is to talk sheer nonsense. France is hard at work supplying and equipping her own army,, and for every increase of our numbers our'own'; machine has to be correspondingly expanded, and the ground most carefully pre-1 pared in advance. It has taken'much skill and forethought to Jkeep . these conditions abreast of the expansion of our army till now, and with all the aid the French can give us it must takja time and patient planning to make, them .equal to the arnni that we intend to despatch before the spring is out. The French capacity for digesting us,. if I may so speak, cannot be suddenly enlarged without dislocating .their own military machine. The 'French 'community in which for the time being we settle must be considered in all reasonable ways, and any hasty effort to ride rough-shod over them would defeat itself and make friction. The problem, so far as I could judge, is being handled with tact and mufiial accommodation on both sides, but it is not to,te settled by mere orders from headquarters. Seeing it at close quarters I could not help wishing that some of the writers who keep their eyes fixed on the firing line, and talk as if it were all a question of plugging in large numhers as fast as we can turn them out, could see the .daily problems that arise in the rear of the fighting armies. Having seen them, I have an increased respect for Lord Kitchener and the organisers who> are working out thig" campaign from Whitehall.—Westminster Gazette. ;