MUD OR DEATH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 287, 13 May 1915, Page 7

MUD OR DEATH.

BRITISH ALTERNATIVE IN FLANDERS. San Francisco, April 13. British Columbia in particular has learned with interest how the British army operations in Belgium and Northern France are directed, and many details of the activities of the troops on and behind the firing line, are described in the second instalment of Sir Max Aitken's report of his visit to tile British lines, particulars of which have just been disclosed at Vancouver. "The business of war" is the caption under which this Canadian record ollicer writes from Canadian headquarters in Flanders. He describes the army in the field as spread out like a fan, with the wavy edge of the line in the firing trenches, the support trenches some hundreds of yards behind, and further back along the ribs of the fan the various headquarters —of brigades, of divisions, of army corps, and of armies—"until at the end of the fan one reaches the general headquarters, where Field-.Marshal Sir John French stands with his hands on the dynamo which sends its impulses through every part of the great machine spread out in front." The record ollicer describes the system of the, "signal branch," near by, which, with its wires and despatch riders, is the means of communication with every part of the field; the intelligence branch, "which collects and communicates information about the enemy from every source it can tap"; for one thing, interrogating prisoners and comparing statements made by them and the adjut-ant-generals, quartermaster-generals and medical service departments. Grouped in the vicinity, goes forward from general headquarters toward the edge of the fan," continues the narrator, "one comes in contact with" more and more men, and realises quickly that in spite of months of trench warfare, our troops are superbly fit and ready for any task which the coming advance may impose upon them. Their physical condition is so robust as to he astonishing. The complete emciency of the men is hacked by he fact that they are "well fed, and the army is healthier than any other army that has ever faced war, and typhoid is almost unknown. This amazing record of health is due to the. sanitary precautions that are lieing taken. One of tlie most remarkable of these is the system of hot baths and the sterilising of clothing. Bathing establishments have been put up in various parts of the field. Every succeeding hour of the day a. whole company of men have hot baths. Whilst they wallow in huge vats of hot water, their underclothing is treated with steam heated to 220 degrees. The British forces hold a, front between 20 and 30 miles long, running from Ypres on the north, where the seventh division made its heroic stand against tire Prussian Guards, to Givenchy, on the south, near the scene of the recent victory at Neuve Chapelle. This stretch has been held ever since ' the British troops made their swift, unexpected dash from the heights of the Aisne in Belgian Flanders into this lowlying Flemish land of mud and water, where they dug themselves in as they arrived, and there they have held their ground. They have lived and fought in I sras of mud. The men stood in mud, sat in mini and lay in mud. They had to hide in the mud of the trenches to (scape the German bullets. It was a choice of mud or death.

"Recent conditions have improved. There has been le>s rain, and the winds have begun to dry the ground. Willi the change of weather, the spirits of' the iikii. always doggedly cheerful, have hecome i|tiite buoyant, mid a happier, more cflicient and more confident army never stood in boots.'' The record officer commends the system of billeting the men within eiisv reach of the firing line, specially arranger! wooden huts having been put up r< ceiitly to supplement the dwelling; in the -mall towns ami villages where the

men -a,,-.. lii>t. .jUaHered. lie found the army in tin" -pirds and the men enjoying the privileges of devouring news from limne that is distributed' in letters that average one a day for (■very man in tin. Held. "Xk army in the world ever got so much news from home, so regularly and se. nuickly." he declared. Tlie soldiers play football when not on duty, he added. Sir Affix Aitkon's report has 'proved a great revelation to Americans who had concluded that the British soldiers, like the Hermans in the field, were cut o(T from the outer v.rj-'d find were in almost complete ignorance of tin; actual progross of the war. Americans are now bcoirning jo believe that after all England can produce, a better soldier than the land of the Teutons.