WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 287, 13 May 1915, Page 8

WAR NOTES.

TIIK KNCINKI'.US JN ? h'LANDEKS. No branch i>f this British service nas distinguished itself nioro in this war than have tin; Engineers, and it is most enconrii-'ii'V to know that tin; newer ti-iii |i'i low operating in E ranee, are carrying on the traditions nobly. At a certain point on. the liritish front rocuitly one ~|' these companies oi' Engineers succeeded, in digging a new trench, under a heavy riue and gunfire, at a distance of only twenty-live yards from the Herman advanced trenches. The feat was accomplished by night, but tin; Hermans, employing star slu'Kw, were, able to pour in an only too ell'ective lire upon our plucky fellows. Some of the latter were on this occasion under lire for only the second time. They bad' had their lirst experience the previous night, when, however, the enemy's lire, was too violent for them t» reach the point at which the trench had to he dug. Yet these youngsters stuck it out and never llinched. though the cost, was, relatively speaking, heavy. They set out a party of about a hundred; tliev brought back many wounded, and they lost their major, three other ollicers, a sergeant, and some sappers. "It was no sapping out," said one of the men actually participating- in this heroic enterprise. "It was just trenchdigging right under lire. Major was sliot in the head two yards from me, and a bullet went through my spade. We had to crawl through tile mud to "ct at th i( place where the trench was to Lc made/and we were shelled all the time Sometimes we would stumble up to ~: ; r waists in water in the holes made by the big Herman -shells. Hut we did our bit." When the men returned to their b'llet in a neighboring barn the next morn'ui" there was a pathetic scene. The thin, mudstained ranks ere paraded before the building, and the oflicer in charge, in low tones, re'ated to a superior the doings of the night, and what they had cost.

A QUEER CONTRAST. A tiling that perhaps only Londoners, ami tin:" inhabitants of one or two Channel ports, quite realise is how near the actual scene of lighting in France is to England. "I met an officer in one of our territorial battalion* this week who had his right arm in a sling and his head bandaged, but was otherwise hale and hearty and quite cheerful (writes a 1 lonic correspondent). He told me that lie left with his battalion for the front on a Monday, took part in some stiff bayonet fighting, and was back in town wounded on the following Thursday. There is a queer contrast -'resented in the life of an ordinary civilian soldier, a man of commerce and city cafes, who finds himself one day dining at a Ticeadi'lv hotel, almost the next day under she'll and rille fire, exchanging bayonet thrusts in the mud and faint glimmer of early dawn with over-wrought Germans, 'everybody yelling and cursing like mad, and twenty-four hours later once more finds himself, winged and bandaged, but otherwise much the same as usual, sitting at a West End hotel table and leisurely studying the wine lists. One afternoon a little crowd of .Londoners gathered round a motor-car drawn up outside a shop in Piccadilly, it was a fast, rakish-looking racing car, not armored in any way, but equipped with a maxim, a searchlight and some queer-looking implements of unknown uses. Such a car would have been viewed with grave suspicion anywhere along our east coast in these days, and more particularly in these nights, for the last Zeppelin raid, and the stories of mysterious motorists signalling with lamp* have not been forgotten. The ear drove away, the British officers in it, but liefore' the crowd dispersed another car dashed up to the same shop, an emporium much resorted to for military equipment. This ear was even more interesting than the first one. What could he seen of it was a dull grey color, and it carried ride rests, but it was caked from axles to hood thick with clay and mud. But wdiat engaged the fancy of the onlookers were Hie biil'et holes with which it was thickly -peppered. Obviously it was just back from the fighting front, piping hot from the war, and a queer object to the eyes of the welldressed loungers in Picadilly in the middle of the afternoon. Another interesting study is the. equipment with which the British oliioer sets out for the wars, and that with which, ho returns homo on leave. All sorts of elaborate personal impedimenta are discarded as useless once a man settles down to the life at the front, and when he returns home his attire and accoutrements testify to any number of ingenious little wheezes picked up on active, service and never dreamed of in the days when the nearest thing to the "real thing" was being on niaoneuvres.

THE PLUCKIEST MAX. "The pluckiest man I have ever met," is how tlie late Sir George White, on one occasion, described Sir Archibald Hunter, whom Lord Kitchener has placed in command of the Third Army in training at Aldorshot, and the opinion of the hero of Ladysmith is upheld by every soldier in the army. For during bis forty years of service ''Fighting Archie'' has built lip a reputation for valor which the most seasoned campaigner might envy. His brilliant, fighting career began with the Xi!e expedition in ISSi-5, and later in the Soudan campaign he was severely wounded at Gniss, and was rewarded for his services with the D.S.O. In Egvpt Sir Archibald Hunter was Lord Kitchener's right-hand man, and lie commanded a division which was present at K. of K.'s triumph at Khartoum. During a period of fifteen years' almost continuous lighting Sir Archibald earned nineteen decorations and orders, and created a record by being promoted to the. rank of general after twenty-two years' service in the Army. 7t is a. curious coincidence that Sir Archibald should he fighting against the Kaiser, for on one occasion had to thank the British general for bis life. A few years ago the War Lord was paying a visit to Lord Roscbcry at Dalmony, and Sir Archibald Hunter was amongst t'lose w*o waited on the platform to welcome the Emperor. On his arrival the Kaiser took hls place in Lord Roscbcrv's carriage, but suddenly the horse began to phmgo wildly, and in another instant woiiM have bolted. In a Hash General Hunter reached the animal and dealt it a smashing blow on the nose which effectively quieted it. The Kaiser was profuse in bis thanks, for undoubtedly the soldier's plucky action prevented what might easily have proved a fatal accident.

BRITAIN'S SEA POWIR. There, is t, depressing tone about the writing of Captain l'ersius, the wellknown German naval expert, who, in the Berliner Tageblatt, describes the rela- | live strength of tlie British and German i lieets. After 'referring to the absurdity I of reports that the British Xavy lias J Mill'ei'ed enormous losses, he says: "VTcjj have conlideiiee that our fleet will keepij tin; enemy, as heretofore, away from J! our coasts, and will damage, him by means of submarines and mines, but it would be misconceiving and under-esti-mating the task of our l!ect to speak now of a substantial weakening of BrlIMi sea power." Captain l'ersius then de-scribes the strength of the British and Oerman fleets in terms of tonnage and weight of broadsides, nnd adds: "These figures should sultice to show in its true light the mighty material superiority of the British Fleet. Kvt-n if we have inflicted many and noteworthy" losses on our enemy, this has little significance in view of our relative total strengths and the increase which may be expected. Of course we, too, can trust that the feverish activity of our shipyards will every month bring us reinforcements to our material, but this reinforcement can by no means be as great as that of England. Before the war the view prevailed, which we in this journal always opposed, that England would suffer from a la.'k cf men for her fleet. The error of this view has now been iucontestably proved. It is, therefore, manifest that we must refrain from estimating too highly the losses of our enemy or from appraising his strength inadequately."

BE.VARKABI.E CVKE OF MEN SEXT HOME BY CIKIttIAiNY.

.Sudden ami simultaneous recoveries have been made at Queen Alexandra Hospital, London, by two of the British soldiers recently sent home by Germany as totally disabled from further military service. " One. of them, Lance-corporal Fowkes. of the 18th Hussars, was blinded at Mons, and the (Jerinan surgeons regarded his case as hopeless. At Millbank, however, he received special X-ray treatment, with the result that he has now regained his sight. 'Almost immediately afterwards the second soldier, who liad been rendered dumb by the shock of a high explosive, was heard to lifter a sharp exclamation. He had had his speech restored by a shock caused by putting his hand accidentally on a warm-water pipe which was unusually hot. The doctors »re of opinion that there is nothing unusual in the cases, as in each instance the disturbance of faculty was not organic but only functional.

THE WRCXS'C TKENX'H. A story is told of a flerman soldier who was sent to draw rations for his company, and somehow managed to get hold of the wine which is red and strong. Pietnrnmg to his lines, he lost his bearings completely, and some English soldiers were surprised to see him pushing a wheelbarrow towards their trench, whilst it was also clear that lie was well "oiled." lie came gaily on, singing as though lie had not got a care in the world. He was received with open arms, and when his mistake came home to him, he. accepted the situation in the best o[ "spirit.'' POPULARITY OF THE TOMMIES. An oflicer writes of the long conversations our Tommies carry on with the French without either knowing a word of the other's tongue. If everything else fails, our men exclaim ''Souvenir,'' their one word of French, and then everybody laughs and is perfectly satisfied. ''l think the departure of Tommy from these regions," says this oilieer, "will leave the children very sad. For they all love him. lie is always playing with them and making them roar with laughter. They all wear putties now and smoke pipes, and some kind regimental tailors have cut down tunics to fit young favorites. The children all wear the badge of some regiment or other. Some of them have the badges of every branch and battalion of the service. The bagpipes are an unfailing source of amusement. Any Scotchman skilled in the art is granted no mercy, by irrevocable decree of the countryside until he can convince them that he has no more wind for the pipes. The French soldiers are displaying in their spare time all that deftness, ingenuity and industry for which their race is justly famed. Those French soldiers who follow trades in civil life arc really in the interludes of fighting carrying on 'business as usual.' The wood-cutter is in great demand. The cabinetmaker is furnishing the trenches. iA fishtwian catches eels and sells them at twopeSce each. A great industry is the making of tinder-boxes out of cartridge eases' These useful and interesting souveni) i are being gold at five francs each. In .the same way can be obtained penknives, nail-files, scissors, pencil eases, penholders, cigarette cases, etc. One man made a complete assortment of manicure implements out of mauser eases. Agricultural hands are helping the fanners, and nearly everyone is going in for photography. Barbers, tailors and bootmakers are doing a roaring trade. Some of our English Tommies of u more literary turn are making quite a fair income by teaching Knglish. When the pupils consist of charming daughters of the house iu which you are billeted, it is, in the words of one military professor of language, 'a most interesting wav of employing spare time.'"