WIPED OUT!

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1916, Page 6

WIPED OUT!

THE STORY OF THE FIJIAXS. raOJI THE LIPS OF A SURVIVOR. Suva, January 7. On January 1, by the IUI.S, 'Niagara, there returned to Suva, Fiji, Rifleman Ross, of the First Fiji Contingent. As Rifleman Boss was the first to return home of the fifty odd Fijians who were in the trendies at Ypres on tlie fateful May S, when tlie contingent was wiped out almost to a man, peculiar interest attached to his home-coming; vSuva turned out en mass to greet him. Minus tlie big toe and certain bones of his right foot, Rifleman Boss will never be fit for hard work again.

THE POST OF HONOR. Four days before May S, said Rifleman Boss, the Fijian Contingent performed a feat of arms of which, strange to say, despite tlie high praise it won from the commanding officers, little .seems to 'have been heard on this side of the world. It was the/time that the French Algerians fell ha : ?k, the Canadians were pushed forward and "gassed,-' and a retreat hecame imperative. The Germans were Within an ace of surrounding a division of the British Army. Word was passed round that forty volunteers were required to hold the line, while the battalion, to which the Fijians belonged, effected its retreat. The Fijians volunteered en masse, and were accepted. It was a dangerous honor. To each man was assigned a traverse, in which, a fire was lit, and the occupant kept running to and fro from different points to deceive the enemy as to the number holding the line. Had the Germans at any moment guessed that fifty men, instead of a battalion, held that long line, the life of every man in the trenches would have been sacrificed for sure; a single charge would have ended the business. But the Germans never guessed. First firing from one end of the traverse, then from the centre, then from the other end, each man rushed backwards and forwards for hours, until the retreat of the battalion, a distance of two miles, was effected. It was a great feat, and not a man of the retreating battalion was injured. Later, the Fijians effected their own retreat, also without injury.

THE DAY OF RECKONIXG. Of May 8, and its great carnage, Rifleman Ross spoke with some'diffidence. At this stage of the war, he remarked, the Germans were so overwhelmingly superior in guns and ammunition that they could inflict punishment pretty much a s they pleased, provided they knew the position of their opponents in the trenches, knowledge that the British officers carefully avoided giving them. After the retreat previously mentioned the British troops were quietly pushed forward again into tlie vacant trenches, It was the practice of the British troops to get out of sight or lie perfectly still in the trenches when an aeroplane was near, because unless there was movement in the trenches it was very difficult for an air scout to discover what trenches were occupied, or in what force. In t*ie early morning of May 8 a German aeroplane apparently effected something of a surprise, and discovered the exact position of the division. Having the range of the occupied trenches to a yard, the Germans opened a terrific bombardment.

On the morning in question, said Rifleman Rosa, ho was reading a newspaper, and thinks lie must have dozed off to sleep, though he has a recollection of remarking to his comrades in the traverse that the shells were cominji nearer. The next thing lie remembered was himself Pitting up. dosed, his hoots blown off his feet, the lower portions of liis body cohered with blood, -and he the only survivor in the traverse. He lay, with his wounds, for a couple nf hours, when Rifleman Loder hurried along, and called to him to get out of the traverse, as the Germans were afliout to charge. Knowing the Germans as murderers of wounded men, he crawled out of the trench, and, some distance further, found the shelter of a tree, behind which lie lay. From that position ho saw one of the most heroic and touching sights the eyes of man could ever wish to look upon.

THE HEROIC SIX.

Six Fijian lads, the remnant of the contingent, had taken up a position on a little mound behind the trenches. The rest of that section of the army, given the order to retire, had done so" expeditiously, but these six brave lads, maddened at the carnage wrought upon their comrades, had. determined" to give the oncoming Germans a taste of lead. Theirs ,vas a splendid position, and, firing rapidly, the heroic six held in check, for a full fifteen minutes, an entire German regiment. Even when the Germans climbed over the back of the deserted trench, they refused to bolt for it, but retired, step by step, blazing away as they went, and laying low quite thrice their number. Lying"there, said Rifleman Ross, his heart throbbed with excitement and pride, and never, as long as he'lived, would ho forget the sight. He did not know how many of the six escaped. It was time he commenced thinking of himself, and. he ■crawled away, a beautiful, but miraeu-lously-spared target for the German rifles. Some British Tommies helped him out, and later he was taken to the dressing station. 'When at the conclusion of that awful day, the roll was called, said Rifleman Ross, five out of the Fijian Contingent of fifty answered the call. Later, some wounded stragglers were brought in, bringing the survivors up to a round dozen. But, thank God, all that was altered If the German guns opened now. the British sw;s were at them in a flash. It was fair fight now. Rut in those other days it wasn't a fight; it was a onesided carnage, said Rifleman Ross.

A HERO OF TWF.XTY YEARS. Rifleman" Ross gave a thrilling description of the deeds of Rifleman Hurry Lodcr. a lad of twenty years, whose name is on tlip lips of' every Fiji survivor of May S. Two or three wounded men Loilcr rescued from the trendies. For some time lie kept voming and gohifj to Ross, bringing liim water and eijraiettes. every journey exposing liitn.self to the enemy's bullets. At one time when loder was holding „p Ross' head, and forcing a little water between his lips, a bullet went through the top of the water bottle; but the "groat" hid only remarked about the closeness of the shave, and finished his Samaritan work. And ■between every act of sacrifice and kindness this boy of -20 picked up his rifle, and. cool a s a encumber, picked off one of tho advancing Germans. later, lis was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner. Loder's comrades had heard no word of his getting the V.C.. but whether he got it or did not, Harry Loifer, said Rifleman Ross., war a hero in the hearts of all who. saw him that dav.