"CUTTING OUT."

Taranaki Daily News, 29 March 1916, Page 8

"CUTTING OUT."

. POPULAR METHOD OF \yARFARE "Last night," runs a passage in a British communique, "a raid was carried on hv our troops east of Armentieres. About twenty of the enemy were disposed of. A machine-gun emplacement in their lines was blown up. The party returned to our trenches, bringin;: two prisoners." This is what is known amongst our men as a "cutting-out expedition." It has become so popular witli keen subalterns—the type is lesion —and restive Tommies that (says the Press Association correspondent at Headquarters) commanding officers have to keep a restraining grip upon temptation. The Cermans do not at all like ciilting-fmt tnctics. They keep the moonless night* lurid with flares and star shells in or■dcr to sea roll the ground between the lines for nny stealthily creeping forms. They waste a lot of ammunition upon shadows. No one is so foolish as to suggest- that the Teuton ordinarily suffers from nerves. But the frequency with which such little exploits as h hnve quoted are carried through keeps him -extraordinarily vigilant. And yet the wastage from this death-sneaking method goes steadily on. The Canadians are particularly adept at it. The instincts of the trapper are vevv much more suited to such insidious stalking than goose-step training. The bomh is the favorite weapon when the moment to spring is readied, although the bayonet is always handy. Tile machine-gunners hesitate to open a (Ire that must needs prove as deadly to their own men as to their enemies. The toll is levied even before the surmised foe realises that he, is paying it. Probably most of the prisoners taken in these attacks aiy men who have only been waiting the chance to desert in any case. • One of the little problems which our authorities are doubtless seeking to solve is how to facilitate the franklyadmitted intentions of numerous Ormans in this way. Tt is such a desperate venture to try and cross the dead around betwixt the trenches. If the Ccrmnns see one of their men making off they naturally speed him with a fcu-de-joie. Tf our men spot a (lerman approaching, they instinctively let loose •1 heir villes first, and wonder what he was up to afterwards. In any case, the result is equally satisfactory from our point of view, but the conditions do act as a deterrent upon the great body of potential deserters.