NEW ZEALANDERS AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1916, Page 6

NEW ZEALANDERS AT THE FRONT.

TRAINING AND ORGANISATION. A WONDERFUL MACHINE. (from <Japt. Malcolm Ross, Otnciui War Correspondent with N.Z. Forces). It is not my province to enlarge upon the British effort and tile success of British organisation, but I should like at this stage of the campaign to place on record, as far as one can do so, some facts regarding the organisation of our own forces in Northern France and in England. It is true we are out a small part in the vast- <ind complex machine, hut it is fitting that New Zealanders—whc are by nature,'and bv reason, perhaps, of tluii insularity and distance from the scene of great events, tike most critical of all the criticsshould be told something about the working of the part they have so promptly and so generously supplied. Taking advantage of a comparative lull in the proceedings so far as we are concerned, T recently paid a hurried visit to England, and motored several hundreds of miles in Northern France, and the facts and opinions here set down are mainly the result of my own observation and experience. While, not posing in any way as a military expert, it is a pleasure to be able to state that the machine is working smoothly and satisfactorily. It is equally gratifying to be able to state that the conduct of the force is satisfactory, and tjiat our men remain on the best of terms with their British and Australian brethren, and with the people in the towns and rural districts in Northern France. REINFORCEMENTS, Our Force having taken up its position in the firing-line in France, let us now consider the questions of depletion and reinforcement. There is a regular round, from England to the' firing-line, and back from the firing-lint through the various dressing stations, hospitals, etc., to England, and, often, back to the firing-line and thence to England again. There are some men who have made the two circles. Before the war is finished there will be some who have made it three, and perhaps four, times. It i,s a round in which there is now a wonderful system, excellent organisation, and one in which everything possible is done for the soldier. As we are fighting an alert enemy it is not advisable to publish figures in regard to tile wastage, but our people will be pleased to hear that it is much less than it was on GaJlipoii. That is no doubt largely due to the fact that here we are much better able to cope with disease, that we are better billeted, that we are fighting in a more temperate climate, and the food supply is ft great deal better, and that tfhe" medical and surgical arrangements are just about as good as they could be. At the same time the fighting is, in the aggregate, more continuous, and the losses in consequence of the g rC atcr massing of artillery reach a higher percentage from this cause than tliev did in Gallipoli. We have to face bigger guns, bigger trenc'h mortars, and there is a great deal more high explosive than we experienced when opposed to the Turks. It may be thought that with the numbers of reinforcements that are leaving New Zealand's shores we must be building up considerable reserves. If that idea is at all prevalent it will be just as well to dismiss it at once from the minds of tile people. It must never bp forgotten tihat in the long line on the Western front the fighting, though varying greatly in intensity, never ceases. Day and night it goes on, and every hour of the day "and night men are being killed and wounded. .Ve are always in contact with the enemy, and that means constant losses, and the fact .remains that our reinforcements are not more than adequate, and be kept lip to the mark if our force is to maintain its position at t'lie front. TRAIXINU. In France, well behind the lines at certain places, there arc big base camps, each of which may contain as many as 00,000 men, and at these bases there are excellent training schools, where the instructors are wol'king night and day to put the finishing touches on t'heir more or less apt pupils. Recently the writer visited one of these schools at a big camp that includes New Zealand Reinforcements, and was greatly impressed not only .vith the methods but also with the energy displayed. A visit to the New Zealand camp showed that the arrangements were entirely satisfactory, and none of the men spoken to had any complaints to make. The food, cooked in a hut kitchen by fifteen cooks, was excellent, and there was plenty of variety. There was no waste, and tlie surplus fat was collected by the Army and taken away for the manufacture of glycerine. There were two large mess rooms, a post office, a recreation room (with piano), washing rooms, and drying rooms For clothes and blankets. The camp was on rising ground, and the sanitation and the water supply excellent. The medical service was adequate, and there was also a dentist attached to the camp. The camp commandant was thoroughly up in his work. He nieift tioned that in recent reinforcements there 'had been a sprinkling of elderly and useless men. Such men will probably be sent back, as they are of little use in any force. THE MEN AT WORK. In a hollow between sandy hills the instructors were busy putting the finishing touches to various squads from pretty well every part of our scattered Empire. The officer in charge of the instruction. was a keen, hard-working man. Drill went on from 8 c'clock until midnight every day in the week The New Zealanders, we are. told, were deficient in bayonet work and rapid loading, as were also some of the drafts that came over from England. The men had to unlearn some of the things they had been taught, which i s always a difficult matter. We were shown the new drill by a squad under a very smart instructor, and one could not but be impressed with it. In this matter the British Army has undoubtedly left the German soldier a very long way behind, So that apart from his machines the German is never a match for our men At this school the men are also taught trjßiieli warfare, there feing on the side of the hills an excellent system of trenches, with' barbed wire, communication trenches, tunnel? and great mine craters "consolidated" after the best methods. There is also provided training for artillery, pioneers, engineers and various other brfl-ncliea oi tbe service#

, TO THE IFIRIKG LIKE. l'hus we find our reinforcements coming to England—some, of course, to Egypt—after a course of training in their own country. In England they undergo a further strenuous; course of fourteen weeks, after which they cross the Channel ami are given a finishing training in France. From this last camp they are sent up to the firing-lint as they are required, well qualified to give a good account of themselves ag.i' i the best soldiers that the German Empire can -produce. It is at this stage that the soldier is liable at any moment to be called upon to complete the other half of the journey that he is often destined to make. In a few days lie may find himself, either in consequence of sickness, accident ar wound, commencing a new series of experiences that may land -him in England, Scotland, or even New Zealand, and that may eventually bring him back to the trenches once again, us accompany hiui on the journey. IN THE HANDS OF THE DOCTORS. Wounded in the trenches, it is not long before he is in the bands of the doctors. He is first of all taken to a regimental aid post just behind the front line. From there be is carried by the stretcher-bearers to an advanced dresing station behind the communication trench, and thence in vehicles to a .field ambulance which lias some horse ! and some motor transport—generally aljont half-and-half. The next stage of his journey is to a casualty clearing station, w-hicli lias no transport. The wounded are brought thither and taken away by the hospital motor ambulance convoys, long strong 3 of which, when there is a big fight on, wend their slow and easy ways to railway station or canal, leading to one oi other of the French seaports from which our sick and wounded are evacuated to England. At these French ports there are big general hospitals, but by far the greater number of patients are put direct into the hospital ships. From these seaports the ships make for some port in England where our hospital trains are ready waiting for their daily loads. If you happen to 'be passing Charing Cross station when a hospital train is due you will generally see a curious crowd waiting—mainly made up of elderly men and women aiid girls. The motor ambulances and the motor-cars in" vnich wounded officers drive off from flowers thrown into them by the women, many of whom have tears in their eyes. The old flower women do a brisk trade, and in moments of special excitement they themselves shower their flowers upon the wounded, who smilingly receive the gifts. All this seems a far cry from the battlefield, but in reality the arrangements are so perfect that with every possible comfort and attention the men have come from beyond the shell-pitted downs of the Somme, from shattered Armentieres, vncl from the deadly Ypres salient in an incredibly short space of time. And as the wounded are coming in the fit are going out. And so it wil-1 be until the German eagle has bitten the dust of the desolation he himscii has created. 4 NEW ZEALANDERS IX. ENGLAND. As fai a.s possible the wounded are taken to hospitals near the districts where their friends and relation' reside. There are many hospitals in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. I do not know the exact numbers, but I should think thsre must be well over 280,000 beds in the Motherland for the backwash of the British front in Northern France. We, however, are concerned only with the Now Zealand sectiMi of the arrangements—a very small section of this vast scheme, it is impossible to send each man to bis own district, and so it is impossible to send each New Zcalandcr to a New Zealand hospital, but the drafting there is tarried out as far as possible in the first instil,nee, and subsequently as soon as the men can be safely and conveniently removed from other hospitals they are taken to one or otlier of the New Zealand hospitals No. 1 at Biokeiihurst and No. 2 at Walton. The former accommodates 1300 and the latter ii4o patients. The New Zealand Headquarters in London is notified from d-av to day o: the New Zealanders who arrive in the different hospitals apart from our own. There are all sorts of cases, many of the wounds being slight, and as soon as a patient has become convalescent he is -sent, on to the Convalescent Hospital at 'Horncluirch. Here there is a general sorting out. Those who are no longer fit for war r-.re, grouped and put into an evacuation draft to be sent back tcj New Zealand at the first opportunity. Those who are likely to be fit again ar? kept at Hornchurch to receive any special treatment they may require, and when ready to undergo training again with a view to their going onee more to the front tli.'y are pent to Codford Command Depot. Here they are drafted into companies or squads, according to degree of fitness. As t.hey are gradually hardened they go from one squad to another, and when they can carry a pack and march -about ten mile 3 a day without undue fatigue they are immediately transferred to the New Zealand Reserve Group, where there are the three line units of the different regiments at the front. While in the Reserve Group they do a good edal of training, and are brushed up in musketry, bombing, bayonet and machine-gun work. As soon as they are reported fit they are held available as drafts to fill up the gaps at the front. So far I have beard of no man win has gone the rounds of this circle three times, but there are quite a number who have gone the round twice. NEW LIMB'S FOR OLD. One of the most wonderful things in connection with the war is the way a man can have his physical deficiencies and deformities patched up by science and mechanism. Roehampton, with its many men minus an arm, a leg, a hand or a foot # is rather a sad sight these days, but there is also a bright side to the picture,'and New Zealanders, I am glad to say, are receiving attention equally witli the British brethren in the Homeland. Some months ago artificial limbs were provided by the ladies of the War Contingent' Association, but no expert advice was given as to the :lass of limb that should be fitted in .particular cases. We have now taken one of our own medical officers and posted him at the Roehampton Hospital. He deals solely with the matter of artificial limbs. He has studied the latest methods, and can give the best advice. When a New Zealander is ready to have an artificial limb fitted he is vent to Roehampton, and under the supervision of this officer is fitted with the class of limb that will best suit his case, and the avocation he will in thi

future pursue. There are so many dif- | ferent kinds of limbs on the market now that it is necessary for a man to get expert advice. The limb that is required for a 'laborer will not do for a clerk. Great care is taken in fitting the limbs. A man is not, allowed to go away until ho is properly lilted, until he has learnt to use the limb, and until the stump is properly shrunk. Then he, is measured for a second limb. We give oui men duplicates in every case, so that we go one better than the British Government in this respect. If a man has to return to New Zealand before his second limb is ready it is :-ent after him there, and we give our men the best limbs available irrespective of price. There are two popular firms in regard tc the manufacture o£ artificial limbs—one in America with a maximum price of about £4O, and a French firm that makes a hand and arm at from £2O to £25, according as it is for fitting below or above the elbow. A demonstration was given the other day by one of our men with a French arm. He put a stud in his shirt, put on his collar and tie, picked up a pin from a table, wrote his name, carried a bag, and shook hands, all with his artificial hand.. It is really marvellous that such things should be possible of accomplishment by mechanical means guided by the remaining muscles in the stump of an arm! A man with one leg seems to walk as well as 'he did before the leg was amputated. Men are now daily to be seen walking about Roebampton, though both legs have been amputated! The general complaint about legs is that they are too heavy, and an attempt is now being made to fit our men with a light serviceable leg at a cost of about £25. There are all sorts of patents in connection with artificial limbs, and the manufacturers must be making enormous sums Jilt of the supply of limbs for men who Jiave :been in the war. It seems a pity that- something cannot be done to combine these patents so that artificial legs, arms, hnnds and feet could be made at a more reasonable coat. The industry was developed greatly in America, because the demand was far greater there than in a country like England, and where, also a suitable wood for the manufacture is grown—a particular kind of ash. In England they have now imported both the material and the workmen, nrnl some of our wounded soldiers are being trained in the manufacture of artificial limbs. There are now five English and two American firms making limbs at Roehampton, and the workshops arc very complete. IN LONDON. At the head of affairs in London there is a brigadier-general, who only a few years ago was a master gunner in New Zealand. He is a Staff College man, whose organising duties are well recognised, and it would scarcely have been possible to have chosen a better man for the work. New Zealand is undoubtedly very fortunate in having such a. man at the head of affairs, and from what I have myself seen I know that he has done and is still doing invaluable work. He is in close touch with the general in whose hands is the administration of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and also .with a thoroughly conscientious and hardworking Military Secretary who has the interests of the expedition at heart From top to bottom the organisation has been placed on an excellent basis. A TUNNELLING COMPANY. New Zealand will have lost sight of its Tunnelling Company, and the Division has also lost sight of it; but a tunnelling company has to go where it is of most use, and it would have been of no use to the Division where the Division has been. Tunnelling Companies are Gf.H.Q. troops temporarily allotted to a corps for work in special areas. I have not up to the present had an opportunity of visiting the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, but from authentic information 1 know that the officers and men of which it is composed have been doing splendid work. The British troops in the area in which they are_ operating say that they have absolute confidence that while the New Zealanders are with them they will not get then trendies blown in by a surprise mint laid 'by the enemy engineers.' They have been successful, not only in mining against the Germans, but in discovering the German mines. They have found out what the enemy is up to, and have checkmated liim time after time to such'an extent that they have placed him in the position of the under-dog in this particular sector, just as our engineers and miners did in the case of the famous Qninn's Post on Gallipoli. The work is in charge of a major well known in New Zeaalnd.