BATTLE OF THE SOMME.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1916, Page 7

BATTLE OF THE SOMME.

AS SEEN BY N.Z. STKETCHER BEARER. Following is u copy of a letter written by Private (I. ,1. i'ama U'utea), of the N.li. Medical Corps, in Franco:—Dear—, I suppose it is quite permissible fur mo to state tliat the New Zcalander.s were u.-■sr.ciutoil with one of the London regiments (Territorials, I think), in the taking of Piers. At any rate, the latter fact has been published in tin l London papers, so that the tensor can hardly object to my reiteration of the stated'fact, Let me give you some idea of the Battle of the Somme from a New Zealand stretcher-bearer's point of view. My first taste of it was when, marching np to the Regimental Aid Post, we were

SHELLED BY THE GERMANS ail the way up the road. Our fellows gof through on that occasion without mishap, but we passed the dead bodies of two New Zea landers en route. On reaching the R.A.P. *ome of us set to work to strengthen the dug-out allotted to us, in an old German trench. Just outside the door of the dug out was !Y dead German's feet and blackened fingers sticking out from the side of the trench. \ihile we were filling sandbags, etc., Captain Good, of Taranaki, and a, corporal of our No. 2 Ambulance went rotuui to the O.C. of the R.P.A. to get permission to use some planks belonging to the amllery, and while they were on this mission a sh.?ll from one of the guns of our own artillery at the back of \r, burst, killing one English Tommy and severely injuring another, besides wound in? a N.Z. R.B. man and our corporal am. Dr. Good. At early dawn next morning I saw a sight, to say the least extremely weird. Past us and over Death Valley en route for Flers went the

QUEEREST OF CATERPILLARS (TANKS)

finds as one watched them climbing in Iheir peculiar way, silent except for the clucking of the engines in their bowels, one could hardly resist bursting into laughter. They are reincarnations of such tilings as I used to read 01 in my youth'in the "Frank Read" or ".lack Wright" editions of the pennj dreadful. The most wonderful thing abount them is the mode in which they are constructed, so as to overcome the ordinary difficulties of locomotion over broken or shell-pitted ground. They certainly do good work, and it is a great puy that we haven't a few thousand of them. Later on

THE ! BIG ATTACK COMMENCED. snd with it came our work as stret-cher-bearers. The day of the first at. tack the German prisoners were able to us a hand to carry the wounded. I I .ad four hefty Germans helping me, and they seemed mighty pleased to do .it, too. Poor devils, they had the life terrified out of them through the vigorous distribution among them of "iron lations by our guns. Then came a time when the regimental stretcher-bearers fi.-nnd the work overwhelming, and all hands were called on to go up to the trenches to evacuate wounded. Thenceforward we. were occupied every day in carrying wounded from Flers village to our Regimental Aid "Post at this" side of Death Valley. Meanwhile the (!erman artillery kept up a

CONTINUOUS BARRAGE OF SHELL FIRE over Death Valley, which runs between De'ville Wood and High Wood, and we had tc run the gauntlet of this barrage every time we went for and brought out a wounded man. The path through the valley was strewn with dead, mostly Germans. More than once it was my saci misfortune to come across our own stretcher-bearers lying dead on the track. That is where it hurts mostly—when one finds one's own chums, who a few moments before were full of life and vigor, now lying dead beside tli. patient they were carrying. Then came the wet weather, and our difficulties were vastly increased. It sometimes took us several hours to get a wounded man in front Flers, a distance of about three miles. No one except those who wire on the spot can have any conception of the state of the country. Closely pock-marked with shell holes, the ground soon became sodden and muddy. Wet through and mud covered from head to foot, we had to toil night and day with very scanty chance of a sleep or a wash. J liad not bad a shave or a wash for nearly a fortnight when I arrived in hospital. We seldom came through thi' German barrage of fira v'Sthout losing one or two of our stret-cher-bearers, and the question uppermost in each one's mind was

"WILL I BE THE NEXT ?'• Anyhow, there wasn't much time to dwell too much c-n such morbid thoughts. The work had to be done, and I think that the boys of the N.Z.M C. came out of it with credit. One day the Germans shelled our dressing post for about an hour, I was in my dug-out with Tom Owen and Jim Bovd (both W'anganui boys) when a shell burst alongside lis. killing two men of the ammunition co'iinni and five mules, hut we in the dug-out were untouched, although we were within three yards of the shellburst. The shells which burst were in some cases lachrymose and deadly gases, and about six of our Red Cross chaps were gassed, but although the bombardr. nit was severe, only one of our stret-cher-bearers—a fine chap named RattonLi.ry— was killed, and one of two wounded. Our

DOCTORS WERE SPLENDID EXAMPLES. to nil of us. They spared not themselves, and it was really inspiring to s<e the calm way in which they set to work to dress the wounds and make the injured ones comfortable, while all the l ime ihey v.-.-ri: .subjected to hravy shelllire. ! Captain Bogle was killed while i. ; the wounded. He gave me a sin.. xie time on a long carry, taking Hiy end of the stretcher and carrying for a good distance. _Major Startin was killed while bandaging a wounded man. All the doctors displayed a disregard of their own personal safety vher. there was work to be done that pmoked our highest admiration. On one occasion wo got three wounded f!er roans out of an old trench after they had been there four or five days. They were in a dreadful condition, and could only cry "Warn!", meaning water. On another occasion I went out with a party to "Switch Trench," and we got a poor boy who was wounded through the thigh and had been lying out in the open for 4S hours. I turned out to be joung Booth, or Patea', and 1 knew him. lie was very plucky, aiul pleased to see me. We gave him a cigarette, and got him in at 2 o'clock in' the morning. I Alter twelve days of stretcher-bearing [i was so done up that I was really gh;ii

when a shell burst near me uml gave me a splinter wound in the elbow. It may seem wrong to say that I was pleas eil, lint I've seen men with much worse wounds laughing delightedly at the prtfa ptct of a trip away from that hell on the Nomine, and they are even more [•■ eased than ever if their wound is a "blighty" one—that is, it is sudiuently bail enough to necessitate treatment iii England. Prisoners I spoke, to seem to all adhere to the belief that (Jennany "ili win, but although my friends al! Idiigb. 1 still adhere to tlie belief that the Allies will secure a decisive vlctoiy by the end of this year. I believe that one or two V.t'.'s will have been iMi'urd and given to the New Zealandera for lljis last advance.