BACK FROM THE "BIG PUSH.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 January 1917, Page 5

BACK FROM THE "BIG PUSH.

RETURNED SOLDIERS TALK, , ONE OP THE "TANKS'' Auckland, Jan. 8. Anothoi draft of sick and wounded arrived in Auckland early this morning in charge of Colonel Cowlcs, Though there were no cot cases among them, the iron bore plenty of signs of having been in the thick of tho fray. Some looked pnle aiul tired, others limped painfull; with the aid of a stick, but notwithstanding their sufferings all had a cheery smile on their faces when the boat drew alongside the wharf. One dusky warrior proudly exhibited a German helmet, taken in the ''big push" at the Somjne. Two German sentries, apparently tiring of the strenuous business of fighting, were indulging in a game of cards when grim death overtook them in the form of a number of New Zealanders, who paid them a strictly business call, wherein the principle form of introduction was the bayonet.

"What happened ?" queried a pressman of ♦the present possessor of the helmet. "Oh," was the laconic reply, "1 brought (his back after pushing the bayonet J through the owner." Beyond that ho had nothing to say. THE "JUGGERNAUTS." ' Among thn officers who returned wa# one who had been attached to one of the much-talked-of Tanks. The work of these Tanks is already well-known. "They absolutely struck terror into the hearts of the Germans," said 090 speaker. "When they made their ap«. pcarance nothing seemed to stop them. They were literally modern Juggernauts, and dealt death wherever they went. It was 110 uncommon thing to see one of them nose its way half-way across a, trenc]i and then sit there and enfilade the trench on both sides. When it was • finished it sort of casually wandered ' along to the next one and repeated tht dose." An artilleryman who had received a splinter of shell in his back had sobmh thing to say about tho big guns and thi manner in which they are located by the aircraft. In one instance, fiv» 1 Taubcs, flew over his section. An hour later the German sheila commenced arrive. They had the range to ajMcetyt : and made 110 mistake about it. We in« evitablo query as to what happened 1 brought the smiling reply: "Oh, IH| shifted the guns as soon as we saw th 4 Tntibes, and when the shells commenced to drop we were somewhere else." Tho speakei stated that so far as aircraft were concerned we had an absolute BU\ periority, over the Germans, and flevft ■ over their lines continually, a fact whicl* helped 11s very materially, and whidi . was an indication of the striking pro- - r gress we had made in (hit particular branth of warfare since gg MJWjMjftt ;