A "RISE" FOR THE HUN.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1917, Page 6

A "RISE" FOR THE HUN.

FIRING A BIG MINE ON THE BRITISH FKONT. SERIO-COMIC SUSPENSE. Mysterious comings and going happened round the jealously-guarded mineshaft, littered with sandbags. The it.E. Tunnr ling Section had been very busy for days past, and great things were felt to be in the air. "Don't go down the mine, Daddy!" said n muddy-looking sentry to a weary tunneller. "Think yer funny, don't yer?" sail the tunneller, disappearing down the shaft. ■ Briefly, the mine-shaft was about to justify its existence by ceasing to exist And nothing in its life became it half n.= much as the leaving of it. For the tir. 1-looking tunnellers had finished their preparations; that night the explosive in air-tight hags was to be carried down by a fatigue party, and the ii'ce large hoie was to be filled up. Thusfar the engineers. From this point fire infantry continued the story. there would be a crater party. 'Next there would be a wiring party. Thirdly, there would fie a sandbag party. And in tiie end there would be a burial part; although it was not mentioned at Vie conference.

THE "WAITS." Back in the R.E. mess in a little village Second Lieutenant Halls, of the R.E. Tunnelling Section, asked irritably for a whisky and soda. "How's it going?" asked another tunneller. "All right. We're ready now. Devil of a job. Tamping up when I left. Pass the paper over." And Second Lieutenant Hall, havine d ; vected the packing of some thousands o f pounds of explosive into a large hole, which act would in time involve large changes in the. landscape, proceeds to look at the pictures. Later he stood in the orderly-room. "Everything \a ready, I understand," said the' C.R.E. "Yessir."

"I'vo seen the infantry people. Lei it rip at 4 p.m. to-morrow. Report bi code word. If all serene, 'Cabbage.' II anything goes wrong 'Bilge'.' Synehron isc- watches with brigade at 2 p.m. to morrow, and good hick." Halls went to his billet and slept.

The R.E. Dump, always a sceneoor, r much profuie activity, since most woik' ing parties call there, was in a slate of super-excitement There were huge piles of concertina-pattern barbed wi;v many bundle? of corkscrew stakes, aivl bales of sandbags, all demanded by one ei.nnany, and the demand was backed by the brigade and given precedence over all other dmknds. Tim R.E. Dump asked itself curiously: "What the blazes is up?" is the carrying parties rolled off into the night, steadily depleting the stock-in-trade. Outside, in the rain, a wistf'.'l •urt somewhat damp lieutenant wailed with a carrying party from another battalion, hoping against hope that the =;tock would run out, so that he need <u t bother about the wiring party someone had arranged for him. 'Where the 'ell it's all goin' to I dnnno," said one of the R.E. Dumper.;, confidentially. "They've took enough concertinas an' posts to wire the "ole bloomin' front, back an' both sides." T!ut the supply did n<j£ give out, and the. lieutenant had his party, which was perhaps just as well. Higher up the road the Brigade Bom'i Store was also having an anxious time. Half the neighbourhood seemed to he e.irrving trench mortar bombs that night. >nd the trenches were a delirious weltc: •if people trying to get past bomb parlies', wive parties, ration parties, ami what not.

"They've arskcd nice little crowd this time," said the storcman. "Them t;encli mortar fellers is the boys." "Somebody's goin' to 'avc a Guy Forlo that's about it," said his assistant. "An' I'm K'-id it ain't me,' said the sloreman, who was all in favor of a quiet life. Among other people more or less mixed u]) were the E.F.A.. who spent several lours that night carting up extra rounds of HE. and shrapnel; the machine-gun officer who was to go with the crater party, and had to arrange about his supply of ammunition; the M.0.. »vho had an advanced dressing station to arrange ; and last, but not least, the company sergeant-major, who did most of the'arranging of the various parties, looked after the stores as they came up, and in general was a very present help in trouble, as lien sually is.

In a larjfe sand-bagged chateau the next day the Brigade Major and tlio Brigadier were lunching. "Going to sec the balloon go up?" -ingested the B.M. "I think so. Should be exciting. T!i.' •1 y.A.'s the hosf OP. I think we'll have •n earlv tea. Orderly!" "Yessir."

"Tea at three this afternoon sham." "Yessir." And so even the orderly was dragged in. Down in a dug-out by the light of a Miidle O.C. Trench Mortars consulted '•is map and made notes. Then lie went to give his last instructions to the gur. learn. As he went out an orderly returned with his watch. "Brigade time, sir. and a note for yr-u." "Thank you." He opened the note and read: "Zero time, 4 p.m." He passed on to the bomb store and looked at the pile of "toffee apples" or "plum duffs," as some call them. Over the doorway a notice had been tacked—"Tt is more blessed to;ive than to receive."

THE "BALLOON"«OES UP. If wants but six minutes to foil' Second-Lieutenant Join* lies in wait"ir witli liis party. The wirers, undo, '•pond Lieutenant Wills, also strain ' (he leash under their load of conrMtias. O.C. Trench Mortars wait-. T.toh in hand. O.C. Company has his ar to the telephone. The Brigadier *itb aloft in a draughty 0.P., with his vt glued to a telescope. Second Lieutenant Halls, of the E.E. Tunnellers. trilces a match head embedded in the fuse on the boy. There is a slight fi'/z and a thin wisp of blue smoke risc.i.

There, U no sound save an occasional fsr-off explosion down the line. "Four minutes," says Halls. A lark rises from No-Man's Land. Higher and higher it climbs, singing in the sunshine. , r.. "Three minutes." ' :Tr Jones is twisting a hit of wire In his fingers mechanically. "Two minutes."

The lark sings on.. and nearer through the long black fuse "One minute." A vision of the spark creeping nearer

in the deserted mine. "Ten seconds," says Halls. The lark is still singing. "TIME!" Lark, sky, sun. trench, and everything is blotted nut by a huge column o! climbing earth that shoots up, spreading as it goes. Things whirl out of t-iia column and hits hum through the air. The earth shakes, the trenches seem to shrug themselves, and bits of earth roll down from the sides. The terrific rending roar of the explosion is muffled, or else the ears cannot grasp it. The black shadow of the column hangs still for an instant, then begins to pour down again "Mi of the air with a clumping, pattering noise round the edges of the gaping vlnte hole in the earth. Over the ton go the crater party and the sandbagged. Dov/n to company headquarters goes Second Lieutenant Halls, and asks to ho put on to the C.R.E. His message ii b'.ief: "Cabbage, 4 p.m." Then he goes home to tea.

. TEE DELUGE-AND AFTER. Tim sandb.iggers have built a sort o[ l>arrioftdc, which they are rapidly improving. Meanwhile Second Tjicutcnr.vl Jones has divided his party into two, bnlf creeping round each edge of tin 1 crater. They reach the farther edge., and, peeping over. Jones sees the Boclie crater party, hastily gathered together, rushing forward. As they get to elo-c quarters he gives the signal, a, short whistle-blast, and from all around the crater Mills bombs fly, bursting vicious, ly among the advancing Boclfcs. i'ho machine-gun rattles madly among them as they hesitate and break for cover Be.cn after the shells arrive, and the eli.-i.lk begins to fly. One, pitching clos.i to the sandbaggers. blows one of tin party into the bottom of the crater minus an arm and a foot. The eeiurc of the carter is a. death-trap, for everything tends to roll there, most things d*op° there, and the explosions of shslla on the sides bring down the loose chalk, so that it is dangerously easy to be buried. Yet the sergeant sandbagger is a worthy man, and slides down the side to the poor devil at the bottom, maiwghr» somehow to get him out and into sfifetv. And as that is hardly part of his ordinary duties, in the fullness of time he has a Military Medal. Our trench mortars, the first of whicn sailed over at i p.m. precisely, arc living up to their motto, and the "toffee> apples" are curving over in fine style. Then Second Lieutenant Wills leads out ms firing party on to the far lip,ofJlw crater, which is perhaps rath r m than was expected of him. for it. i> -t'U «i a vli.lit, and in entire disregard of all S eliemy can do, which, of course ™t too much while the T.M.B.s a.e tuv the nartv proceeds to put up wu'e. T^onV^e^batnee^dJrom^ ni'Sfal! Halfs Crater, as it was ealle.l, was Dart of the line. In 'the communique the next day «r J,redthefo"owing:-"WeblewanHe he R sector this afternoon and o«I ped the lip of the crater with d >..- „L,<> WMoh 'loos n«t som,d \7 ' m h', but which means quite a lot real ? -O.P. Platoon, in the Manchester Guardian.