THE RAIDING SEASON IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1917, Page 6

THE RAIDING SEASON IN FRANCE.

WITERE THE BRITISH EXCEL. "British Headquarter*, France, December

This seems to be the ''raiding season - ' Dr. ring the past few days the Germans, an the communiques show, have attempted more one marauding expedition into'our bnes, and been pa'd back in their own coin with the g.>norous interest which we usually give them in this particular kind of warfare. FOl raids arc essentially a matter for individual genius and bearing, and not for machine-like routine; and in "individual" soldiering of all kinds the B:i----tr.r has always proved a better man than the Boche. Thus in raids, as in living, and tunnelling, and a dozen other branches of the art of fighitng. wc get much the better of the exchanges. Thus in latter days the Germans have not gone in for raids without scrUu? ncccssitv.

British raids may be executed for a variety of reasons, and that of merely strafing and annoying the enemy if, :i sufficient one. But the German hardJv gees iu for raiding unless lie is at a loss. His raids arc, for the most part, tor the one purpose of identifying the units against him That he has vo make raids to get this knowledge marks a great advance since the beginning of the war in the secrecy maintained as to the movement of our troops. In the early days, von may remember, our men used to be not a little annoyed to be told by the Germans opposite them the exact particulars of their regiment and division, and when tiiey were to be relieved and by whom. The Germans cannot, shout this information over the trench parapets now. They have to make raids, in fact, to find out am' the extensiveness of these raid:- in life and effort is good evidence of the measure of the German need for the information sought.

AKXIOUS FOR BRITISH PKISONEKR. 1 sent details a day or two ago of n.i order issued to Hi'.f German troops sayinfl that it was essential tliat Brinsn prisoners should be captured, and surges tin" means by which' those eapf.nre.3 were to be effected. British patrols, said the order, were not to be shot at, but wore to be allowed to come eloEfc to the German lines, and were ilion to bo pounced upon and taken alive, so that il, might be ascertained as io what regiments they belonged. The order ended with Jie words "Unless prisoners are captured some more extensive oporations against the enemy's positions .Till l.ave to be 'undertaken" —a threat, in short, that unless the Hermans et.nhl capture prisoners near their awn tvenelies they would be sent to the Hritish trenches to look for them. Tt is clear that the steps suggested were r,.-* very successful, and the raids of the past few days have been the promised scouel.

The main art of raiding lies in inventing something new. You have to think out sonic new device by which to get near to the enemy's lines and pounce upon him In the early days Hie scope for inventiveness was perhaps gicater than now, and in those days daring men, crawling forward like lizards on their stomachs, would creep np to the enemy's wire and cut it silently thus making a through-path for a raid party. In 'the. small hours of tho night, even though the Germans might be firing flare after flare to sec what new mischief our men were batching, our men have succeeded in getting right to the enemy's trenches. There is t':o historic case, which has been written o- before, of men blackening their facts and hands so as not to show white in the glare of the enemy's flare lights ii<it these ruses have now become insufficient, for both sides are alive to them. A GERMAN METHOD, The . Germans' favorite method of raiding just now is to concentrate the ai'.u of a number of guns and trench mortars upon one particular length of our barbel wire, and to fire all these gun*, at orce' A breach is thus suddenly made in the wire, and through it they stream in the hope of getting'into our trenches before our men are ready for them. There is a German unimaginativencss about this method, and i.. practice it proves an expensive way of .vorking. For our men, knowing just what, to expect, prepare in good tune the antidote, and many a German raiding party that lias come to get prisoners and shoulder badges for identification purposes lias instead left behind samples of the very things they came to set, I and has thereby saved our troops the trouble of a raid on the German It.cs It is like advancing a piece to attack ai other, in chess, enly to find that yo'. have put the unfortunate thing where it can be taken. We have bagg'd i" this way several raiders during this week, and have 'in our own ru-di* brcught back fair bags. Two lit tie, raids of ours near the north of our in France, for instance, gave us twentyone prisoners, besides entailing the aiding and woumliog of a great?r number cAhe enemy's men.