THE SNOW'S SECRETS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 March 1917, Page 5

THE SNOW'S SECRETS.

tm ik READ FROM THE AIR, i WESTERN OPERATIONS. $ London, February 8, , • A Mr. Philip Gibbs, writing in the Sail/ ' ■"« Chronicle, says:—Snowfall aud frost '■!' have compelled us to-adapt our methods •-. of warfare to the surrounding wjiite- : «e»s. l'he snow makes things visible that were previously invisible, pud reveula gun positions hitherto artfully con« cealed. Our air photographers bring buck queer landscape pictures, every '"v. smudge on which reveals new facts to. • the expert gunners. German airmen are equally busy read. 'Z ing the snows' secrets,- and arc showing : j greater audacity than for long past. * One of our machines, the fastest ever seen, zig-zagged about, out-stripping & slower battleplane,. In No Man's Land the bright, glistening snow is littered with old iron and ■<'> broken shells. The death-haunted ruilll 'jJ are as beautiful in the moonlight as a v h Christmas dream picture. But officers f and men are afraid of its beauty, for the "" f whiteness makes patrols or raiders ' visible as a group of Pierrots in the lime< light. Movement becomes hideously ap*. parent. Tho Germans have adopted white coats, but the ridiculous whit# > ghosts attempted a surprise after a fit we bombardment. A deadly cross-fire ■ ,' V by machine-guns greeted them, and the '. f." stealthy ghosts scattered like rabbits. » /yj Only a few survived. Our winter raid- r I ings have been ten times more successful than >thu German. 4S Nothing can be more hateful than , these surprise attacks. They keep the ' Germans in. a state of nervous appro- -L' hension. Our raids have become np- . * thing more than body-snatching, though being caught helpless in a dug-out by v a swarm of British makes Borne of the •« young Germans go ill with fright. The s trench conditions compel the to hold their line by advanced posts, aiul -i ! little groups sit shivoring, unfed, and suffering from chest and stomach trou- v bles. . H,i Intelligent prisoners view the position '6'*. gloomily, and are bitterly disappointed at the Eutente's refusal to discuss peace, I't is not difficult to guess their feelings, The Germans we are sieing are mere :ia children—the latest drafts, iflalf «f oua ■ ■ German army corns oogifetg aI oi $