CANADIANS' JOKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 May 1917, Page 7

CANADIANS' JOKE.

NO MAN'S LAND EPISODE. : , . TKOOPS IN NIGHTGOWNS. ,■" (From Philip Gibbs). British Headquarters, France, March 4. The frost lasts. Even in times of peace I suppose it would be remembered years hence because of the intensity of cold and continuance. Here, on the Western Front, it will be remembered by men who are now very young, and then, with hair as white as the snow which now lies in No Man's Land, because of its unforgettable pictures in sunlight and moonlight, its fantastic cruelties of coldness and discomfort, its humors—outrageously comic—and its grim effect upon the adventures of war when the patrols go out by night and British soldiers crawl ((cross now-filled shell-holes.

For comedy there is an episode of Canadian history—only a few days old—which began when a sprightly young Dados (he's the fellow that gets all the chaff for the Divisional Follies) startled a respectable old lady behind the counter of a milline-'s shop in a French village by demanding 100* ladies' "nighties" ("chemise de nuit" lie called them) of the largest size. The village heard the story of this shoppign expedition, lis-,, tened to the old lady's shrill cacklo of laughter, and wondered what joke was or among the Canadian troops. It was one of, those jokes which belong to'the humors "of this war, mixed with blood 'and death. Up in the Canadian trenchss there were shouts of laughter as ovfli; their khaki a hundred brawny young Canadians put on the nightdresses. They had been tied up with blue, ribbon. Some of the nightdresses, which' 1 werg so clean and dainty when they came out of the shop, were stained red before the end of the adventure. AndvOermanß in their dug-outs caught a glimpse of these fantastic figures before death came quickly, or a shout of surrender. The Pierrets went back with some prisoners in the moonlight, and Canadian ,stall officers chuckled with laughter along telephone wires when the tab was told. I have already told how the' Germany tried to play the same trick and' failed; because their -jhite ghqsts were caught under .machine-gun fire.

. DOGS IN THE TRENCHES. "" They have taken dogs into the trenches now to give'a quicker and surer warning than, young sentries, who are afraid to cry out when they see wiiite figures moving, because they think they see them I always, when shadows ?tir in the moonlight across the snow. Our men during recent .nights have, heard these dogs giving short, sharp harks. One of them came out into No Man's Land the day f before yesterday, and sniffed about some blacki things lying quiet under the cover of snow. No alarm was given when some friends of mine went out to make an attack some nights ago, and it was lucky for them, for if they had been discovered too soon all their plans would have been spoilt, # and white smocks would not have saved them. They were tho 8-lOth Gordons. 'Some of my'readers will remember tho crowd, for' I have described my meetings with them up and down the roads cf war. ■ It is the "Georgian gentleman" who commands the battalion (and good luck to him) and the stalwart young officer who led me on his devil of a walk to the German switch-trench is on his way'to join the Bed-tabbed aristocracy.* It ib they who arranged tho details off, the night's adventure, and because it is typical of the things' that,. happen—of ''tho Terror that comes to the'enemy, in,.the night—it is worth telling. The' : High=< landers, when .they took up their at-tack-I ing line, were dressed in white srto'eks | covering theiv kilts, and in steel hornets painted'white. Their black arms and teet were like the smudges on the snow. They lay very quiet, visible from a,strong point whih writhe object of the raid. Their rifles wero, loaded, and with bayonets.teed, so that I 'there shoald be no rattle of arms or clicks of.bolt i They were in two parties, and their orders were to overthrow tho advanced Gtrman posts which wore known to be in front of the strong point, and tn form a rings of posts round the positbn attacked while its dugouts were being dealt with. A heavy was'fir:u suddenly up and downVihe German 'lines, so as to bewilder the enemy as ,to tho point of attack, and the Gordons iiiftbcir white smocks rose up and ndvanced.'.Two shots r.v g out from one cr the German posts. No more than that. The two waves of men went' on. Those on tho;' right flank had trouble in crossing the ground. Several of. them fell into .deep shell-craters : frozen, hard. A machinegun was fired on the' left, but was then silenced by our shell fire.

GERMAN NOTE OP TERROR. A little way further on they came; across a trench mortar, a dug-out, and two terror-stricken men. An officer; put, a Stokes bomb down the mortar and,, blew it up. The. men were taken, and; the dug-out was destroyed. Then the Cordon's went on to their strong point. Underneath it wore the dug-outs of. a German company, snow-capped,, and hidden. The Scots went round lik'o wolves | hunting for'the way down. Thcre'.were four ways in, and three ofi.lhe.rn)' yfov.9. found low down about four yards apart, J Men were talking Their German sjiee'ch' 1 was loud ,%hd there the note of terror in.it. "Cpme out!" shouted ;tho Gordons' several times at on& one.rmvn'camo; out,: and at another only one;'and at twelve men," who were taken r prisoners. Tho others would not'surrender. Some bombs and a Stokes shell wore thrown into the B 'doorways, and suddenly this nest of dug-outs was seen to collapse, and black smoke came up from the'jpit, melting tho edges of'the snow. On the left the Gordons bad-been heldf' up by machine-gun fire andjriflejfire, which came across to them from a'lrene i to which they'were advancing. Atfthe west side of the trench, in-'a weird enclosure, the machine-gun was'troublesome. Some','of''tile white smocks'., fell. An attempt'was made to rush it, but failed.' Afterwards" the gun and the team were knocked out. by'a, shell. A group of Germans came, cut of the' trench, and started bombmjr, until a Stokcß bomb scattered them. Then the. Gordons went' down and brought out some prisoners, and 1 blew up a dug.-out. Then it was time to gp back, for the Orman barrage had begun; but the Gordons were able' to get homo without many casualties. Nearly two hours_ afterwards a loud explosion was heard across the way, as though a bomb store had blown up. The sky was red over thereby the flare of a fire. ... At night, when the moon is shining over tho whitfl waste,'these things are happening

rip and down^,tho,.]iiiej^and. i 'the'mo;6n* looks down with'its'. It did so Jjwo nights ago over near Graudcotir't, and among other &-■ tires was'one English soldier who wa|> tramping as a prisoner .-with two (ler-| a ! shell wounded: thora four miles'.M)imd''their;line. ""., i-~,.,

AIRSEJ^<ACTiVE,<'" ' ■ v r.l: -. Four miles 'back, he trimped., again until -he came to our iine/ahd 'noj.manl saw him until ho was very close, be'eauso. from head to foot'he■"was caked with'; frozen snow so that only his' sha'dow showed faintly on the white ground about him iiritil, among, our 'own men again, ho was r(ihbed down with sandbags and unfrozfeh'at'a fire. There were other watchers in'tlie sky; above all this, white landscape wliere uian are' busyS with slaugliter, or hiding in their holesj trying to disguise their tracks. The' armies on both sides'are very active, reconnoitring and'bombing* and 'challeng-. ing each other to duels in the air. One cannot go near the' lines without seeing the puff-balls of the Archies chasingl those knights-errailtii The number and 'tlje ,h:'gh audacity of our men's adventures would need a book to tell, oven'''for one month's record—, and so little" is told. Yet o'ne'that happened a few days. of' extraordinary interest Twoi of *'oi'ir officers were. leading an offensive pat'cl when a high' explosive '£hejj just 'Behind the right lower'wing of / 'aeroplane. The machine *' was completely riddled.. Three tail booms were cut, one blade of the'propeller was blown away, and all .the: controls'except the elevator were pu 1 . i,out of action, so that the aeroplane became uncontrollable. The junior officer, 'of the two saw that'Jbe must act .quickly* to prevent a crash. He climbed out thYeo-quarters of the way to the tip of the right wing'in order to balance the machine, and.,at 900 ft above the mink .steadied it. ''At! 200 ft the machine.began; •fo spin again, but,by another balancing itrick;oo r the ,-wing the pilot and.'obssrjjjyer we're'-able'lto land in safety! ■"