HELL ON EARTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1917, Page 6

HELL ON EARTH.

EXPERIENCES OF A BOMBER AT MESSINES. WANGANUI BOY TELLS THRILLING STORY. , Writing to his parents, a Wanganui lad who had the honour of being with Corporal Andrew when he won the V.C. (though at the time of writing he was unaware that the coveted award had been bestowed), gives an interesting account of the fight at Messines on the occasion in question. After describing a hand-to-hand stunt with the Huns, he says:—

A Hun about ten yards distant fired, just missing my ear, and before many seconds passed the German army was minus a man. After clearing this building, the three bombers (of whom I am one) set off to get a machine-gun. It was about a quarter of a mile further on. It meant creeping on our stomachs, and it wasn't long before we had one machine-gun to our credit. We were led into this little scrimmage by Les. Andrew (Wanganui East). He practically got the gun on hi* own, and I can tell you lie is a brave chap. You can tell his people if you see them that he is one of the bravest, and a fairer fighter one could never get. I shall be very sorry if he doesn't get something out of it. Now, with this gun in our hands we retired about 100 yards to where we dtjg in. By this time we were absolutely done, bu», nevertheless, we worked and worked and soon had a trench big enough to hold twice as many as our complement. All the time we were* digging it was drop spade and up rifle and fire. God knows how many Huns we got, but our own lives were at stake, and we didn't wait*o see. As soon as we were ,Bettled we sat waiting for the worst—the retaliation —and when it did come, however did we survive it? We got most of our casualties here. Fritz put all his artillery in this sector on to us, and you can imagine it was hell on earth. This kept on until about 1 o'clock (we had started the push at 3.45 a.m.), when he counter-attacked. Here we gave him nothiiijn He must have left 75 per cent dead before he cleared off. The Hun has no hearts besides, they are kids. I saw one, he wouldn't be 17. Poor little devil; he was taken prisoner, but he didn't get out. It's a shame that such kids are put into the field. The Germans we saw were ravenous for food; some said they hadn't tasted food for three days. Whenever you get the upper hand, up go their bands. If it was not for their artillery we'd be in Berlin, and even pass it, in two months. Well, we stayed here under heavy artillery fire until it was dark enough to be relieved, and glad we were when the relief came.

In another letter referring to the fight, the writer says "ouvnerves were absolutely done, and we were tired out when relief came. I was hit seven times with bits of shells, but not one pierced the skin. One hit went through the flap of my haversack and lodged in a tin of bully beef. We had few casualties in bur platoon, and we put it down to the way we dug in. I never knew what it was like to work till then. Never will I forget the experience, particularly when the Huns were practically wiped out. Our bomb gets the I 'wind up' on him: he dreads that. If we ,aet him down a dug-out, a bomb is all that is needed: he comes out and cries for mercy, such a pitiful tone, too. I saw one poor little devil on his knees cry like a baby for mercy, but a shell got him. And it's awful. All I wish is that it was over. Such useless slaughter. The prisoners we took say it will end in three months. I hope, we right.