FIGHTING IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1918, Page 3

FIGHTING IN FRANCE.

a waith iiuvs lxpllilxils. Private i! I.). l.akeneil. son of .Mr. Ual.e'.uH, ,„• \V,M(ni. Jnglewood. who is m'l'vii.l; v. i'.U ilic Australian force.:,, am' v. a. v.oundcii ill Polygon Wood, write, interestingly of las experiences, lie Von waul in know il 1 wan ill. the M<-=sjii:-:- nll'uii- \„, | v„ s ~oi. At liuu time we had just, loft the l!„lkji'iiuit. sector. That was 11, very warm |cnri!cr. Tile An,ltalian casualties were wrv hcav;, We niin» oiil. for a spell, ilii' (livi.-.:on putting the whole winter in on (lie Suiiiuip. Our Division and the iwonty-ninth division of. Tommies were known as ilic ''White VSlaves of ilie Sonimc." We had a. splendid spell. Any amount of amusement, concerts, sports, civ. which King George and some of the bi.;:v.'i'_;.s visited. We were reviewed by Sir Douglas iiaig. Of course, we did any amount of drill, Held manoeuvre-, route marches and practising for the sdunl. We all guessed that the time was very close when we would iie in -.omolhing. big. We .were nor. far wrong. About the 10th September our heads were turned towards the trenches. Wo were absolutely lit and the happiest, band yon could, wish to meet. The llrst day we turned, our head towards (lie trenches we did eighteen miles, did it with full packs up and had. about three miles of a heavy climb at that. We were all pleased when we got to our billets that night, The following day we <-et out. again, doing twelve miles tor the day. Then we rested for a few days, waiting our turn to go in the line, On the '2-ith September we moved up again to within seven miles of the line. Here we were amongst the big guns. We put up slickers out of canvas for sleeping quarters. On the —-">111 we did nothing but lay low to keep out of sight of the enemy aeroplanes. That night we prepared for the line, carrying one hundred and seventy rounds of ammunition each, bombs, some earrving picks, some shovels, with forty-eight hours' rations. We had a good/load up. We had ,\n early tea and as it turned dark we moved out on a march of seven miles to tlie line, which seemed more like one hundred and seven miles to us'. Anyway, we got in. having several casualties, as Frit/, Likes putting shells everywhere. At about four o'clock on the morning of the 2iith we were in position in .\"o Man's Land, ready to hop over. If you only imagine us on a front of eight miles, thousands upon thousands of troops waiting coolly to go over. The Oermiuis were sniping :ii us with machine guns and rifles the whole time. At about it quarter io si.va shot was pul over by one of our guns. Immediately thousands of guns opened up. The' Battle of Polygon Wood started. We all started forward, and we had only gone a few yards when our captain was killed. We '.vci.t. through the centre of Polygon Wood. It wa» stiff going, but nothing can live under our lire. The barrage is iiOO yards in width, and it is what they call a ''creeping barrage." The ground is absolutely peppered with shell holes I There is only a foot between each shell I hole. The rattle of the machine guns and the awful roar of the guns are beyond description. We push on,_ taking machine trim post prisoners, who were only too glad to give themselves tip. The German?, who were not wounded helped to carry out our own wounded, only too pleased to get out, We were just on our objective when I was hit. We were closing in on a pill box and two of us were in a shell hole when a shell burst just above us. The fellow that was with me was killed, and a lump ot shrapnel struck me under the right shoulder. It took an excursion along the wall of the chest for three or four inches and remained there. There was only one thing to do, to get out as fast as possible, and this I did. 1 got as far as a place they call ''Hell Fire Corner,'' the best name they could give the place. Here Frit;-, was putting up a heavy barrage, all big stulV. 1 never expected to get through il. Along this line where Fritz wa = putting up this barrage was a line of pill boxes which was taken in the first advance. Here the reserves were, and they were getting hell. Our dressing station was about half a mile farther on, but the Tommies had a. dressing station in one of these pill boxes, and they dressed me after being in the place for two hours, which we nearly lifted several times, expecting it to go up sky high every minute. At last two of us decided to chance it, so out we went, as fast as our legs could carry us. Anyway we got clear, I was very lucky to have got, my wound dressed so early. Our dressing station was crowded when T passed. Soon T got into an ambulance, and got away to the field clearing station. From there a party of us went by motor transport, and a rough journey it was. We got to the casualty clearing station about'three o'clock. Then we were redressed and got something to eat. Bv jove. T was hungry;:. J had not, had s. thing to eat. from the night before. It was eight o'clock before we got, away by the Rod Cross train, and then we had eighteen hours on the train before our destination was reached, which was Bouen Hospital. There I remained for a, fortnight. I was put under the X-rays, and then underwent on operation and had the lump of shrapnel removed. The operation had no effect on me. Coming round was like coming out of a beautiful sleep. Some of the fellows kick up an awful din, some sing, some go through the light again, some swear, others howl. One chap two or three days ago put up a tine pertormance. Talk about a cow bellowing! It was nothing to him. We bad a fine time at Rouen. There were two Australian sisters in our ward, and yon cannot beat them. As for the V A T> they are dears. Well, after a fortnight there T came on to Blighty, coming to Path. l ! am glad we are a ]on<r way front London. It's too much like war there at present. lam getting alon» well, and will be up to-morrow. Still it will be some time before I am right I hope that I can work it to be qv e r this side for Christmas. -

1 think hostilities will cease 'by Christmas. There is no light ] o fr. irf the Germans judging by the way in which they give fhemsolvos up.