Papurau Newydd Cymru
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A LOOK ROUND.
A LOOK ROUND. Next, Please! I [By SENTINEL. "] I T"} ULGARIA out of the war!" H The news, which ran like wildhre round the country on the evenin g of September 30th, naturally made {") our hearts beat high with hope. The most faithless of our enemies has at last been beaten to her knees in a short sharp campaign, and lies grovelling in the dust. We and our Allies would make no terms but unconditional sur- render, and unconditional surrender it had t.Q be. The Bulgarians, called the Prussians of the Balkans," deserve no sym'tthy, and will get none. They, V or tij«dr statesmen, lent themselves to phy the game of their unspeakable King—" King Fox "-and they will be punished by seeing the leadership of the Balkan States, which they might have had, pass from them to the Serbs and Greeks, who have deserved it. Bulgaria was the smallest of the enemies ranged against us. But the efforts put forth by the Germans to win her aid show the importance which they attached to her support. The Bulgarian Army took a great part in the war on wo occasions. It broke the heroic resistance of Serbia by a flank attack in the autumn of 1915, and, next year, repeated the operation against Rou- mania. The Bulgarian Army was an excellent weapon of war; but the chief value of the Bulgarian Alliance to Ger- many must be sought in the position of the country, which at once lay on the flank of two small enemy States and afforded a means of communication between Austria and Germany and Turkey. Now, by the terms of Bul- garia's surrender, her railways are placed in the hands of the Allies, and the Berlin-Bagdad line is cut. If the Germans are to keep the Turks supplied with stores and ammunition they will have to send them round by the Black ,-Ica- possible way but a very incon- venient one, as everything must pass J through Southern Russia, where the l' people do not love he Germans. ■•1 ¡ After the smashing defeat in Pales- tine, it is not very likely that the Turks will hold out much longer. The end may even have come before these lines are in print. They will certainly do all they can to save Constantinople. But this is one of those cases in which it is best not to prophesy unless you know—and no one knows at present what will happen next. Anyhow, our course north ward is now clear, to de- liver from bondage the land of Serbia. which has suffered so sorely. Th-e tables are turned. Having the right to send armies through Bulgaria, we shall be on the flank of the Austrians, who must now take the place of the de- fenders of the enemy's positions in the East. We and our Allies will thus be able to join hands again with the Rou- manians, who are eager to overthrow the shameful Treaty of Bucharest which was forced upon them by the Germans. If we succeed in pressing forward to Belgrade, the old capital of Serbia, and the Danube, we shall be in touch with Montenegro, the other little State which the Austrians and Germans have massacred, and with the discontented peoples of the Austrian Empire, who will probably rise at our call. The Green Bands," consisting of deserters from the Austrian Army, are said already to number some scores of thou- sands, and the whole of these will throw themselves into the arms of the Allies. The position of Austria, with the Allies and her own insurgent popula- tions pressing her from the south-east, and the Italians on her other side, will then be most difficult. There seems little chance that she will escape a fate similar to that-which the Bulgarians have suffered and which threatens the Turks. The Germans are themselves heavily pressed on the Western front, and have called in Austrian divisions to help them. They can raise no more iruops except by recalling them from Russia, and this will mean the down- fail of the Bolsheviks, and probably a geiiL-ral uprising for the salvation of Russia. All this will lake time, and we must nut .liout too soon. But that is the way things are g'oint,r, and the ( h ance nf making a "c lean peace" which will remove lor ever from the world the c hance of anoth er war of this horrib le character grows brighter every day. But we must hold fast during the coming months till our victory is com- plete. "A hugger-mugger peace" would mean that all we have done and suffered be in vain.
THE FRENCH AUXILIARY I SOLDIER.…
THE FRENCH AUXILIARY I SOLDIER. I By V. C. C. COLLUM. I The French military age is twenty-one. At twenty-one a French lad is a well grown man. At forty the French peasant considers himself already old. Rocruits are called up in classes. The 1918 class includes all the young fellows who will have their twenty-first birthday during 1918. The young class of the year, in training during war-time, is known to the fighting soldiers as Les Bleiis-the Lads in Blue. When a petit Bleu (" little Blue ") goes into his first fight, he goes in as a j Blue. When it is over, he is no longer a petit Bleu; he is now an initiated soldier. French soldiers who have passed the Blue stage belong either to the Active or the Auxiliary Army. In the Actives are all the man who are fit to fiabt-re-tilars, territorials, five-years' service colom-als, horse, foot, artillery and aviation. In the auxiliary are practically all the men who are fit to work, with the exception of those who have never been mobilised at all. In the Auxiliary Ciass. There are the old chaps who were too old in 1914, to be considered as "effec- tives." There are the young, middle-aged and elderly fellows who have been wounded, or who have been ill, and are no longer fit to fight. You see them every- where—guarding railways, guarding Ger- man prisoners at their work, ploughing behind their four-footed comrades of the Auxiliary, harvesting, mending roads, bo"l n(,, trenches for de- building railways, digging trenches for de- fensive purposes far in the rear of the Armies, mending the banks of canals, cut- ting down trees, driving motor transport waggons, baking bread for the Army, working in mines. You meet them in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, acting as cooks, clerks or electricians in scattered Red Cross hospitals. To all intents and purposes, they are ordinary workers. Their clothes are of all sorts and conditions; where they are working in companies, they generally wear corduroy breeches and put- tees, and when they go back from their work and put on their coats, you see that these coats are military jackets—no two of them alike, may be, but still military. But where they work singly, unless they have their ca ps on it is hard to distinguish them from the ordinary cook, the ordinary electrician, the ordinary baker, for they wear the white jacket and apron, the blue overalls, the white trousers, of their several trades, for convenience' sake. It is just their caps that proclaim them soldiers—their old-fashioned flower- pot kepis with some regimental number on the front. Not Ordinary Workers. j But they are not quite ordinary work- ers. The ordinary worker works for his own living, does as much or as little as his trade union permits, and secures as high wages as he and his union can wring out of the job and his employers. The French workers of the Auxiliaire work for France at war, France invaded, France determined to go on to the bitter end or go under. They receive Army pay and Army rations. They are under Army discipline. They have the honour and the satisfaction, however humble their job, of ranking as patriotic soldiers doing their bit towards defeating the German invader, and liberating not only their own country, France, but all the other nations who, like France, love liberty. There is not one of them, I do believe, who, if France needed him, would not go back to the trenches, and uncomplainingly die for her. For there is not one of them who, within his own experience, or that of one of his rela- tives or comrades, has not known the horrors of German invasion of French homes and all its accompanying filth and cruelty.
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COOK PREPARING DINNER. I
COOK PREPARING DINNER. I [British Official I A meal >fs being got ready for some Q.M.A.A.C.'s in France. F [British Official. Leaflets for the Germans to read being attached to balloons. The UtuNtrat on shows the air raid damage done to a British hospital in France. I
A SHEAF OF WAR STORIES.
A SHEAF OF WAR STORIES. I Thrilling Incidents of the Fighting on Land, on Sea, and. in the Air. A Great Air Feat. I One group of American aeroplanes on the Western Front in France recently flew a distance equal to twice round the earth in two days. In other words, 144 machines flew a total of 44,510 miles, the individual flights occupying in all 371 flying hours crowded into a period of forty-eight hours. The fact that such flying has been done in the face of con- stant fighting is, says the Exchange corre- spondent with the American Army, an indication that the Americans have been doing their part.. Troops have been bombed and machine-gunned, their balloons constantly shot down, while the air was swept clean of enemy planes. The V.C. for Four Dead Colonials. I The Victoria Cross has been awarded to nine Colonials, four of whom have lost their lives. These four were Lieutenant James E. Tait (Manitoba Regt.), Lieu- tenant John Brilliant (Quebec Regt..), Private John B. Croak (Quebec Regt.), and Sergeant Richard C. Travis (Otago Regt., New Zealand Force). After leading his company forward under a hail of bullets, Tait was for a time baulked by a concealed machine-gun. Taking a rifle and bayonet, he- dashed forward alone, and killed the enemy gunner. Inspired by his example, his men rushed the position,' cap- turing 12 machine-guns and 20 prisoners. Later, though mortally wounded by a shell, he directed and aided his men until his death. Brilliant's exploit was no less note- worthy Rushing and capturing a machine- gun, he klled two of the enemy crew, and was himself wounded. Later in the day, he rushed a machine-gun nest with a party of two platoons, capturing 150 of the enemy and 15 machine-guns, and being wounded a second time. Subsequently, he led another party to an enemy gun, was for a third time wounded, and staggered for 200 yards before lie fell unconscious. Croak was twice wounded, the first time seriously and the second time mortally. He dashed forward alone, but was almost immediately followed by his men, captur- ing three machine-guns. The last of the four who died—Travis—volunteered to destroy an impassable wire block. He suc- ceeded in his task, and a few minutes later dashed at a machine-gun position, killing the crew and capturing the guns. An enemy officer and three men immediately rushed at him from a bend in the trench, and attempted to retake the guns. These four he killed single-handed, thus allowing the bombing party, on which much depended, to advance. He was killed twenty-four hours later, when, under a most intense bombardment, he was going from post to post encouraging his men. Dropping a Ceneral. I Someone has told the Evening XeTrs » an interesting story of a flying General. A few days ago he was a passenger in an aeroplane going north. After a while he reached a village where he intended to stop for a day or two, and he informed the pilot, who at once indicated that he would make a landing. "Oh! don't stop! shouted the General, and he proceeded to attach himself to a parachute and his suit- case to another parachute. He dropped the case overboard, and then stepped off himself. General and suit-case floated down gently and safely to earth, while the aeroplane continued its flight. Saved by Pigeons. I Two flight officers have bad their lives saved by a Royal Air Force pigeon. A seapl-ile was engaged on patrol work look- ing for German submarines in the North Sea, when it was compelled to descend five miles from the rocky Scottish coast. A heavy sea was running at the time, &nd the machine was in cia-nger of being dashed to pieces. Realising their peril, the two officers released a pigeon at four o'clock in the afternoon. The bird carried an urgent message asking for help. At 4.22 p.m. it reached its loft, having travelled twenty-two miles in twenty-two minutes. Assistance was immediately sent. When the relief party arrived, the airmen were clinging to the wreckage of the machine, which was rapidly breaking up. I Destroying U Boat Pests. However bad the weather may be, the search for U-boats is incessantly carried on by torpedo destroyers, patrol boats, drifters and trawlers Recently three British destroyers were patrolling in com- pany, when a German submarine was sighted on the horizon. The cnemv dived at once, and the destroyers, hurrying to the spot, dropped depth charges over the position. The second depth charge dropped shook the U-boat very severely; and forced him to come to the surface soon afterwards. Directly the enemy was sighted again fire was opened by the de- stroyers and he was hit twice abaft the confiing tower. The submarine's bow then rose vertically out of the water and he went down stern first Another case in which the destruction of a U-boat was probably caused occurred when some motor- launches and a destroyer were engaged -in hunting a submarine which had torpedoed a mechant ship. Having located the probable position of the enemy, an Pttack by depth charges was carried out. Later, the submarine rose to the surface, but was only visible for 20 seconds, and in a posi- tion unfavourable for attack by gunfirE More depth charges were dropped, and considerable quantities of thick brown oil and air bubbles came to the surface. This continued for a long time, and an obstruc- tion was located on the bottom. Four depth charges were dropped with the result that an electric light bulb. made in Vienna, floated to the surface. On further charges being dropped, a strong rush of air and oil came up. There could be little doubt but that the submarine had been destroyed. Two Brave Men. Sergeant John Naseby (South African Infantry) was at Woking presented with the D.C.M., the other day, by General Sir H. Lukin, who aid that Naseby was the first South African to be awarded this honour in France. From July 5th until July 15th in 1916, he held his position in Delville Wood with only a handful of men, and frequently risked his life go:ng out and bringing in wounded. General Lukin also presented the Territorial Long Service Medal and Meritorious Service Medal to Company-Sergeant-Major J. Dale, of the Queen's, formerly schoolmaster at Woking Railway Orphanage, who I as served in India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, France, Bel- gium, and then again in France, and who, while in Italy, displayed great gallantry on four occasions by swimmi ng the Pia ye in order to establish commuiiicaticrs. He was wounded on the Somme last April. Since his presentation at Woking Dale has gone back to France.
"GROUND STRAFING."
"GROUND STRAFING." Two years ago the particular and extremely disconcerting form of warfare which consists of machine-gunning troops from low-flying aeroplanes was almost unheard of. Nowadays it has become an indispensable feature of British offensive operations. One of its chief objects is the demoralisa- tion of the German infantry, and in this it is particularly successful. There is nothing so unnerving to men, either in the trenches or in open country, as to see a flight of machines swooping down in a sudden formation dive, their machine-guns pour- ing out a hail of death-dealing bullets. One has that curious illusion that the machines are diving straight at one, in x .>> similar way that a machine in a spinning nose dive, at a high altitude, appears to be spinning down exactly over one's head, although it may be some distance away The choicest Prussian discipline collapses i.1 these circumstances, and the column of infantry is immediately dispersed in a. frantic and chaotic search for cover. As as example of this panic-striking effect, there is the story of the young Eng- lish pilot who. having finished his job at high altitudes, came down to within twentv feet of a road, and, seeing a German Stall car, chased and fired at it for about half-a- mile. The driver suddenly lost his nerve, and the car turned a somersault into the hedge, while those of the occupants who were not hopelessly crippled scuttled away in an undignified attempt to find cover at any cost.