The Detroit times., 1914-12-25
The Business
O. Fighting
BY n. ]. PHILLIPS.

AAl@AiS, fIduCtf JcS. ~O. nav
just come from point as near 10 the
firing line in northern France as the
ordinary non-combatant can get.
A new phase of the war has arrived.
Daily fghting in the trenches and
from village TO village has brought II
about. This new phase is that fight
ing is now a business The soldiers
work on the firing line is a job. No
body thinks about heroes any more,
To the layman they'd all be heroes
Belgian, German. Britisher and
Frenchman.
A hail of bullets is like a rainstorm
to farmer. Either you quit I'LL the
storm is over or you go out in the
field and get wet.
II the storm is too severe TO do any
thing you all get under shelter and
joke or cuss about IT, So II is now
on the front in northern France.
was resting by the roadside the
other day when an officer OF the Eng
lish engineer corps came along. lie
was grimy and muddy from heel TO
cap peak.
We sat and talked. The village
fighting. he told me, is almost worse
than trench work. I'VE sappers nave
TO go right down each street, blowing
up every house In turn. TO smoke out
the snipers," he said,
Sometimes our men are at one end
and the Germans at the other, and
sometimes each takes one side,
The German snipers hide every
where and have TO be regularly hunt
ed out. In the end very few get
away Once our men had cleared out
almost the lot when they found about
a dozen at the top OF one OF the last
houses firing away as hard as they
could.
IAN officer and an interpreter walk
ed straight up and shouted TO them
that If they would surrender no harm
would come 10 them.
"They replied by shooting them
both dead as they were talking. Our
linen were wild. and did not want tC
wait until We brought the house dowr
with a charge OF dynamite. When i
fell about our ears the snipers were
dug out, curiously enough, unhurt !,
After being medically examined
they were tried by drumhead and sho
there and then.
eve always lose a lot Of men In this
work, but II Is their own fault. Inc.
lare as cool as cucumbers. | saw
lcompany set out its kitchen in th'
middle OF a street when the place wa!
being bombarded.
"They cooked their dinner as quiet
lly as IL In barracks. and were eatinl
lit laughing and joking. A shell fell
however plump in the middle OF TN
party. killed four and wounded half
dozen more. DO you think they tool
shelter after that? Not a bit! The.
! merely moved about hundred yard
further down the street and finished
Their meal as IL nothing had hap
lpened.
when we take a village we neve
I dare go boldly in. as the Germans al
: ways have picked fot VI Shippers DO
hind We have 10 blow holes in th'
walls and take house by house, al
we'll as driving tunnels underneath
the roads to get across without beins
shot at
"But here again our men will never
use the underground. and whilst ths
bullets are whizzing like hail you vii
see a man stroll across the stree
with a kettle full OF hot water oil
some such thing wanted on the othel
side
"One thing the public does MOI
seem to hear much about is the worf
OF the stretcher-bearers. They do
more dangerous Jobs than anybody
and are at II night and day.
1--WE never pick up our wounded
That is their work. and they have &c
bury <hem sometimes and always tc
take their names and numbers. wher
frequently there is nothing much else
left OF man.
at was they who had TO look after
the men, killed and wounded, whilst
eating OF whom ] told you just now
and they were there for half an hour
being sniped at with more shells com
ing"