The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-08-10
HORRORS OF WAR
TOLD BY OFFICER
British Lieutenant Paints War
Picture Of Infantry Fight
ing In Europe ..

Echoes Of the West Front and of the
Dardanelles reached Honolulu yesterday
on board the liner Sierra, which arrived
from Sydney in the forenoon and
which had as passengers Lieut.. A. j.
Foster Of the Australian forces in
France, and late Private R. G.. Morgan
Of the Australian forces at the Darda-
nelles. #- -. 3. e., .
Lieutenant Foster left the vessel
here, having/received orders while en-
route to return at once to Australia for
duty. He had been en- route to Lon
don. Morgan went on to the Coast.
Lieutenant Foster, with the shyness
which typifes all British. officers in
speaking for publication, painted pie,
ture of the artillery in action, scenes
which he had from first hand experience
as he fought with it through the 1915
battle of the Somme. ...asg
In those engagements, unprecede tied
in feroeity up to that time, Lieutenant
Foster several times escaped miracu.
lousy from the artillery fire of the Ger,
mans and ut one time was compelled,
with the rest of his battery, to wear
his gas mask for forty hours straight,
during which eating was impossible.
Lieutenant Foster dispelled any be-
liefs that the danger all falls to the in
fantry while the big guns pound al the
enemy from a safe distance. During
the engagement the Germans scored
two direct hits on his battery and
wiped out forty of the eighty men, but
he escaped This occurred at COMPLIES,
where the deafening din of battle was,
as he describes it, beyond belief. He
is still hard of hearing as a result of it.
Morgan 5 story is one of doggedly
hanging on to hopeless trenches in the
face of gallant enemy and under con,
ditiOns which admitted of no "speIl"
of rest. There was no "rearn to the
GallipOli lines, and the only respit they
had from the trenches, he states, was as
water carriers. They preferred the
trenches, even though in some places
they were not more than fifty yards
apart and the unspeakable Turk turned
out to be quite fair sniper. p.
1t is MOrgan's opinion, although he
never fought in France, that the Turk
Is not only a drawer antagonist but also
more chivalrous than the alleged Chris.
tian German. Turkish prisoners
brought in expressed the deepest hate
for their German officers, but that did
not hurt their soldieTliness.
"lt is said that the Turk didn t like
cold steel, " Morgan said yesterday, on
board the boat, "but then, neither did
we. He WASH t alone in that, at all. -
During the eighteen months that
Morgan spent in the service, the great
est part Of which was in GallipoIi, the
greatest impression left on his mind
was the deadly mouotony of trench
warfare The continuous precaution
against invisible danger, the enforced
Inactivity and the hardships that
Slapped vitality and punch" are the
things that remain with him more than
the occasional charges and the bombing
raids. ..E.a
"There were few Americans with
us, who lined up with the best" Nor
gan concluded.
He fought with the third battalion Of
Australians which supported the heroic
charge of the AnZacs which took posi
lions considered absolutely impregno.
BILE. He WAS once wounded and finally
put out Of the running by shell shock.