An account written by Col Chaplain James Green

with the Australians in Flanders    1
PR8218
"News from No Man's Land"
No Mans Land opposite our front line trenches in from
350 to 400 yds of marshy ground over which we
& the Bosches "strafe" each other night & day.
Big howitzers, siege-guns, naval & field guns posted
miles in the rear constantly hurl their weight
of arsenal across this space by indirect fire.
From the front line trenches there is a mixture of
light & heavy missiles, for some of our trench
mortars throw a shell almost as heavy as
that of a howitzer.  Then there are rifle-grenades,
maxims, Lewis guns, & rifle fire constantly scattering
their angry messages of frightfullness over No Man’s
Land.  It is not a battle of mere brute force
wh is carried on over this area either.  It is battle of
brain, plot & counter-plot.  sniping is a fine
art.  The German snipers always fire on an
angle & they are hard to find.  But our battalion has
stopped one or two of them since coming into
this position.  Both sides use dummies & although
these "soldiers" are very life like we have
often detected them in time to save our
ammunition.  Every day there are contests in the air
over No Man's Land.  It is a source of pride for us
to notice the obvious supremacy of our airmen.
Day after day they fly over the German lines with their
loads of bombs to drop on Depots, emplacements
& military works of all sorts.  That they do
much damage is evidenced by the fact that
 

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no sooner do they hear the buzz of their engines
than the German guns begin to bombard them.

Thousands of pounds worth of anti-aeroplane
projectiles are fired at them every day in this
sector alone. Our machines go across in

"flights" of seven & fourteen, & they seem to us,

looking from below, to have the most wonderful

escapes. The other evening (August 5^th) after

a flight of our planes had xxxx driven a Bosche

machine to earth, one of our machines came

to xxxx grief. Owing to engine troubles it had

to descend. As the machine gracefully

volplaned into our lines, the excitement

among us was so great, that both Germans

& Australians rushed out from dug-outs & even

stood on parapets to see what fate was in

store for the plucky aviator. it was only

when the Bosches began a fierce rifle fire

upon the plane that our men turned once

more to strafing them. The pilot landed

safely, but in order to make sure of the

destruction of the machine the enemy bombarded

it for an hour, & yes the engine remained

intact, although every other part was

broken. No Man’s Land is a place

full of unguessed perils at night.

Patrols of both sides go out to discover

if there are any new developments, new saps

 

 

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trenches or entanglements. These patrols sometimes

encounter each other. In the most mysterious

manner we have had our wires cut, making

us think that perhaps the Bosches had some sunken

road or tunnel. Both sides mine towards

each other in No mans Land. But the [[?]]

[[?]] in No mans Land is the wonderful illumination

, in w'h the Germans excel in. A patrol may be

doing ever so well when suddenly the Bosche fires

off a star-shell w'h makes night as day & the

machines guns are turned on to any moving

objects. The only way is to remain perfectly

still when a flare goes up. Raids are made

constantly over No Man’s Land. A company may

go out & everything must be arranged & even

practiced beforehand. The rifle is used

less than ever in these raids. Only a small

proportion of the men carry rifle & bayonet; the

great weapon is the bomb. We shall win

the war when all our men are skilled in

bombing & using machine guns. These are

the main fighting implements of the Germans.

Often these raiding parties bring back

prisoners & capture machine guns.

Sometimes raids on big scale are planned

& then the element of surprise has to be

sacrificed. First there is an artillery

preparation

 

 

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over the Section selected. Trench by trench the

wire must be cut by shrapnel, then at the

time appointed comes, "the curtain-raises", that is

the guns range is lifted & the guns cut-out

the section to be raided by their fire so that

reinforcements cannot be brought up.

The raiders go in their first as our cattlemen

do to cut out cattle from the mob.

The success of the larger raid largely

depends upon ∧ the information w'h the artillery

may possess. If they have registered the position

of the enemies guns so that they can engage

them & perhaps silence some of them, then

all is well, but if not the enemy guns may

defeat a raid by driving our troops back, though

no German reserves are able to come up through

our barrage of fire. We give the enemy no

place now. Guns boom night & day.

They never know when we are going to "pop

over:, & prisoners all testify to the nerve -

wracking time they are having. Although all the

resources of science are brought to bear on the

guarding the German line, the protest of fire

& iron hurled by French & British over No

Man’s Land rises higher every day in a 

cresendo of death & terror. The racial

characteristics of the opposing armies are

 

 

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are evidenced in this constant warfare

between the opposing trenches. By a thousand

signs the German shows that he is afraid of our

attacks. Thousands of pounds worth of flares

are going up over the whole line from the

North Sea to Switzerland every night.

We use very few flares & are only eager

for the Boshe. The German is a very clever

fighter & fights quite differently to the British.

He usually begins his trench fighting

by running away. He has studied our

psychology more than we have studied his.

He knows that we will fight an enemy

on sight, therefore he runs & plants machine

guns on the flanks to cut down his advancing

fores. . As for his machine gunners being

German they would run too, so they are chained

hand &  foot to their guns. When we have

well advanced amongst his snipers &

machine guns, he launches his counter-

attack. But we are learning his methods

& we are preparing for his counter-attack

better than in the earlier battles.

The Germans us ^are fertile in ruses,

They put on our steal helmets & give bogus

orders as well as snipe in our rear

in the guise of stretcher-bearers.

 

 

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All these games are becoming less possible,

for our men are suspicious of them &

discovery meets instant death.

Knowing that is human nature to gather

in trophies of war, they have attached

mines to German helmets & other things.

But fortunately the first instances

of these did little damage & the men are

wise to these dodges. They have secured

the trophies & - themselves too in some

instances by lasooing them from a safe distance.

One of the saddest things about No Man’s Land

is that sometimes we have to leave our dead

& wounded there. The Bosche will not allow us

to remove them under a Red Cross flag.

He has invited those who under a flag

would parley after a fight, to advance & then

detained them as prisoners.

We are always "nibbling" a bit in No Man’s

Land now & the day is surely coming when we

shall advance once for all. The red poppies

blue cornflowers & white daisies (our colours)

will be trodden under foot in No Man’s

Land by a victorious army that will

never be turned back.

 

 

From Col. Chaplain

Green

would like to

have any

article no used

kept please to

be returned