TRYING A BRITISH DAINTY! A FRENCH SOLDIER EATING CHRISTMAS PUDDING.
The conditions under which tens of thousands of soldiers spent their Christmas were memorably abnormal, but, none the less, the season was not passed without such observance of old customs, and such care for all available good cheer, as were possible. Our illustration shows a French soldier obviously enjoying his Christmas dinner despite the fact that he has to eat it by the wayside.—[Photo. by Alfieri.]
46—THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914—[PART 21].
A MISSING LONDONER! AN ENGLISH M.E.T. MOTOR-'BUS IN THE HANDS OF THE GERMANS AND PUT TO USE BY THEM.
As with our London soldiers at the front, the fortune of war has levied its toll on other Londoners. Our photograph depicts the unfortunate fate that has befallen a once well-known object in the streets of London—one of the motor-'buses shipped across to France to serve in transporting British troops to the front, now in the hands of the enemy. Not many of them have had such bad luck, from all accounts, but accidents cannot be helped, and a victim has been claimed now and again, mostly at places where some raiding Uhlan patrol has managed to cut in and ambush one on some outlying road near the line of communications between the front and an army base, catching the 'bus while returning after discharging its soldier "fares."
THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914—[PART 21]—47
WEAPONS OF GREY "MOLES," AT TSING-TAU: A LAND-MINE AND EMERGENCY HAND-GRENADES CAPTURED FROM THE GERMANS.
The Germans made use of land-mines in the defence of Tsing-tau, and a few days after the town's surrender, on Nov. 7, several exploded while they were being removed by the Japanese, causing much loss of life. It was stated that the explosions killed two officers and eight men, while one officer and fifty-six men were injured. The Germans also used hand-grenades, as shown in our photograph. These appear to have been of the improvised "jam-tin" type such as has been employed in the trenches in Flanders "Eye-Witness" wrote recently: "Mines have not played such an important part in this mole-work as might have been supposed. We have heard the enemy mining and we have tried it ourselves, but one strikes water in this country between seven and eight feet down."—[Photo. by C.N.]