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Over the Top With the Third Australian Division by G. P. Cuttriss
page 41 of 73 (56%)
are between them and the Hun.

Many of them have good reason to remember the time when the enemy were
in occupation of the town. In some instances the Germans have been
highly spoken of. I give credence to every good report. Personally, we
bear them no ill-will. We detest the system which has made them what
they are, and we are here to crush it, and sincerely hope that the men
of the German race who, however, mistaken, are ready to lay down their
lives for their country, may emerge from this war and be re-made on
the anvil of defeat, and in the days to be redeem to honour the name
which to-day is the synonym for all that is brutal and abhorrent.

That all of them are not filled with implacable hatred towards the
British is evidenced in the following incident. We attempted to raid
the enemy trenches. The weather was bitterly cold and the night was
dark. Our artillery put over a heavy barrage, after which the raiding
party went forth; they crept forward over the muddy ground, and
entered the German lines. Several casualties were sustained during the
operations. When our men returned to their trenches, it was discovered
that one of the raiding party was missing. When the noise of the
counter-barrage had died down, a cry for help was distinctly heard by
our front line troops. It came from 'no man's land.' A couple of
stretcher-bearers and two men went out in search of the one in
distress. While groping about amongst the wire in the darkness, they
heard the Germans assuring the man for whom they were searching that
he would be all right. Suddenly the enemy turned a trench searchlight
on to 'no man's land,' and by this light the search party were guided
to their wounded comrade. The light was kept on him until he was
rescued, and was then used to guide the party back to their own lines.
During this time no shot was fired. This was a humane action indeed.
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