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THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914—­[Part 21]—­41

[Illustration:  THE LETTER HOME:  A BRITISH SOLDIER WRITING IN A LOFT OVER A COW-SHED “SOMEWHERE NEAR THE FRONT.”]

One of the happiest features of the Great War, and one of its most favourable omens, is the optimistic spirit in which our troops, officers and men alike, are making the best of things, in spite of the trying conditions in which they have to live and carry out their arduous work.  They are as proof against physical discomfort or hardships, and as determined to be “jolly,” as was Mark Tapley himself.  Our illustration shows one of our soldiers writing home from the loft over a cow-shed, his only shelter “somewhere near the front.”  A shaft of sunlight relieves the gloom of his rough surroundings, and no doubt is reflected in the messages he is sending to his friends at home.  It is this wholesome spirit, in small matters and in great, which makes for success.—­[Photo. by Newspaper Illus.]

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42—­THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.—­[Part 21]

[Illustration:  SERBIA’S GREAT TRIUMPH:  AUSTRIAN PRISONERS; HONOURING THE DEAD:  AND SERBIAN WOMEN HELPING WITH THE GUNS.]

It has fallen to the Serbians to furnish the most complete and overwhelming triumph yet achieved in the war—­the smashing victory over the Austrian Army on the River Drina during the first ten days of December.  Our photographs were taken on and near the battlefield.  No. 1 on the first page represents a preliminary incident.  It shows an Austrian patrol captured while pressing forward with the rash assurance that characterised the Austrian headlong advance.  No. 2 is a battlefield scene, on December 3, when the Serbians suddenly attacked the Austrians and broke up their positions at all points at the outset, making whole regiments, scattered and isolated among ravines and valleys, in many instances, surrender at discretion.  One corps of disarmed Austrian prisoners is seen while being marched to the

[Continued opposite.

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THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914—­[Part 21]—­43

[Illustration:  SERBIAN WOMEN IN THE FIELD WITH THEIR MEN:  PEASANTS BRINGING A WOUNDED SOLDIER TO THE DRESSING-TENT.]

Continued.]