BATTLE OF THE SOMME

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2819, 10 July 1916, Page 5

BATTLE OF THE SOMME

THRILLING INCIDENTS OF THE ADVANCE YORBSHIRE LA-ADS IN THE , FIGHTING LINE By Tdegramj-Prcss Association-Copyright (R<?c. July 0, 5.5 p.m.) „ ; , • London, July 8. Mr. Philip Gibbs, writing to the •Daily Chronicle," says:—"l watched the Britten gsfinc forward to the.assault =on T'ri court. They picked poppies and cornflowers, put them in their' belts and caps,* and want into battle with smiling • faees. Under the sweat and the dust I saw the same men returning. Their : officers had a, lonely lodic—there was hot -'a largo .ininii>or left of the men who went forward to the first assault. The/ wore simple, Yorkshire fellows, ordin- ■ ary lads, not created to face that hell of fire.. Wlnen they spoke, some were still shaken, and their words faltered. Many , could remember nothing of the first rush across No Man's Land. "They suddenly found themselves, with bombs in their hands, scrambling over the German parapets. The (lead lay everywhere. •' Sniping the Officers. "When the 'Germans in the dug-outs saw our waves' coming, their gunners rushed upstairs to their wrecked trenches, and manned : their machine-guns. Each gunner was acoompauied By. a sniper, _ whose work it was to pick off the British officers. . So many subalterns were kilted that every Britisher had to carry on himself. '; • "It was Moody- work-for boys who had not the butcher's instinct, but the passion caught them, and ;they saw red.' These' Yorkshire' boys fousrht single fights with big 'Germans, like terriers worrying rats. • "Directly the trench was tnken. a captain fired a rocket, the guns , lifted, and our shells crashed into a /shelter wood beyond. The Germans also saw the rocket, knew that/their trench had been captured, anil lowered i their, range, shelling rind carihireds ■ alike;' The captain called for ten volunteers, and. led a party tn explore the Shelter wood. They found.it full of-Germans, ■ and that it , would require at ]<>a,st: a thousand"men to capture it. . So tliey crawled back "to tho trench, where they spent tho night, aniid an intense bombardment of shells and shrapnel. That . same revision captured the, shelter wood a the following day. v Some Grim'lncidents.' "There were many grim episodes. A. badly-wounded Yorkdiireman, crawling through tbo wood, , passed a German, who was crouching, also on bands and knees; with the blood'oozing from' him. Tiio German stared at the' Britisher, who crawled on. , Thja G«i - man raised himself, and still kneeling, shot the lad with his revolver, and' immediately dropped down oji his hands and crawled on. A British compdo chanced to witness the murder,' a rifle shot ripped through ..- tho trees, and. that Germancrawled "no more. Aw-.ther - German, who surrendered as a ICorkshireman approached to make' him prisoner, pulled out a detonator bomb as ho raised, his hand, but the' Yorfcshireman, -'with a quick thrust of tho bayonet,"' so terrified the German that he forcot to throw his bomb, which burst, and blew him .to piece's. The Yorkshiieman was not injured." . / ■- "Most of the Geinmiis, wliea the British came'up within ten .yards of them, flung lip their Irands. and cried 'Mcrcy!', to those' whom thoy had tried to blow to bits a moment before. It was rather late, but mercy was giveii. . . ■'■ "1 surrender!' said •. ono German; putting his bead out of a hole in tho earth. 'I ani on officer and havo wounfled men with me.' "'All right,'repH«l a'Yorkshire sergeant. 'Fetch them n'p, and no' monkey 1 tricks.' '. - ■ "Out of that- hoio caiiio forty men. Each, said 'Kamerad' to ,tlvo sorgeant, who answered 'Good day to you.'" ~ ; TERRIBLE HAVOC BY THE FRENCH - MACHINE-GUNS, (Rcc. July S, 5.5 p.m.) . : . V* Paris,- July S. .Between Bolloy-en-Santerra the Bavarian 17tli. Division, suffered soriously. They delivered six successive assaults, but the French machine-gun batteries ploughed them through and through. Two regiments of Bavarians were surrounded in a building, between! Belloy-en-Santerre and Berney, and surrendered. . GERMAN IMPRESSIONS OF THE - ATTACK (Roc.. July 9, 5.5 p.m.) •. Paris, July '8. i The "Daily Chronicle's" Paris .correspondent sends the following statoment by a Bavarian captain .'who . was taken prisoner—"Everything possible was dono , to strengthen our defences, and the number of oup -machine-guns was ■ tripled. Wo expected. an' attack •Tunß. 28, but three days' more bombardment .continued, with increasing violence, and our moral, and'physical resistance. begin to diminish. We counted nine hundred shells in oiie minute. Tho French must have discovered-, a-new explosive. for I have never seen such havoc." ... •