NEWFOUNDLANDERS IN BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2859, 25 August 1916, Page 8

NEWFOUNDLANDERS IN BATTLE

THEIR HEROIC BUT IMPOSSIBLE TASK. "Newfoundlanders I salute you individually. I'ou have done better ' than the best."' . Thus the general to the nion of the Newfoundland Regiment alter its great attack ou July 1. The' .Newfoundlanders were given what is now recognised to have been an impossible task, and although they failed tho story ol their bravery and daring will live for e\er. Tho regiment had been in roscrvo waiting to take its appointed place in tho great attack—the capture of the tl ird line of German trenches immediately in •front of them. The task of capturing tho first and second lines was assigned to English lino regiments. "All tho German lines," says an eyewitness, "were rakod with hundreds of thousands of shells. Ti, seemed impossible that anything could still be alive. Suddenly tho artillery lifted, s.nd the English regiments attacked. As if by magic the German lines 'swarmed with inert, and machine-guns belched out from behind ruins, and fiom the mouth of hidden pits, and even from shell holes. The British troops did not waver,, but they molted a Way, and not many reached the German''lines. More shells screamed across this'land <f dead men, and then other troops rushed to the attack. Again tho German itarhineguns took their toll, and again the attack failed.

"Now came the turn of the Newfoundlanders. The fate which had overtaken their comrades daunted thorn not one bit. These boys—their average ago was under twenty-four—were as steady as veterans, as steady as on that parade at kit. John's when they embarked for England to fight for the Empire. Not a man hesitated. ■ With a clieer they were over the parapet, and with the colonel, "Fighting Chit ral' Haddo in the van, attempted the impossible. Officers fell right and left, but as they fell they waved their, men ou. 'Right to it this time,' was the cry. A second-lieutenant speedily found himself in charge of a company, and as lie fell a sergeant sprang forward to take his place.. Companies melted away, but aft each man fell ho always cried, 'Now, right on boys, right to it this time! That was their slogan, and bounding from shell-hola to shell-hole these gallant lads struggled towards the German lines. A few reached the German wire, vyhich, marvellous to relate, was almost intact, but they could do no more. The chargewas over—they had failed, but in bravo company, for at the outset thej all realised that what had been impossiblo for eight English regiments .was not possible for them. "That night fow returned to the British lines, but tho Newfoundland spirit is indomitable; already the regiment is reshaping itself. For every man who fell iu that glorious fight there are two otheis willing and anxioue to take his place, and all burn- with the desire to. avengo tho comrade, the brother, and the' cousin who fell." Thefo are now, just behind the British lines in this quarter of the field a few mounds" of earth which no Newfoundlander fails to salute—tho burial ground of those who fell on July 1. Deserves volunteered to a man.to recover their dead and. under a galling fire . from German rifles ami guns they performed their task. "Wo wanted those at home," said one who did his share, "to know that our comrades sleep easily; that the padre has said tho, prayer for tho .dead and that we who live live to bring tha Germans to account."