BATTLE INCIDENTS ON THE SOMME

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2874, 12 September 1916, Page 6

BATTLE INCIDENTS ON THE SOMME

WILD IRISH CHARGE AT GUILLEMONT A THRILLING EPISODE Australian-New Zealand Cable Association, (Rec. September 11, 7.30 p.m.) London, September 10.

Mr. Philip Gibbs writes: "The charge of the Irish troops through Guillemont was. one of the most astonishing feats of the war. 'It was a wild irresistible assault, like a human avalanche,' said the English riflemen who wero supporting, tho Irish right. They stormed the German first, second, and third lines as if possessed. If there was any fault to bo found, it was that they progressed too fast. There was no time to safeguard . the ground gained, and consequently the Germans, climbing out of their dug-outs, began to snipe. In one underground chamber, twenty Germans quietly surrendered and 6alutod, an officer offering his gold watch to an English corporal. "Most of the opposition was encountered between two sunken roads. Tho English enveloping movement faced a fusillade of rifle fire and bombs from the Germans, who were emerging from their dug-outs, and also a 'ma-chine-gun firo from Ginohy and Falfemont Farm, but they advanced as though on manoeuvres. Tho wounded men crawled into shell holes, shouting, 'Go on,' boys!' The Germans ran, and ours followed. One German officer who surrendered said: 'If they run like that yon will be in. Berlin before wo are in England. 1 Six hundred prisoners were taken. They were in a pitiful condition, broken-spirited, trembling in fear. One officer was proudly indifferent to his fate, an attitude- which contrasted strangoly with others, who clung to tho necks of'our officers, begging for mercy. Of a garrison of two thousand, hardly one escaped."