THE NEW ZEALANDERS AT FLERS
GERMAN TRENCHES CARRIED BY ASSAULT ' * ' A STIRRING DAY The following special dispatch has ™® n . received from tho Now Zealand Uihcial \\ar Correspondent (Mr. Malcolm Ross), dated September 16:— . For a week past I have been privileged to_witness the preparations for tho momentous battle whidi has just commoncod. During the preliminary bombardment our guns must' have thrown at least twelve million shells on the emomy'6 lines and positions. Soon after dawn to-day tho attack commonccd on a grand ' seals. Tho cannonade was a tcrrifio spectacle, more Wonderful oven than tho July bombardment. Every hollow and slope hold batteries of our flashing guns. In a few minutes tho front for miles was ono continuous line of clouds, in which one saw tho flashings of innumerable shells on the loft. Tho Germans fired shells that burst in a rain< of red sparks, and sent along pillars of light grey smoke skyward. These bent serpentwise, and gradually across our terrain in that locality '; in half an hour the whole battlefront. of battered woods, villages,.and rolling downs was enveloped in an ever-spreading oloud of ashen-grey, out of which came our planes, still holding tho mastery of tho air, and dropping messages as to how tho tide of battlo was going. "With this dawn tho Boche saw for tho first time approaching across his trenches .our newest and most wondrous war invention, slowly creeping like some Saurian across deep trenches and | shell craters, as if they did not exist. They were monsters that spat fire and lead, yet turned the enemy's lead from their own hard 6kins. The sight of them must have been, a nightmare to the first Boohes that saw them. .At tho time ,of dispatching this message from the'battlefield all is going well." THE NEW ZEALAND ATTACK September 16. "Tho New Zealanders, who have the honour of being in this new phase of the Somme advanco, fought hard and successfully all yesterday, capturing several lines of German" trenches, and pushingvon right behind the village of Flers, which they assisted an English. division in. taking and holding during the night. . "Leaving their assembly trench, in the early morning, the Otago and Auckland went over the parapet, and took the first wealdy-held German tronches in theii; stride; then, pushing on behind a creeping barrage, they went gallantly through shrapnel, high explosive, and maohine-gun fire, and captured the switch trench. Somo Germans came running'towards them, holding up their hands, and calling 'Kamerad!' Others fled downhill. Some' used a white flag, pretending to surrender, and then shot. Needloss to say few of these had tho luck to bo taken prisoners. When this trench was taken the Rifle Brigade passed over it, and . they advanced close behind the creeping barrage. The leading waves assailea and took a trench one thousand yards beyond the-switch trench. Here ono of the armoured land cruisors did good work. In ono place it charged through uncut German wiro.' "All this time the Rifle Brigade was moving steadily onward, and the leading waves found two lines ,of trenches and a. long communication trench. These trenches they also took. One armoured car charged slowly right into the village in front of the cheering infantry—a scene unparalleled in the. war. ,Wo got beyond this objective, but as thero were some gaps in the line, the men had to be brought back a short distance. Tlioy dug' in on the line of a threatened German coun-ter-attack. which ,was beaten back by our artillery. Other attacks were prevented largely by the'same means. At' night the Brigade bravely held all it had won, and even occupied a bit of ground boyond its own area, on' tho right. At the moment of writing our supports, which have oome up, are taking part in a,further advance. The chances of furthor success seem satisfactory." -
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Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2883, 22 September 1916, Page 6
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637THE NEW ZEALANDERS AT FLERS Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2883, 22 September 1916, Page 6
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