THE BATTLES OF SEPTEMBER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2934, 21 November 1916, Page 9

THE BATTLES OF SEPTEMBER

WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS ON THE SOMME

IMPRESSIONS OF HUN PRISONERS (From Malcolm Ross. War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) Somme Battlefield, September 29. For a full day and night now the nuns have been beating the air with that unceasing pulsation that was our constant wonier early in July, and that in mid-September we heard again with renewed wonder akin to awe. It must have been , a very long day and night for 'the enemy. What it is all about wo do not exactly know. AVe are too near the front. The nearer you are to tho front the less news you get, and the later you are in getting it. But you see more and hear more, though what you see cannot altogether bo recorded for enemy information, and what .you hear is largely inartioulatc. "Wo can toll from the direction of the sound that tliis bombardment is not on our sector—"up Tliiepval way" is the nearest we can get to it. Tho German prisoners marching down on the roads hear it and seem to -pause in their march, pondering. When wo are really ready and tho guns begin to hum instead of pulsate they will become very thoughtful. Thore is ono other thing that should give them food for reflection. It is being marched down by a few Tommies with fixed bayonets along tho roads they know so well and through country in which for two years thoy have lived almost undisturbed. Along'the roads ovor which their guns and ammunition and food used to come our guns and. ammunition and food are now going. They-are able to see with their own eyes tlio great war machine of tlie British Empire moving slowly but irresistibly onward. But a ■few days ago I marched beside a smart young officer begloved arid wearing . a well-cut- overcoat of horizon blue, on through Mametss and past > Fricourt. This was country every inch of which •he knew, country that with its trenches and forts and dugouts and wire he thought impregnable.- : Yet' in a few weeks he had been pushed back miles beyond it all. It was no wonder that lie looked neither to tho right nor to the left, but marched straight on, busy with his own thoughts. Captured by New Zealanders, Amongst these are prisoners captured' by tho New Zealanders. And Tory ready thej'- were to put away the rifle and tho grenade. In Flers and vicinity in one day tho Rifle Brigade captured over four hundred prisoners. These men were all very mucn shaken by our shell fire, and they were glad to surrender. .They seemed to have been fairly well rationed, and they had good cigars and cigarettes. There is apparently £' "ration" cigar for the German troops. Many of tho" German soldiers carried in their packs two bottles of soda water. For a day or two'the victorious New Zealanders had more than enough to eat and drink and smoke. There wcro of courso plenty of souvenirs to be had for tho picking up; helmets, bayonets, ( binoculars, expensive automatic revolvers, and a few .cry excellent periscopes that must have cost anything from £20 to £30. Often a prlsonei; would offer a medal or a watch or ring to: a man to propitiate him. Ono German offered his Iron Cross. Generally, the German soldiers seemed surprised that they should be so well treated by British troops. Tliey wero Bavarian regiments that wcro opposed to us hero, and though these troops are. said to be among the best fighters iu the German army, our men who made the victorious onrush from tho crest of the iidge across lines of German trenchcs into and beyond Flers had the utmost contempt for them'as. opponents when it eamo to close combat. As a rule they either held up their hands or lan. Many of our menwho took part in the fighting afterwards said to me that it was like shooting rabbits. In later stages of the fighting, .however, the Germans fought gamely, and positions were only won and held: at considerable cost. But on no occasion was the valour of the New Zealanders unequal to the task that had been set them. During the first few days/of the fighting we captured a number of machine-guns, rifles, bombs, and ammunition. Amongst the machinc-guns our men brought in was one that had been captured by the Germans from the French in the earlier stages of the war. This gun the Germans had converted and were using against us. We shall now be able to hand it back to its original owners, or perhaps, if .the authorities permit, take it. back with us as an interesting souvenir to New Zealand. Stretcher-Bearers and Runners. I have already referred to the excellent work done bv our doctors. Three of the latter wero wounded, and two, including a well-known North Island surgeon, were killed. This surgeon had gone out to ah advanced position where there were a considerable number of wounded belonging to the Rifles. Practically all theso had been got in, and the doctor was having a look around to see what more could be.done, when he was severely wounded by a bursting shell. He received every possible attention, and was conveyed to tho N.Z. Stationary Hospital at Amiens, whore he died —a loss to the Force and to New Zealand. His brother doctorfell at the same place where he was hit. . Our stretcher-bearers, as they, always do, worked heroically. They were the first out, and they had to carry their wounded a long distance uphill through a shell-swept zone. They never for one moment spared themselves, and ouite a number were killed and wounded in their gallant, efforts to save the lives of tlieir suffering comrades. As a rule, ono hears little praise of the runners, and the work is a little apt to he overlooked. The intensitv of the shell-fire, in these later-day battles makes it'quite impossible at the start to obtain communication by wire with-the front,, and often the lines already in existence, up to the forward position before an attack arc shot away by the enemy's shelling. Under such circumstances communication can be obtained only by runners. There is never any lack of men of this dangerous work. Wearing Bliorts, and with yellow bands on their tunic sleeves, they hop out of a trench and sprint from shell-crater to shell-crater, bearing back news to battalion or brigade headquarters as to how the fight is going, or what the position is. They are killed and wounded, but often the -wounded persevere, and in some instances tliev have struggled on and delivered their messages, and then' dropped from exhaustion or loss of blood, or both. As in the ease of the stretcher-bear-ers. their work is hard and their bravery unexcelled. Men of the Hides have assured me that on one occasion the Germans deliberately fired on our strotcher-bearcrs with a machino -.gun. One stretcher-bearer mado six journeys, going twelve times through the German shell-fiw, and then collapsed at the end oF Ms last ionrnoy. It needs a man with iron nerve to stand such a severe strain. ' Canteens antl Y.M.C.A. In a previous article 1 referred to tho excellent work done by the officer who is running tho canteens for the Now Zealanders, and also by the Y.M.C.A. This oxcellent work has been continued on tho Somme battlefield, and is greatly appreciated. Thoro arc two canto.cns here, one established well lorI ward under sholl fire. Our own and

tlio enemy's shells soream over it day and night, and on almost overy occasion on which I have passed it there has generally been a queue of waiting purchasers there. The New Zcalanders get preference, but when their wants are supplied .the British Tommies also get a chance, of which they are only too glad to avail themselves. It is, I believe, the nearest canteen to the front. The Y.M.O.A. tent is also popular. Here the men get tea, cocoa, audi coffeo, and very excellent English cake, which conies enclosed in tins. Several of the Jfew Zealanders who were lightly wounded in the Somme fighting soon made their way back from tlio Convalescent Camp to the more comfortable quarters and generous teatment of the Y.M.O.A. tent a few miles nearer the front from which they had been sent. the Transport. The splendid work done by our first line transport under tremendous difficulties was the admiration of all who were privileged to witness it. When it was at its worst owing to weather and shelling, I watched for a time a young Wairarapa sheop farmer, who now wears tne D.0.A1. ribbon, straightening it out. Ono night the i-oad at one place looked something like pictures of the retreat from Moscow, only that there was no retreat, and 1 everything that could move was still going forward. I have reason to kuow myself what the shelling in that particular corner was like. The scene was one for the paintor witli tlio brush rather than with the pen, though tlio former, like the latfcor, would liavo to put a ■restraint upon his efforts at realism, The vile weather that wo experienced about that time made the straightening out of the trouble all the more difficult, but tho young sheep farmer was asked if he would do it again another night. And ho did it. At the moment of writing tlio difficulties have been largoly Overcome, and in a little while others will be taking up the work at a liioro satisfactory stage.