THE FIGHT FOR « HELL WOOD"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3168, 20 August 1917, Page 6

THE FIGHT FOR « HELL WOOD"

BRILLIANT EPISODE AT THE BATTLE

OF MESSINES

THE CHESHIRE'S DAY Mr. Philip Gibbs, writing from British Headquarters, furnishes to the '"Baily Telegraph" the following graphic description of a. brilliant episode at iho Buttle of M'essines: — Between Wytschaete and ilessines is a wood horribly ravaged by eiiell lire, called on our trench mags liois de l'Enfer, or Hell Wood. North of it was u German strong point with barbed wire defences and heavy blocks of concrete, called l'Enfer (Hell itself), and south of it, behind the labyrinth of '.renches, some broken walls above <v nest of dug-outs, known as Hell Farm. These filthy places were the central defences of the great fortified positions hold by the enemy just north of Messines and just south of Wytschaete, and round them and beyond them occurred some of the fiercest fighting which happened on that day of battle when we gained tho Messines Eidge. Until now I have left out that part of the battle story—one cannot write the history of a battle like that in one day, or two—but it must be told, because it was vastly important to the success of tho general action, and the troops engaged in it showed the finest courage. I hate iiot to uieutton them all, but must not, because the enemy would like to know. There were Cheshire men among them, and other country lads who were blooded in the battles of the Soinnie, where once I watched them surging up high slopes under heavy fire, and fighting their way into the German trenches. In this battle of Hell Wood they were eo wonderful in the cool and steady way they fought that when an airman came down to report their progress he said to their general: "I knew your fellows because they advanced in perfect order, as though on parade." Before the battle, when they lay about Wulverghem, opposite the fortress position they had to attack, they did fiome great digging in face of the onemy—assembly trenches as plain as pikestaves to the Gorman observers, and advertising, as did the enormous ammunition dumps, new batteries and wagon lines, the awful 6troke of attack that was being prepared. The enemy watched, and it is a mystery that he did not attempt to destroy this 1 work by intense (fire before it was ready to overwhelm him.

Record Night's Work. He saw strange things happen; one astounding thing in the moonlight, two nights before tho battle, under his very nose in No Man's Land. It was a record night's work of 1200 North Country 74ds who went out into the dead strip, between their trenches aud the enemy's and dug like demons. Tho moon shone down upon them, gleaming upon their picks and shovels which toro at the earth. They worked duietly; only a whisper came from tho .officers of, "Carry on! Get on with "it, lads. Do your damnedest, .men," The enemy must have heard the clink of steel spades, the thud of the soft earth falling, the shuffle and stir of 1200 men. ■His.sentries must have seen these shadow figures with the milky light about them. But no more machine-guns than usual spattered out bullets, and thero was no heavy shelling. Of those 1200 demon diggers—they worked in a kind of fury of digging—only one man fell dead and ono wounded. When at dcyn, they crept back to their own lines 'they left behind them a trench four feet sjx inches. deep and 1050 yards long for a jump-out lino on the day of battle. Enemy officera saw it, and must have sickened at the sight. They marked it on their maps—which were captured afterwards. It was frightful ground in front of t'hese troops of ours as I have seen it partly for myself from tho ground about the nine craters looking over Hell Wood. Behind tho German front lines, between Kruistraat and Nutmeg Trench, was a curved bastion, concreted and wire, called Occur Trench, defending Hell Farm, and the thought of this place was a nightmare to tho officers who know its strength. They had no need to worr.y, as it happened. Our jnn fire not only smashed, up tho front-lino trenches into mush and muck, but wrecked the Occur position, so that the ground about it is furrowed with ton-foot deep fissures, aiid its garrison was blown to bits. The first part of our men's advance after the moment of attack wns hardly checked, and they went forward in open order as steaduy as though in the practice fielcla through buttercups and daisies. Their trouble came later, when they found themselves under machine-gun fire from Hell Vrood on the left of their advance line, and from Hell Farm in front of them. It was a body of ; Cheshires who side-slipped to .the left to deal with the fire from the wood. They made a dash from those scarred tree trunks, from which a stream of bullets poured, and fought their way through to t'jff German machine-giin emplacements, though a number of them fell. As they closed upon the enemy the German gunners ceased fire iii a hurry. Many of them stopped abruptly with bullet? in their brains, and fifty men surrendered with fourteen machine-guns. Heil Farm was gained and held, and at the top of Hell Wood the Ch&shire3 routed out another machine-gun, so that all was clear in this part of the field. Meanwhile the main bndy of the assaulting troops had passed on to another system of defences, known as October Trench, which was a barrier straight across their way. Here, as they drew close, they c&uie to a dead halt against a broad belt of wire uncut by our gunfire and hideously tangled in coils, with sharp barbs. Behind, as some of tho officers knew, the enemy had brought up 26 machine-guns, enough to sweep down a whole battalion held by wire like this. Even now the men do not know how they went over that wire. They knew instantly that they must get across or die. From the October support trench further back, with another belt of uncut wire in front c# it, a heavy fire was coming from the Germans; who had their heads up. "Over you go, men," shouted tho officers; "For heaven's sake, get over it, somehow," said the sergeants. The men flung themselves over, scrambled over, rolled over, tearing hands and faces and bits of flesh on those rusty iprongs, but getting over or through somehow and anyhow. Parties of them raced on to the October support, flung themselves against that wire, and got, bleeding aud scratched, to the other side, unless they were killed first.- Some of them fell. It was the most deadly episode of the day, but the Germans paid a ghastly price for this resistance, and 300 German dead lie on that ground round the ruins of Middle Farm behind the wire. Away back when the fighting here began was a party of men, some Irish boys among them, who had gone as far as they had been told to go. They saw what was happening, and" watched those other men flingiig themselves against the barbed hedge. "To hell with staying here." shouted one of them. "To he'll with it," said the others. "We could do a novel- of ■jood ui> there." "Come on, then.'boys," said the first men, beginning to run. They ran fast towards the end nf the wire bt>lt. slipped round it. and fell on the flank of the enemy.- It was timely helo to the nthw men, 'some of whom owe their lives to it. There were isolated bits of ruin bi'lin" machine-sun emplacements still held In"the enemy on the left "ml right of the line of advance bv tlibsp Nort" Country troops, and to the left and ri-jht pnilies went nut to dear them. One wur cs>ilr-d LumuV. Farm rm Hi" Wj". nnrt t'-o Oer. mans were elided out "f it and 200 yprds further on. Swayne Farm w,i= annt'im , place of the same kind on-the right, and this was routed 'out also. Second Phase of Fight. This ended the first nhase of Hip iwtTfe, October Trench. 2000 yard? nwsiy the ■jump-off position hnvin? been taken »x----actlv nrrnrding to prpsrnmnip time. jwp'nrf ii'tn-'i , nf Hm lyiflle b?!rnii wl>i»i another body of the crime troops passed throu»h those who hid nl'-e.idy assaulted and won their ground, and vnnt fci-w.inl to the new line beyond. They pnssod throurh in perfect cxler. 'vhirli is a most difficult manoeuvre r> a battle when the rvniird ; s env>r»<l ivitli' 'i-onns have boon fitrhtin?., wounded men and stretcher-bearer? ai'd souvenir hunters and mopners-up and runners nml oil tho tumult of new-gained ground. But in i

long unbroken wave 3 tho fresh troops lined up beyond these crowds! and made ready to advance upon the new lino of attack. Again groups of them had to bo separated from the main body in order to seize isolated positions on tho wings where bodies of Germans were holding out and sweeping our flanks with fire. North-east and south-east of Lumm Farm were bite of trench- from which tho enemy was routed after sharp bouts of fighting. Beyond were some holed walls called Nameless Farm, and these were captured before the call to "cease fire," which was the signal for the infantry to halt while our guns began a new bombardment over the new line of attack. It was this silence which scared an officer of tho Cheshires, who had led his men away forward to capture a body of Germans hying to escape from Despagno Farm, right out in the bluo this side of Owl Trench, which was the next position to be attacked after our guns had dealt with it. A sergeant and two men of the Cheshires ran right into Despagne Farm rind bayoneted the German machine gunners, who had been spraying bullets on <nir men. Then the officer seemed to feel his heart. He looked at bis wist watch, and was shocked at the time it gave. The realisation of frightful menace approaching as every second passed made every nfrve in his body tingle. It was our new bombardment, a vast storm of ?xplosives, which was about to sweep ever this irround, already pitted with deep shell holes.

Wonderful Feat of Arms. It seemed as though nothing could eavo this body of Cheshires, who had gone too far and could not get back before their own guns killed them. There was only one chance of escape for any of them, and it was for each man to dive into one of those 8 feet deep shell holes and crouch low, scratching himaelf into the shelving sides before the hellish derm of steel broke loose. The Cheshires did this, fiunpr themselves into the pits, lay quaking there like toads under a harrow, and hugged the earth as the bombardment burst out and swept over them. By a monstrous fn-ak of fortune it srept over them quickly, and there were only two casualties among all those men huddled in hole? expecting certain death. "A bit of luck," Raid the men, getting up and gasping. Weaker men would have been broken by shell shock find terrorstricken. These Cheshires went on, took tho next Gorman defences and many prisoners, and then dug in according to orders and prepared' for anythingthat might happen in the way oT trouble. It was a counterattack that happened. Six hundred men camo debouching out of a gully called Blawepoortbock, with its mouth opposite Despagne Farm. The Cheshires had their machiue-guns in position and their rifles ready. They held back their fire until .the German column was within snort range. Then they fired volley after volley, and those 600 men found themselves in the valley of death, and few escaped. Ido not know whether they were Bavarians or Saxons, but this has been proved, that our North Countrytroops actually passed straight through the Third Bavarian Division, who had relieved the Saxons before the battle, and within an hour and .a half after the moment of attack reached that Saxon line again before it had got beyond the eupport trenches. The wholo organisation of this fighting was done with.minute detail, and the men ■ themselves,' whose lives and luck depended upon it, aro full of pride for its success. It was hot weather, when fighting men are parched, and water came up to them as far as they went. Not only water, but food and more ammunition than they wanted. "Every damned thins,'' as the men put it. They are glad to have done well, and though they lost many good comrades—too many of the best, as always happens—the sense of victory is with them, and they would like to know who did better than they in tho Battle of Messines. No one did better than these North Country lads, who took 800 prisoner in hard fighting and large numbers of machine-gUM in Hell Wood and Hell Farm, and other devilish spots. Tho enemy lo=-t guns as well as machine-guns there. They tried to .got somo of them away, but had to leave two in one place because a major saw the attempt, and with n small body of men and two machine-guns mshed through a barrage and chased off the German gunners. Nest day they lost more puns. These belonged to a battery in position at a place called Gapaard, and kept firing at our men until a message went whispering down a wire to our artillery, "Can't you knock out the lot at GapWd?' "Certainly." "Well, get on to 'em." The German Rims wore in concrete emplacements, with just their muzzles showing. Yesterday, when an officer went out there the puns were silent. There were shrapnel bullets down the barrels, and every man in the German gun teams lay dead.