ON THE FIELD OF PASSCHENDAELE
AFTER THE NEW ZEALAND FIGHT PEN PICTURE OP BATTLE GROUND (Fran Malcolm Ross, Correspondent , with the New Zealand Forces in the Field.) The day.on which wo attacked and tailed on the Passcliendaele Ridge ended, m mist and cold rain. Others had fajted with us, and still others had taxied before. The fates were against us, and, m addition, tho German wire and. concrete and machine-guns. But the valour and tenacity of our troops had been magnificent. Officers and men m the front line—which was then scarcely a line at all-spent a comiortless aud anxious night, but, luckily, the enemy, bruised and battered as he was, had no stomach for counter-at-tack. The day following tho struggle gave_us samples of weather. In the morning there was sunshine and cloud Jiunder and hail. It was a strange experience to have the hail pelting on your steel'helmet. The incessant metallic pinging of the frozen pellets made such a din. In the afternoon there were other glimpses of suushine but it was evident that tho weather lor waging battles was, for this year at least; all behind ua. Tho battlefield was now a scene depressing in the extreme. Everywhere was torn earth, and mud, and slush, and brown clayey water. Sonio of the shell-hole pools had still a crimson stain. And all about was the litter of war. In company with, a staff officer, I made a pilgrimage to the front across tbe ground where our men had fought m°. cueerlU %> and yet so bitterly. Ihrough the corner of Ypres, in which now no unbroken building stands, we went, not at all sorry to leave our rat and mouse.infested dug-out, with its arch of strong cold corrugated iron supporting tho protecting earth and sand-bags-against attack from shell and bomb. Only that morning the great grey Gothas had come sailing over, dropping their bombs right and left. With the sinister'black crosses under a great spread of wing, their slow night and strange etability, they scorned like birds of evil omen. The sychronisrag drone of their double engines filled the air with a great noise. Ihrough. binoculars you saw their double propellers rapidly revolving. The sky quickly became fleeced with puffs of bursting shrapnel, but with a calm imperturbability -that one could not ■but admiro they held on'their way Above them the-little fighting planes, like sparrow-hawkes, flew hither and thither ready to Ward off any attack, lfie anti-aircraft guns barraged the heavens with their shrapnel, but the Gothas still held on, and presently we heard ,thoir bombs — Cr-r-r-ashl U-r-r-ash! Cr-r-r-ashl—a6 each hit the earth and exploded with a loud resounding noise. Somo did military damage; others fell harmless in field's lneii the b;g vulture and the sparrowhawks turned and mado for home still scorning the barrage. Dodging the- traffio as best we could wo made our way past all that was left or &t Jean, and. so along tho Wieltjelasschendaeloroad. Wieltje had leen a Jittlo hamlet on either sido of tho road. Now. thoro was scarcely one brick left on top of another., 'Thence the road ran on through country altogether laid waste. It was a plank road creeping slowly forward fay by day, the shell holee-being-roughly "filled m and baulks of sawn timber laid cross■wiso so that tho lorries-and limbered wagons might pass along without sinking to their axles. Near a place km.wn as Spree Farm wo found tho medical personnel of a dressing station busy with wounded and men suffering firm trench feet. Lator the enemy shelled them out of that, though, bflow tho broken brick work of their nheltor tl-cre was a strong German dug-out of concrete and iron.
Knee Deep in Mud. Beyond this it was heavy walking, sometimes up to the knees in mud aiid slush. Wheeled traffic had ceased, and only tho mules splashed past, it times tho track was shelled; if ten it was bombarded from the air. Occasionally horses and mon were killed. Our own howitzers coughed from' muddy pits and uustable-looking platforms at some distance on each- sido, Live siiellu littered the place, and you walked over them on the track itself. Hut, try he ovor so much, the enomy could net stop that traffic. It was dreary work at the best. For.three years now ono has gone on admiring the cheerfulness, the resource, the heroism, and tho tiicloss endeavour of the men who unke it possible. That human boings can go cheerfully through such ordeals mukes one think that there is still a great future for our race- in spite of ell tiip horrors and brutalities of tho war into which wo have been so nluctautly forced.
There was a clear viow across to the Cemetery and to Wolfe Copse, fiom whence our line now ran boiow : tl;e doadly ISellovue Spur, through tha sticky Marsh Bottom, and so in to the little llavebeek. Hero the men if tbo Rifles —as did their confreres, about whom I have already written—went again and again into iho fire-swept zone, through shelling and the rain of machine-gun bullets, desisting rot in their efforts, many of them, vntil they wore either killed or wounded. There were- even wounded who fought on. Stretcher-bearers struggled t-j esmicato their stricken comrades. Riflemen wont to their aid, and helped in tho strenuous and dangerous werk. Often one's journey was brightened byquip and crank or by strange scraps of "quaint conversation heard beside tho way. • Once during the hoight of a great bombardment I passed two infantrymen who had stopped for a chat beside a duckboard walk. -Their thoughts wero far from war, and they were paying not the slightest attentionto the roar of the artillery or the bursting enemy shells. "I wonder you don't go in for a bit. of land up there," the one was saying to the other, and it was quite clear that they were not talking of the Gravonstafel Eidge, but that their thoughts were far away across the seas —in the wilds of the Waimarino or the back-blocks of Taumarumii. Occasionally the rippling merriment ot Bomo merry Andrew came through the night in the midst of a desolation from which rather you might expect the dry laughter of some maniac in a world gone mad. But these mon could joke with misfortune, .with wounds, or with death itself. A Raid by Cothas. Leaving tho road after a wearisome trudge wo went across the shell-torn fields to a German dug-out to which during tho battle tho wounded had been gathered. Out of the' remains of three brick walls of a room that wae all that had beon left' of the farm ji shelter had been made thnt accorded protection from shell splinters, and down n well-like opening you went into the fug of a Gorman dug-out where some of tho medical personnel wero gathered, and in which they wore safe from anything oxcopt a direct hit from a heavy shell. As we arrived the German Gothas came over again and dropped thoir heavy bombs, which burst some little distance away with loud crashing explosions. We saw the earth fly m> and tho smoke, drift away in tho wind. Rnine of the tired stretcher-bearers and infantry that arrived to have their trench font handaged came out, and gave' the performance a casual glance, and then
went back under the rmlo shelter, whero they talked and joked. Glory and Squalor. When the (jothas had gone wo pursued our journoy, getting on to a track onco more. Ahead of us now tlie dreary, drab, shell-torn wasfo sloped gently upward, but westward thero was a wonderful scene —a scene such as tho' wanderer who is out lato on the battleiield sometimes sees and never iorgets. Tlie great disu of a crimson sun magnified through tho moist air was , dipping from u sky of palest lemon ajid ! tender leaden greys into a low hank oflojj—ii mixture or thin vajjour and the smoke of powder and of a thousand unseen fires. l'Yom near us, straight to thu oye of' thu setting buh, ran tlie gleaming ribbon of liquid mud thai had been a road, narrowing with distance, through ii wilderness or tortured earth and 011 between tho skeleton trees of what in other years, at this lime, would have been a beautiful avenue. Bui here there was no leaf on any tree; no grass in any field; no flower on any bank; no roof on any house. For foreground thore was a dead horse, with mud-splashed russot coat, and four dead men fill huddled in a heap beside the track on which some shell had given them sudden call. The men lay together in such strangely twisted attitudes that one saw nothing of their faces. A glimmer of red irom the setting sun, some purple in tha darkening foreground, soon laded away and the picture became a nocturne. It was indeed a scene of desolation, yet strangely etherialised in the half light. Even tho grim foreground was softened in the mystic greys of late evening, and a Whistler or a Millet might have put the scene on canvas— foreground and all—without any shock j to the most sensitive, or even to tho < feelings of-the parents of those bravo unbuned dead.
i We passed along- the track, I often looking backward at this wonderful slowly-fading picture, to a place whero there was a forward dump, with its caretaker, both looking very dismal in the depressing mud. The track was bad here, and we were advised' to tread a way between the rain-filled flhell-holos till we came to a dead mule after which we might take to tho track again with some guarantee of not going deeper than our' knees in the slush. As a matter of fact, one did occasionally go in almost kneo deep," though for Uiu most part it was not above- tho ankles.
westing tho Gravenslafcl Bidgo to tliu left of Abraham Heights, wo got to Waterloo Farm, which had been a wrong point of the German defence ia the New Zealanders , first attack. I romnined beside a littlei dug-out, also of German make, in which a subaltorn ana a few men were sheltering and awaiting their relief. They did not dally when the timo came, for. we wero in lull view of the enemy, who had his machiner guns still well posted on the upper slopes of the Passehendaele Ridge,' and on tho now dreaded Bellevue Spur. Ho was crumping the track on the'right just ahead with five-nines, and was shelling over my head in tho direction of some favourite target. Our own guns were trying to hit somo "pillboxes ' halfway up tho forward slope of the Passchendaelo Ridgo. Through glasses one could see somo Germans moving across tho slopo further ahead on the right. That they had also seen us was evident, for presently some sniper s bullets began to ping on the tumbled brick-work that lay about tho dug-out. ' ... The Scene of a Valiant Struggle. From hero ono could eeo well the country across which the Now Zealand troops had so .valiantly, though unsticcussiully, endeavoured to iight their way on the 12th of October. Here on tlio; left was the "round whero the Killes, all "through, tho' Icing, uncertain morning, had struggled agauist the mud, the heart-breaking uncut wire, the bursting of high-oxploaiVo shells, the bullets of snipers, tiie burning or tlio new gas, and the direct and flanking fire-of machine-guns, aimed from concrete strongholds 'hat had 'withstood the shattering blows of our own artillery, nnd wero so hard to storm under tho protection of our thin barrugo on that day. ■
Under fire they rescued men wlio wero drowning in shell-holes, half smothered in the mud, carrying them to safety and comparative comfort. A burying party, finding burials impossible owing to the heavy shell-lire, laid down thoir shovels and went forward to help the bearers. Both riflemen and stretcher-bearers bandaged up wm wounds of tho strickon and carried them out to regiiherital aid post and dressing station. This they did., day and night in hitter weather,- and aiways at tho risk of their own lives. The :machine-gunners stuck manfully to their guns. In one or two cases whole crews were wiped out. Occasionally a gun was knocked out, but a captured German guu was put in its place, and tho New Zealand gunners sprayed tht German positions with German bullets. Here on this slope, just opposito, the Ititles captured one of the enemy's strong points, and a corporal led his section to a6sist in the capture of another. All his section became casualties. Then ho collected a few men and wont to tho help of another section that was in clanger of being out off by the enemy. Hβ was afterwards wounded, yet ho carried on for several hours. A Eergeant showed great bravery and skill in the capture of tho strong point known as The Cemetery.- Finding a gap botween his battalion and the nest one, lie led tho platoon of which Lo had taken command into it, and then collected stray men from other unite to strengthen Ilia party. He led his men forward to the capture of The Cemetery, and here they killed between twenty and thirty of the enemy, took three prisoners, and captured four machine-guns. A lance-corporal who wns witli him did h'no work. There was one rifleman who went again and again into No Mans under heavy machine-gun fire and got wounded men bade to the regimental'aid pout. On his return journeys ho took water and rations back to the firing-line, Ho showed wonderful endurance and cheerfulness under tho most depressing circumstances and surroundings, and he, by his own exertions, saved several lives'. Heroic efforts were made to get hot food up to the troops and to the wounded. Some of the wounded had a hard time on the storm-swept battlefield that night and next day, but with heroism and a stoic indifference to cold and pain most of them "stuck it out," and it was wonderful how quickly they revived after their wounds had been dressed and they had got a hot drinkand the inevitable cigarette. Some there wore, however, who that night paid their full debt- to the Empire. Tho memory of their heroism will not fade. Since the New Zealanders fought here others have, been slowly struggling in the adverse weather towards tho goal. Thoy advanced after lengthened bombardments, and on limited objectives, and so far have been very successful. In the winter months from the top of this ridge we shall look down upon the enemy in the wo.t ground just as lie, in those recent; years, has. been ablo to look down on us.
Uncanny Walk in the Dark. While- I waiter!, scanning this ground and watching the desultory shelling, the battored ruins of Passchendaelo Village faded into the night. After what seemed a very long timo the officer who was my companion enmo U]) from the depths of the big AVaterltio dug-out, threaded his way through the shell-holes till ho reached me, .and together. wo heiulod .back, lor another German dug-out, with tlio usual lit of wall and huddle of broken brick about it. Tho colonel was making sure
that all the wounded liad. beeii got in from tho battlefield, and this was one of tho last stages on his journey. A cheery brigadier emerged from tho recossos of the dug-out and gave us good lien's-of tlie clearance of tun wounued. Thoro was not a mnu now out. It had been almost a superhuman task, but it had been accomplished. Heavy German shells were bursting close to this place, and I was glad when the two officers had iinished their talk and we wero able to proceed on our journey. It was a weird journey, that walk hack in the darkness between tho shell-holes and down a duckboard path. Tho path Jay across the open, for there was no communication trench, and it wandered in and out amongst the shell-holes in what seenied tho most erratio manner. We passed a derelict aeroplane shot to bits, but whether friend's or foe's we could not tell in the darkness. At uncertain corners in the duck-walk we endeavoured to pick our way with the flashings of an electric torch. Onco a- flash lit up the form cf a dead.man beside the walk. Tho momentary and unexpected glimpse of tho huddled figure in other times would have come as a shock. As it was we passed on without halt and with some commonplace remark. The horizon was rimmed with fog, but overhead tho 6ky was clear. The crescent moon, with Venus in attendance, had followed tho sun into the Western fogbank, "and now Jupiter, amidst the stars of Taurus, had climbed the Eastern sky, arid looked with brilliant eye across the mighty battleground. For some way we seemed to have the battlefield to ourselves. Then beside the duck-walk some men loomed out of tl.e darkness. They were wigging a hole in tho soft clay. It was meant either for a habitation or as a grave. Wo didn't stop to inquire. Further down wo met other men —night wanderers on the battleiield. They asked tho way to this place and ■ that. Sometimes they were bound for the front line. With a vague wave of the hand we directed them forward into the darkness toward the dim skyline from which we ourselves had come. How these men find their way about in tho darknoss in such country heaven only knows 1 Well behind the lines you hear men on a- foggy night calling to ■ their mates with whom they have lost touch. Down there it doesn't matter if they wajider- about all night. But up at the front, such as it is now, with no defined line, but only outposts and occupied shell-holes at intervals, there is always a chanco of a man's finding himself in enemy territory should he lose his hearings on a. dark, foggy night. Such queries as "A Company, where are you?" or "Halloa, B Company, is that you?" ; may frequently be heard along the line on such occasions... Even colonial troops, good as they aro at noting particular landmarTvs and tho lie of- country, must be often sorely puzzled on this battlefield. The Germans, who ought to know.every inch of the ground over which • they have been driven.back, sometimes wander unwittingly into our lines, and find themselves prisoners, and,' frequently, not unwilling ones. '
The Tangle of the Battlefield. Wo ciime upon officers and men trying to keep themselves dry in primitive shelters of which a cavo man or even iho original denizens of the .Flanders swamps would havo been ashamed. On the law ground the duck-boards were slippery, and, in places, they were missing. At one spot my companion stopped off into a .bog of .sticky mud, and swore. ■ Warned in time, I saved myself with a quick side-step, and laughed at his misfortune. The orderly, walking behind, lost his balance altogether, and took a purler into a , pool, but said nothing. . Orderlies can curse, too, but usually they don't do it in the hearing of Staff officers, in the /darkness wo had soino difficulty in "finding Sproo Farm again, but we overtook a man who was going in that 'direction, ajid he "guided ■ us.-'thero. Then wo commenced to plough our way through the mud on the homeward trail, feeling the way gingerly with tho aid of an electric torch. Mules and small parties of men passed us on their way towards the firing-line, splashing through the liquid mud, churned hero to the consistency of a thick pea soup. Presently teams emerged • from tho darkness in ii little, cloud of steam of their own making, passed oil, and wero quickly out of sight again. Stuno way ahead we heard singing. The man who was singing lagged a little in tho rear of a convoy. As ho came level with us ho stopped his song and asked tho way to Calgarry Grange, lie had a long way to go, but he seemed the happiest man on all tho battlefield, tlo thanked us and went on his way, still Ei'nging. Next we met a party of New liealaud artillerymen going up to thocghtoen-poumlers. A few minutes later a c.ir of tho Royal Flying Corps came lurching along iike a cutter in a heaving sea, a man walking in front feeling the way and telling the driver what to avoid. They wero on a sad mission—going up for the body of a pilot who had crashed to earth that afternoon. More limbered wagons with their six-horse-teams- and their overcoated drivors and outriders loomed through tho foggy night, splashing and rumbling past. It was. a 'constant marvel how they got through. There were grim relics beside tho road, telling quite plainly that some had not got through.' lu one place on tho way up we had noted a- little island in the road where tho traffic had been en-' deavouring to avoid a dead horse and a. dead - man half buried in tho mud. One know that shells had burst along that road killing and wounding men and horses. ' But the skill' and daring of these drivers seemed equal to anything. Even when sonio shell landed and killed a horso or man and tied the team up in a knot, the splendid work went cm. Then somo officer or somo man in the convoy would assert himself and evolve ordor out of the chaos that to a novice seemed almost impossible of nnravelment. From my own small experience I havo been endeavouring in this article to give the reader some idea of what tho battlefield is like just after an advance in wintry weather. But, accurato as the statements are, the experiences related are as a mere picnio compared to those which our gallant fighting men and all who work right up to the' front lino have to endure.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 81, 29 December 1917, Page 2
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3,658ON THE FIELD OF PASSCHENDAELE Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 81, 29 December 1917, Page 2
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