STEMMING THE TIDE IN THE NORTH

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 235, 22 June 1918, Page 2

STEMMING THE TIDE IN THE NORTH

SOUTH ISLANDERS IN THE BIG BATTLE FIGHTING IN THE OPEN (From Malcolm Boss, War Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces in the Field.) ~,. April 16. , Ihe experiences of the South islanders in trekking to the new battle zone were very similar to those of other unite about which I have already written. Ihe southern men had the sanio variety in this respect as had their northern comrades. By 5.30 n.m., they were all detrained, and troops and transport moved into a frold where preparations were made to givo the men a meal. A few hours later the first lot had embarked in motor-lorries, and wero off towards the new front. Next Jiight most of them were billeted in French villages All equipment surplus to fighting kit was I withdrawn from the men and stored under guard. At 1.15 a.m. they got their ( marcluug ordors to advance towards the new front to take their part in stemming the tide. They concentrated in a field ; under circumstances already described i Having been equipped with shovels and I picks unci small ammunition, they inarched up towards tho line. Canterbury units wero th* first of the group to march out. They learnt that tho situation at Beaumont-Hamel was obscure, so a protecting flank was thrown out. At 2.15 the first unit went forward in artillery formation towards their objective, one unit getting oulv very slight shelling as they breasted tho crests of certain ridges, but from ; this there were practically no casualties. Another Canterbury unit, on reaching the. outskirts of Auchonvillere. mot with ! machine-gun opposition and slieht shelling, and deployed in sections, suffering Blight casualties. On their further advance to take up a defensive lino they did not meet with much opposition, and it was apparent that the enemy was not there in lame force. Eventually touch was obtained with a post of an English division on the right. On the left the situation was not so secure, and : the line had to.be further advanced iu that direction. ! The Old Front Line. The New Zealanders here occupied what was th* old British front hue before the Battle of the Somme in 191G, and there were even traces of the old wire remaining. The tired remnants of an English division that had been engaged in the retirement were found in occupation of some of these trenches, but the New Zoalanders had known nothing of this until they came upon (hem. , Our men had got up jtist m limo, for Ihe Germans wero already across the Ancre. Indeed, if one of our units had been a little earlier on the scone wo might have held Serrn. Tho old trenches we occupied were in strangely (rood preservation and needed little . done in the. way. of consolidation. Small partics of the oneniy wero Men. Ono was killed, one woimded, and one taken prisoner. In the • evening somo men from auo'her Ni>w Zealand unit came up and established touch on the left, so that flank was nov considered saf?. The night passed quietly except for some shelling .at interval s ;. Occasional bursts of mach-ine-guns also disturbed '.hn (.tillnesu. Fight ing patrols were pushed out, along Hie whole front, and tho enomr was located in. his old front line svstem of trenches. Our' patrols had a little fighting, but .nothing of auy consequence developed.

During-the night of the 20thand 27th tho enemy attacked the unit oil the. left of our troops and-got into A veiny Wood for some distance, but by dawn the fighting had died down. At 9 a.m. Iho enemy commenced shelling tho Canterbury line with 77mm. and 10.5 cm. shells. This shellin? gradually increased in intensity and spread back in (he direction of AlaillyMnillet. By noon it was heavy over the whole brigade area. Minenworffer and pino apples were also hurled at cur line. Soon •'•after midday the enemy-attacked th centre of the brigade fruit. He -id.winced' in.email groups through the open and up the old communication trenches, buil: our rifles and machine-guns were i:ot long in getting on to him. Bv the time ho had got within forty yards of our trenches ho had had enough of it. He then lost no time in (jotting back to his former position, leaving thirty dead and two lisht machine-guns behind him in No Man's Land. By two in tho afternoon this little skirmish was at. an end, the ahelKng died down, and quietness again reigned.. , Enemy Movement. In the. afternoon the enemy could Iμ seen moving patties of about forty, and occasionally in. the strength of a company, in a westerly direction into the Ancre Valley. -Such of these as were within range came under the fire of our infantry and machine-gunners, and they suffered' severely, but others were able to pursue their.journey unmolested, for at this time we wero practically without artillery to deal with such a situation. There wero many good targets in those iirat days, but, when there aro no guns to shoot, targets are at a discount. When the Runs, arrive tho enemy quickly goes to earth, and walks moro in the nighttime. That evening the captain of a tank battalion reported with nineteen Lewie guns to assist in the defence of their sector, but as he could man only ten of them the others had to,bo sent into reserved Still, the ten guns were a welcome assistance. At this etage the whole of the front of the Southerners was practically "in the air," and an adjustment of tho lino with other units had to be made. On the 28th a good deal of enemy transport could be seen on the roads behind his lines. Troops were also seen. When dawn broke a brigade of our own artillery that had made a hurried march up registered, and, later in the dny, did some excellent shooting. Our men were naturally delighted to know that their o-.vn artillery was once more behind them. The enemy became more cautions for the rest of the day. Gradually our position was improving. Now Garments for Old. ltain made the trenches muddy, and as our men were without their greatcoats they had to put up with some discomfort. This they did most cheerfully, for they had got away from trench warfare, if only for a while, and they could get a chance to shoot the enemy in the open. The novelty of the situation and of their surroundings appot.lcd to them, and invariably their sense of humour triumphed over thoir discomforts. Moreover, on their way into the line they had salvaged oilskin jackets from some ot the deserted camps, and these now. proved of great value. As already statad, thov clothed themselves in a weml variety of raiment once they hud aone their trick in tho front lino and got back to the supports. One sartorial genius might have been seen wamlenug about clticl in heavy, muddy boots, sandbag putties, the ordinary khakr trousers, but above that a camisole, tho tout enseniblo crowned with a silk hat! 110 looked very pleased with himscli, tor was he not the cynosure of all eyes, and had he not achieved a sartorial triumph in the midst of the greatest battle in ttto world's history? Even a passing Brigadier—or perhaps even a Major-General— could scarce forbear to smile under sucn circumstance?. The humorist always has his place, oven in the grim tragedy of a great battle.

The Plight of the Enemy. There was more rain on the 30th and on the 31st. This was bad for nn attacking enemy that had been bolstered up by lies. The German soldiers had been a promissory note that could not be redeemed. They had been told that tho British soldiers were starving. In the canteens and the messes nnd the refilling points hastily evacuated they found an abundance of good food. l.'or some days hungry soldiers of (lie deriimn Em'pi'ror wolfed these supplies. Tho nowly-fonnd fool disappeared like snow on ground warmed by an early summer sun. Then the German soldier /; e!lt hungry again. Hie lioiseß that had fallen by the wayside from our shcllflro or from sheer exhaustion were skinned and cut up, no doubt to find thoir way into the company cooking pots. It may not be v.'H for us to build too Hindi on this, for, after all. liorsjo fle.sh i< not' nn n»appetising nor nirunsntisf.viip diet. \>« continually hear of the scarcity of .Iraiisport on the German side of tho lino. Their officer.? have fow motor-core, and rido in dogcarts drawa by Russian

pouies. The .German horses are halfstarved and weak, and they are worked tillthey drop. It would really seem aa it tho enemy were striking a great deal on this desperate throw. Yet under all the circumstances w6 cannot gainsay the fact that he has accomplished a great deal, mainly perhaps through weight of guna and numbers cleverly concentrated at one portion of the battle front. But all the lime we nre making , the position more secure, and when the enemy makes his next move forward towards the coveted Cathedral City, with troops neither as dashnis nor as fresh as he used in his first great thrust, his success, if any, must bo more limited and more costlv.

TOWNS AND FARMS IN FLAMES

HOW THE ARTILLERY FOUGHT. Standing; near the old mill on n a hoiglit tnat overlooks the new northern battitneld, one sees much of the country in winch the division made its home when it first came to .Franc*. I'ading in tile grey April distance are tho pleasant held« and loresfs through which we walked or rode- in the halcyon days of our iirst summer in I'rance. Dotted in between are the towns and villages in which wo billeted. Some 01 these are in flames; in others shells tare bursting. Southward the buildings of Bailleul still cluster about the squaw, fifteen century belfry of the Hotel do Villo and the spire of.the church of St. Vaast. Many thousands, of the British armies iii France have passed through tho picturesque old Flemish town. It haa been shelled and bombed, but the people stayed on, and the shops were still open when last I passed through it. There was an officers' dub there where one could luuoh. or dine. On the outskirts there was a British aerodrome. la the village square the Duko of Commught inspected the New Zealand Itegirrient of which he is Colonel-in-Chief. The King, too, has passed that way. On the day on which I looked at it from this height it was a No Man's Land, with all the shopkeepers and- the lace-makers lied away as if it had been stricken by a plague, as, in very truth, it had been. Ihe smoke of burning houses rose from the centre of the town, and drifted across the steeple of Bt. Vaaet. Later, the Germane pushed out their lines across , the Cassol Eoad, and the old town we knew so well was no longer ours. One looked also towards many other towns and villages well known 'to us— bteenwerck, Vieux Berquin, and \euf Berquiu, Sailly, and the little village- of Lα Motte au Boin, where, in the hospitable chateau of the Baronne-Lady Anznc we called her—there was alwavs a welcome for Australians and New "Zealanders. His Majesty the King and many of the most famous generals in tho jßritieu Army had visited the chateau, which, enclosed in tho splendid woods and encircled by the moat and the «anal, was so. peacefully secluded as almost to make one- forget the war. It was General Birdwood's first headquarters in .trance. In tho surrounding villo«es tho Australians and the New Zealanders nrst billeted, and in tho trenches farther on-so quiet in those-days as to be known as- flio Nursery"-the Anzaes first lought. The German lino now runs up to the corner of the splendid wood, and tlio German guns are shellhuf the chateau. One shell had landed in the pond and had killed the two swana that for years had made their.homo there. The c7i!ea« usrlf had not teen hit, but no doubt it will go the way of all such country homes in the war zone. Meantime an English officer had managed to «uvo for the Baronne two lorry loads of the treasures she most valued. . larthcr afield, Armentiercs wan also in the hands of the enemy. But .by this time (here was little of Armentieres left, and months ago the civilians had all gone. ■ ....•• ■ A Blood-drenched Salient. ■Looking northward one picked out ofiier towns with strange-sounding. Flemish names, towns with -which the New Zealanders had become familiar in more recent months-Gbdewaersvelde ("Gerlie wears velvet," the Tommies used to call it), Steenwoorde, Boeschepe, : Keiiingnolst, Abele, Ooderdom, Poperinghe,- and the remnants of Ypres,. behind which the enemy were once more creeping down £ l !*,J>lood-(lrenclied _. salient. Gravens-u.-ii and Passchendaele were memories of the past. Messinc?, too, had gone, as bad Flers in (ho Southern Drive, lhere and then one realised that much of the ground wo had won back in i ranee and Flanders was onco more in German hands. Well, they were welcome to it so long as our armies had the grit to stem the tide, and win the final victory, however far off that might be.

Prom the mount to which I had climbed there was a splendid view of (his new battlefield. Due east, nt Wytschaete, where the "situation was obscure,"'shells were bursting. The enemy, we were told, was nt the Cross Roads, while we held the Hospice. The last time I 6aw the Hospice it was Just a brick heap with nearly all the bricks broken. Tho German line now bulged round much-of this land to this south and south-east/ You could trace it by the smoke of bursting shells, and all through the battle /one were fires. Away to the north, beyond Bailleul and well back of the German lines a great column of smoke, probably from an ammunition dump, was ascending to heaven. The yellow flame of the German guns was clearly 6een against the green of the plain in broad daylieht. On the slopes below, a few hundred yards distant,.their shells wero bursting.about one of our batteries that had lately come into, action. As I looked a ehell buret in a farm.house that went skyward in a cloud of red dust. A few days before the old men and women were working about that farm as if, for them, the war was at an end.. With much toil they had sown their crops, and already there waa promise of an abundant harvest-of a. harvest that they would never reap. French soTdiers—their ekv blue uniforßis a pleasant noto of colour in the landscape—were, even now, skirmishing through tho fields to get the cattle away from the shells that wero bursting unpleasantly cloeo. Some German shells ooroamed overhead, searching for victims. The windmill, beside which I stood had been hit earlier in the day. But with all thoso eigna and sounds of war the predominant note was of an unspoiled rural landscape, with red farm houses amidst their trees, with plea6ant green fields and darker woods, and, over all, the great cloud forms taking shape after a storm of snow and hail. At intervals the sun buret through, flooding the land with light. Jacob Ruyedael would have loved to paint the scene. It was as yet unspoiled by the pock marke of modern war. It was a battle zone that was new. v

As I made my way back down the hill to my car I passed a column of the French on the way up. Fine, sturdy fellows they were, with smart-looking officers in their sky blue—a pleasing contraet_ to the familiar drab of our own khaki. I stopped the car at the corner of a New Zealand camp, a few miles back, where some of the shells which passed over my observation post had been frilling. Other sheila fell while I was there, and* the unpleasant reek of the high explosive filled"the nostrils for eomo time after their smoke had drifted away. That night our men who had helped to stop the gap at Jtcteren were coming' back to camp, having done their firet trick in the trenches, and done it well. One looked across the green country towards Ploegsteert, where a brigade of our artillery had done splendid worV. This brigade, when the northern battle begun, had its batteries south of the Bouve, 'with the Plooppteert Wood behind, and fronted the ground we foupht over for the capture of Messines and the lino we held later to La Basse Ville and the River Lys couth of Warneton. Roughly speaking, the front they covered was from the Dotivc to T'nnt linng«. ones a little villnq-fi on the Lys, .1000 yards south of Warneton. TII9 Attack of April 10. Early on the morning of April 10 the enemy attacked under cover of a fog. and communication with a British battery in the group was soon lost, as by 7 o'clock it had .been overwhelmed by the enemy after our own infantry had retired past the battery positions. Our own battery, which was in a position surrounded iiy *lie!Mu>ks ;>n<! morass, f|iiicl:ly became involved in this retirement, and by S o'clock in the morning groups of Go.rman infantry wero working through aud around the wood and village

of Ploegsteert. That morning the «A onel in command of the brigade had »> coived orders to keep in touch with tho situation on the spot, fighting as he thought fit, and, if necessary, to retire in a north-westerly direction. This gave him practically a free hand. The- howitzer battery soon found itself in a very serious position. It was in front of ite own infantry, but it fought on at pointWank range until the last of its ammunition was used up. A desperate effort wae made to get olio of tho guns away, and it was got out on to the road by 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It was impossible to get the gun away, and it was decided to abandon it. Already the enemy were at liydo Park corner, and the guns were almost surrounded. Tho battery commander had been wounded in endeavouring to locate the enemy. The breechlucks and sights of the guns wero carried oil, practically under the eyes o£ tno advancing enemy. Then began a systematic withdrawal .of the other batteries, ono being first withdrawn to cover the withdrawal ef the other two remaining batteries, the enemy having appeared on the Messines Eidge ■ overlooking the position. All three batteries were successfully withdrawn/ and were again in action by half-past eleven. Another t'attery—an English one-bought from ita position on Hill 63 until dusk, training its guns on Messines and Ploogetuert, whilst it 3 personnel engaged tho enemy with Lewis gun and rifle fire, after which it withdrew I) Neuvo Eglise, and rejoined its own brigade. From tho wagon lines a couple' r.f Uanis were sent up m the hope of taking out two of the cuiis from our howitiiar battery, but aftor getting as far as .Hyde Park corner they came up against the enemy in considerable numbers, and uad to retreat hurriedly under lire.

All next day and the 11th, the situa* tion was unpromising and very uncertain, and the infantry were , compelled to fall back. At 7 p.m. the enemy attacked Hill 63, so well known to the Now Zoalanders iv the Meseines fighting, and ae they succeded in capturing it, the situation became critical. Tho remaining New Zealand batteries had therefore to l>9 further withdrawn to previously reconnoitred positions. Ammunition wae brought up to these positions by the Brigade Ammunition Column, and during Hie night the batteries were once more in action! On tho 12th they got good shooting, on observation, aiid they must have killed and wonnded luo-ny Germans on. Hill G3 and in tho destroyed village of Neuve Eglise, whore, preliminary to the Me&sines battle New Zealand infantry wero billeted. There was much' enemy movement now on Hill 63 and at Neuve Eglise, and next morning thm situation became raaro critical au<H threatening from the direction of tho latter place, eo tho New Zealand batteries were further withdrawn to nosi' tions between Dranoutro rtjid Locre, from which they resumed firing , , mainly from direct observation. On tho 21th our in* fantry nad poste still holding out in the vicinity of jleuve Egliee. but the «ncmy had gained possession of Hill 75, which (jftve- thorn direct observation on to the batteries, once more had to bs further withdrawn. Meantime our howitiser battery had got new guns and was* again in action.

On the 15th the enemy attacked and topk Eavelsberg, thus completing tbei* chain of heights along the Sfeuve EglieeHiil 63 system. Tho enemy; had no-re , very much improved observation, and in this he was aided by his low-flying- aircraft, so a final position for the battorieq had to be. found still further back. this time the advancing tjdo was.being stemmed, and pooh tho critical frtago of the batt'e had como to on end—at taisl for the time being. During these operations, which ret donnd greatly to tho credit flf the Nort Zealand artillery, tho infantry frequent* ly reported that tho shooting of the batteries wae eplondidly effective. This wae especially the 0.-yse at Neuve Egliee. The forward observing officers did fine work during a very tryiny time. Tha communications had pretty well all broken down, from various causes, and tho artillerymen had to use up a lot of .wire re-Bstablishuig them at now positions. At night signalling lamps flashed the messaces back from the forward observing officers. fuch a. difficult withdrawal as this brigade took part in was not uccom« pliehed without losses, nnd the wear on horses was, of course, not inconsiderable. The strain on the personnel was great, and that they should have come through it so satisfactorily speaks volumes for tho, grit and steadiness of tho young New Zeaknder.