NEW ZEALANDERS IN THE BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 312, 21 September 1918, Page 7

NEW ZEALANDERS IN THE BATTLE

■ jvJGHTINGAT TRESCADLT ■ HARD BATTLE FOR THE RIDGE ~.'. (Special from the-Official War Correspondent, Captain Malcolm Ross.)" ■ '■ ■ ■"■'■ By ; Cablegram, September 15. The long spell of strenuous fighting, m which the New Zealanders have taken: such a conspicuous and continuous part, reached its culminating point in the assault'on the Trescault Ridse, east of the Hayrincourt Wood. During'the 1 past few days this fighting became ..somewhat confused, and more determined'than ever. ;■ The ridge,constitutes one of-the buttresses in the front defences- of the Kindenburg'line, and a certain wellknown trendy was the key to the posi-. tion—the main, defenco lino of the .'enemy' in this sector. - It was drifend-■e-1 by : stout divisions, who were ordered to hold it to the last. Prisoners said that all attacks upon it were to he resisted to enable the Hindonburg line to be further strengthened, and that the. final withdrawal would be to that line,.-which would bo held at all costs. ' "" ....

At dawn on the 12th the New Zealanders, attacked in conjunction, with the Iroopson the flank .of. the division, aiid, following a splendid barrage, the Rifles had' no difficulty in attaining their first 1 objective. progress, however, was difficult, owing to the intense rifle and machine-gun fire that,came froni\a trench held by the enemy in considerable force. Except for a few. posts we pushed out, our line remained for the wholo day ;oir the first'.tibje'etive. Frequent bombing attempt's by the enemy to win back the positions', wo' had gained achieved no result. ■■ . ••

~ Strong Counter-Attacks. To the south the, battle fluctuated, | owing to strong enemy counter-attacks. One ;which was delivered at 6 a.m. drdve our thin' line back for some distance, and a second was delivered, at 2 p.m. along sunken roads with covering' .machine-gun - firo from an adjacent trench. • Heavy fighting ensued for the possession of the captured trench, 1 and as the enemy succedeed in outfitting, us 'from, tho south, wo had to withdraw from almost all of the trench we, had captured except one portion that' n'o continued to hold in strength. At 7 p.m. a>further attack iindgr a barrage was' made by us, to endeavour to attain tho final objective. At first our men met with stubborn resistance, but by 7.80 their lino was well advanced. The determined Jaeger assault troops, counter-attached again at 10.30 p.ni,', advancing down,'tho .trenches', and "wo had to make further slight withdrawals after stiff, fighting.. .We. captured forty-three, umvoundod and. filfty-soyen,'| ■ wounded prisoners, and our lino was still left.in advance of the original] :.position'. ..- :='v" . , ■•' i l%o''Eifglrsh^troops':)gallantls' c 'figlitsnli-'| on our left captured the-villages'-'of, Trescault 'aiid"HaVrincourt, but ou oii.r.l .right no progress could be made. The .enemy., ,'had fought.'stubbornly , along '.the whole-'front, and his machine-gun i fire had been intense arid'well; aimed. ]

On the following day' looal - fighting continued for two sectors of trench by both sides, the enemy showing_ dogged determination to hold.tho remainder of the ridge his possession. At 2 p.m. wo again attacked, and drove the enemy out of part of a trench ho was holding. ■ Remnants of one German company, realising the position, fled across the open, and the New Zealanders shot at them as they ran. Eleven, umroundud prisoners of the Jaeger machine-gun companies remained with us. 'It is noteworthy that these Jaegers have more machine-guns' than most of the other divisions, and that tliev. use thcm'. : with determination and skill.

During the afternoon and evening the enemy renewed his counter-attacks, aird forced us to withdraw a little; and at ] .45 a.m. he came at the New Zealanders with v bombs and liquid fire, forcing one of".oiir "posts to withdraw. 'The enemy shelled 'tis I ''with guns of .various; calibres'' throughout, and also used much gas. In addition to the.large number of prisoners captured, wo inflicted very heavy casualties on the enemy. One oH his companies was reduced in a\day from sixty to twenty-three, hut was lucky in getting reinforcements up, a. communication' trench during a rain..iTJie. men of the Rifles were the principal actors, in this - strenuous fighting,' but at the finish Wellington troops also had ,a- hand iiv. it. Some Daring Adventures. Most extraordinary were some of the daring adventures upon which small parties, and even individuals, embarked. The men themselves say little about those, and' often one only hears . of them, by chance.. One of the finest traits in the, character otf. "the diggers" isi their modesty in regard to their own most gallant deeds. About the last day of this fighting a sergeant of tho Rifle Brigade, with ten men, Went forward to exploit a success already ' gained, aiid in a■" sunken road come unexpectedly upon a whole company, of tho enemy. Our small band might have been pardoned had'they taken to .flight, but they stood their ground and fought, and any German who ..did not put up his hands was killed. A Jaeger officer who rushed out of a dug-out to rally, his men was promptly shot.-- The:others' in the immedi--ate ■-. % vicinityv /then ; surrendered. By this time there were only some six New Zealanders left unwounded, but they proceeded to collect other Germans ifrom the shellholes till eventually the _balf-dozen inarched back to our lino'.with forty prisoners. So much for events,on land. Almost everynight now we witness thrilling scenes in the air;-. The other, evening we watched a German aeroplane being held in the beams of over a. dozen searchlights, while, the "Archies" and machine-guns were.firing continu- • Qusly at him. Present the bright sil- . ver of his wings in the searchlights"" 1 turned to flame,, and he'began to; make an-awful, descent-for thousands cif feet in one streak, of. yellow flame, the red arid" blue of'his signalling flares shooting out from-, the .column; and adding to . the pyrotechr.se display. Finally the tree-fringed crest of a low ridge behind which -ho Sfell was silhouetted' against the glow of his burning petrol tank as it crashed to earth. .'Later another aeroplane was brought down in the- same manner, and a third,' shot:in a vital part, landed in our lines. Two of its "occupants "hed got away "in tho strong wind in p&achutes, but the pilot," a.;fine" strapping' young' fellow, was captured by, the New Zealanders, and was very crestfallen'.at' his bad luck. To-night the "clear'moonlit vault is a buzzing hive of aeroplanes, and at intervals come.the uneven droning bass of a i German _fnaehin'&; the "dull crash 6f "hit. exploding-bombs, the rattle of machine-guns, and the staccato banging of the "Archies," all bent on his ..destruction..;.. While I {-was writing this message, loud cheering outside ray. flimsy hut announced"the flaming fall of another enemy machine. The "diggers," scorning 'cover,-.were .all on the watch. Nothing pleases them more than to see a Boche.bomber descending'' in flames. 1 .; ... ;,'., v