OPEN WARFARE ON NEW ZEALAND FRONT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 23, 22 October 1918, Page 6

OPEN WARFARE ON NEW ZEALAND FRONT

STORIES BY LIBERATED CIVILIANS , A HERO OF THE AUCKLAND CORPS (Special Dispatch from the Official War Correspondent, Captain Malcolm Boss). October 15. ■

There is a. pause in tho battle on' this sector, and the enemy is feverishly digging in and wiring „on ,tho high ground beyond the Sel'.o River. He is selling the evacuated villages nearest his lino, but is evidently getting short of ammunition, and shows that he was surprised by our swift advance. The New Zealanders have made night-fighting their specialty, and this has resulted not only in tho surprising of the enemy and the capturing of villages, but has saved many casualties, for tho country here lacks cover, and any daylight advance is met with machine-gun fire from houses, steeples, and high ground, all commanding a wido field of fire. In one attack to great was the enemy's surprise that the food in tho German officers' messes was found half-consumed, or still in tho cooking-pots. In one locality we found n largo French factory utilised as a horse hospital, with operating-room and very complete arrangements. generally. Another factory, which had had all its machinery removed was at the time of our advance being used ns a huge carpenters' and metal workers', shop. We are richer for many tables, forms, chairs, and cupboards, that tho enemy had not time to burn or carry off. At another place, sick and wounded horses, with Hun-like thoroughness, had their throats cut, so that they would not fall into our hands alive. Other horses, killed . bv bomb or shell-fire, had been bled and disembowelled, and the flesh was in reported process of being cut off for human food. • Civilians tell tales of ill-treatment during these four years of bondage, and become voluble in their descriptions of the ill-treatment of the British prisoners, who were insulted and beaten by their guards. .For a long time the Germans showed intense hatred of the British Latterly they, included Americans in their category of vituperation. In Caudrv the women had to work in factories'for a small wage, and their over-, seer even went the length of spitting in their faces when they did not work to his satisfaction. Eventually their wages were claimed from the commune, so that they practically got nothing for their labour. They wero paid in depreciated German paper currency, and the town was fined in a large sum prior to tho retreat. The recent righting has been unlike anything we have experienced in this war. Our men have marched for miles across open country, fighting as they went. There is no sign of wire or trench save for a few hnstily-dug machine-gun pits made with the object of holding up our advance. Tn one fight wo had our battalion headquarters right in the open —tho commander sat at the roadside with his telephone and staff beside him, in 'full view of all that was'-happening. His troops moved forward in artillery formation bv platoons across the open country, taking advantage of , f ho folds in the ground. The battalion staff was en, horseback. One could see them galloping up to meet the company commanders, and the latter, also mounted, galloping back to give their orders to the platoon commanders. - No timo was lost, and the troops wero continually moving forward. It was open warfare as detailed in tho oil-ill book, and in which our units had teen trained during their short 6pell out of tho line.

In most of this fighting both officers and men did so well that it was difficult to single ont any individuals for special awards, but there is one moving incident that stands out in bold relief—o. modest hero of nn Auckland battalion. He was dressing tho wounded in tho open while the battle was proceeding. Owing to the exigencies of the situation there was no better place available for his regimental aid post, anl with tho enemy's shells bursting over tho position he gallantly continued his merciful work. The casualties were many, and as th 9 medical officers of adjoining units had been unable to get up, he hnd for thirtysix hours to dress the wounded of three battalions as they streamed in to him. Wounded men there were killed, or wounded again, while awaiting his aid. One shell blew n wounded mnn to pieces, bespattering his uniform, but to all appearance outwardly calm he. went on dressing tho wounds of others in the trench close beside him. A salvo blew a man's head off while he was dressing a wounded soldier, and he himself was badly shaken. Even this did not deter him, and the English, Scottish, New Zealand, and German wounded continued to claim his attention. Ho organised stretcher' parties, and had severe cases carried down to deep Gorman dug-outs in tho vicinity. His own escapes were miraculous, for he worked continuously in grave danger without sleep for a day and two nights.