THE LAST BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 87, 7 January 1919, Page 7

THE LAST BATTLE

' THE CAPTURE OF LE QUESNOY BRIG.-GENERAL HART IN COMMAND ! (From Our Jlaster.ton Correspondent,) -', When the news came through that the New Zealanders had won the Battle of Le Quesnoy, and that it lias been one of the most remarkable fights of the war, Wairarapa; wondered whether the general commanding ,in tho successful operation., was the Carterton soldier, Brigadier-Gene-: ral'Hart, C.M.G:, D.S.O. The cable message as usual suppressed all name's, but it is now known that it was Genoral Hart who commanded, and that many bravo Wairarapa lads took part in the fight. It will bo remembered that Le Quesnoy' was taken Jn. a way: reminding one of tho ■ old-time battles. Tho country outside the town was cleared of the enemy, and then tho fortifications were assaulted and carried by means of- scaling ladders, . etc. .Mrs. Hart, of Rhodes Street, Carterton, has now received letters from her husband 1 , .General Hart, from which we are. permitted' to make some extracts. Letters from General Hart, : Sunday, November 3, 1918, General Hart says;—" Before the dawn, before, I..hand, this in to the censor, we will have' been' launched-into another huge'battle,-one, of the biggest, and it may be.'tho most 'decisive of the'autumn Series 'of-';. important engagements. Tho' ; enemy is • crumpling tin like-a house of «ards,-.aiid:the end is aosr>lutely assured; but there is-not the slightest slackening ,of effort, or indication of jubilation. Everyone; proceeds steadily and ¥ calmly with- his allotted task. All day'l have , beon .very, busy—conferences, seeing en-: ginecr, : artillery, machine-gun!, trench mortar and cavalry 6ffiMrs;.arrauging for supplies of ammunition and fcod, evacua- ■ tion of-.wounded, and hundreds" of de-, tails, iucludin;;- the- construction.and delivery of scaling .ladders, to mount the ramparts of.an ancient town, and cork, mats on: which to .'cross, the moat. Tliis . is just a short note to let you know that all is 7/ell." ... ■ Writing to Mrs. Hart on November 6, • two days later,, the gensral ssys: • "Since I wrote list.'l 'have taken part - in what I hope was the decisive battle of the. war. My brigade had a very important task—the.capture of Le Ques- , noy,, an ancient strongly-fortified'town. ; m ah important strate?ie?.l position. The battle commenced half an hour before dawn on Monday last, November 4. I was using every battalion under my com-'! mand, and each battalion used every com- ! . pany and 'every man. It was a supreme i effort by all.' We were nearly 1000 men ! . below strength- but'even so, held the whole divisional front and had take? over a "little extra from the division!? on each flank to give ample room for ari'Muoloping movement. The .attack centmued all day, and it was after four in the afternoon . -before we secured the surrender of the garrisons, -after; capturing eommand- , ir.g'positions and tho rajt'.purts. The 'enemy was holding sLror.g positions well : in. "advance of the town, especially along' , the railway line, -which erased our,whole frontage.;! We'had.&et of all to storm, -and capture these -before we: reached the town. . This Srat effort yielded .several . .-hundred.-prisoners. The units then.pro.ceeded'steadily and thoroughly to invest ■ . the towa, ihft'aoeurrimr forward from po- ~ , -sition_'to. position behind, trees, mounds, ■' .outbuildings—anything which would'give bonc6ali»ent from which:fire could . bB , brought, to bear on the garrison.' The rampartii"presented a vertical face of .'.bricKwert, '50. feet high, having grass-, grown mounds ion- top,- and completely surrounded by,a wide deep moat, which, fortunately,, was empty, except for a small running stream.. The enemy had field guns, lninrieswerfers, and dozens of machine-guns mounted in, on or around the ramptrs,. and these had to be put but of action before the assault. could be made... v. ' • - ' "The advance of our men in the morn- ■ . ing was; covered ■ by the usual, artillery barrage, and in addition burning oil and smoke were'also projected on to. the rani- ' parte. About mid-day the effect of our fire began to .be felt,' and several at- ' ' ..tempts were made to steal into the town. One-man. tried to,'crawl, up!a,.tree.which- - " had.'fallen against the .wall, and a- few others fried to: rush the bridge, but fail- ■ ed. Shortly afterwards this bridge was . blown up by the enemy to prevent any similar attempt being repeated. "Later in the afternoon three of tho prisoners captured 'that morning were sent in from various points to demand the surrender of the place, and a mea. ■ ,'sage making a similar demand was drop- - ped from _an aeroplane. Before any reply was. received, however, one storming party succeeded in getting a scaling ladder'into position against one part of the ramparts, from which the enemy had ' been: driven, and under cover of Lewis , !gnh: and light :,trench mortar fire, our men ...went' up the ladder, one by one, until finally one whole battalion had ef- ! fected an entrance ih this manner. They quickly put several .gun crews out of.de- , ' '.'tiohj whereupon the remainder threw in the sponge,! shortly followed by the surrender of the whole garrison. ' . "About 1600 French civilians were in childron,.,and old men —and they, gaye a wonderful demonstra-. ■■ i tion of .welcome to our men. They cheer- ] ed and clasped' all and' sundry around the neck, kissing, and hugging tliem with I joy at being liberated. I entered 'the ■ town!shortly afterwards, and it was'indeed a"-'very, stirring'scene. One felt a . great joy in having taken a part in the release of'these poor people fr<mi the years of.'suffering they had endured at . the hands of the Boche. Next morning, _at the request of tho Mayor, I attended, ! :with two battalion commander's, at the j Mairie, an impromptu but impressive j ceremony to receive, on behalf of our men from the aged Mayor and his council, .the, formal thanks of the town for their deliverance. .-'■•*'■- • . ■ '-Later on I walked around the ramparts and saw from the enemy's viewpoint the country over which we had attacked'. The position, appeared so very strong, I marvelled at what had been accomplished. Owing to the wide extension adopted'in the attack, and the lied'ln-dian-like skill and cunning shown by.the men, our casualties Were remarkably, small—an average of 77 per' battalion, most of. them, I am'thankful'to say, being machine-gun wounds, from which there will be, in most cases, complete recovery. ' "There were many enemy slain, and we: captured 1482 prisoners, and in addition took fivo field guns, eight minnenwerfers, 80 mnchine-guns, 19 horses, and other. war material. ' "During the day there were many amusing incidents. A Maori, having become 'tired of being a Pioneer, attached himself to one of the battalions for the fight. At one stage of. the investment he was seen to, rush into one of the archway entrances, and' shortly- afterwards return. Upon being asked what happened he replied: "I see him, tho hole in the wall. I think I get in there. I forget him my rifle. I find him tho Hun one. At first I not know ; him how to work. I pull the bolt. He work, all right., I shoot one Hun; he jump. down. I think I mako him the hit. I' shoot. another; I think I make him the miss. I shoot''again.' No plurry bullet. That no gjood to me. I come back again.' "— "Daily News." . ; ' Italy |does not quits understand Scotland, as anyone knows who has scon Italian "Highlanders" in "Lucia di Lamniermoor." At a Bed Cross concert to which British and American soldiers contributed in Milan a tenor came forward and sang a serious and most melancholy song of Scotland. The manner of rendering was very emotional. The finger, gazing -ceilingwards, took up' sorrowful attitudes, and drawled his lament with tearful and h.-artfelt expression, but the audience*, 'imagining that it was listening to another cou'ic turn,, was soon on the borders 'if .Tystorics. The Carabinieri inform ;d to the contrary, they vainly fried to restore order, but in vain. The finger, however, appeared quite unconscious of the effect ho was creating, and ciutinuod, in more senses than cne, the. even "t'nor" of his way, becoming, if anything, r'ire pathetic, whick made the yooplc shout all the. louder. A democracy cannot give the indm--1 dual too many means of protecting him- ; self against tho abuse of power.—President Poincare,