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BAPAUME TO COLOGNE

NEW LIGHT ON LE QUESNOY

WITH THE "REDS" IN FRANKFORT

WELUhii'iON OFFICER'S EXPERIENCES

Among the officers who returned to New Zealand by the transport Arawa was Captain A. 'J. C. Angus, of Wellington, who went to Samoa in 1914, and returned in tinio to leave for Gallipoli, via Egypt, with the Fifth Reinforcements. Subsequently he became a captain in the 3rd Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Captain Angus was in the thick of tho chaso which ended in the armistico'of November 11 last year. He tells of tlio ocoupation of Bapaume. our troops having battered their way forward to that point, a distance of 18 miles (fiom the last trench occupied for any time), in ten days. They anticipated a stiff tight at Ba•paumo and were taking -a breather, when a dare-devil chap named Meikle wandered forward without molestation, got into the ruins of tho town, and came back nnd told them that thoro wero no Boohes in sight. So tlio word was sent round nnd Captain Angus with his comB&paume. our. troops having battered town to find it deserted. In one of the clnirohes 'evidences were seen that Fritz had been having a carouse preparatory to flight. Then t'hey realised that tlio' Boche was "going for his life" and that things wero coming to a climax. So they followed up, hard, and came to Lo Quesnoy, a walled town, which was soon surrounded. It was Captain Angus's duty to approach tho town on the side where there were two p'htes. On that morning the fog was so dense that it was impossible to soe more than half-a-dozen yards ahead. Beforo the place capitulated the country was scoured systematically. and somo 500 or WW Huns were rounded up in a railway cutting "by the clock," one of tho most beautifullytimed manoeuvres Captain Angus had experience of. His command .was to work the district on ono side of Le Quesnoy, and an Auckland company the other, both being timed to meet at a given point at 11.2 a.m. Both forces went forward in extended order "by the compass," stumbling along in the fog, here and there dropping across a group of vastly-surprised Huns, and somoti-mea having to tako a machine-gun squad on the run, and the two forces, going forward and challenging everyone, "to make sure," sNnvng -round to t'he t.rystin# place at a point ahead of Le Quesnoy, and they met at 11.1 a.m.—a minuto before the soheduled time. Then tho walled town had to be taken. An Auckland company attempted to scale the walls on one side, and was beaten back, nnd Captain Angus, on the twin-gate side, sent in a reconnoitring patrol, which was "smacked up." The position was ridiculous, as the whole 'of the territory was in their possession, so Captain Angus got hold of a couple of German prisoners who oould- speak English, and told them to inform the officer in charge of the troops in Le .Quesnoy, that iihey were capfmrsd, and the British forces wero five miles forward chasing the Gormans back, and further, that if the place . was not surrendered by 5.30 p.m., it would be attacked. The prisoner envoys were informed that if they failed to deliver the message 06 given they would be shoi when Le Quesnoy was taken. As there were 8000 civilians in tho town there was no intention of taking tj)e place by assault. It was a bluff, but the bluff came off. At 5.30 p.m. exactly the gates opened, and 500 Hnn troops -marched out of one gale and 300 out of the other—into captivity.

Captain Angus went to Germany with bis company. Ha was billeted with a German wlho had been a political secretary or undersecretary, and who had a Beautiful home. It was cold, wintry, snowy weather, when ,fihey got into Cologne, and having been given the address of his billot Captain Angus trudged through the snow to tlhe door of the mansion and knocked, told the servant his business," and handed over his "chit." ffhe servant called madam?, and madame, noting the youth of the officer, madfc Oh* error of mistaking him for the officer's servant. Ho soon disabused them of that "lea. Subsequently madanio commented on the youth of the officers in the British forces, n.nd wanted to taw how it was. Captain Annus told her that the knowledge that they were winning the war kept them young h. B ™' ' £ afterwar< ls transpired in the course of conversation that the family was closely allied to well-known people in London. In speaking of the German mr raids Captain Angus ascertained that the German people did not taiow, nor had they been told, that the bombing was promiscuous—thev had been informed that only points of mili,BUch ' as Woolwich Arsenal, the bridges and camps, were being bombed. Consequently they were concerned on account of their friends in London when they were'told that'hundreds'of people had been killed in the * l £ om , bs -. Captain Angus was asked to particularise localities, and created a sensation when ho told 'them that one bomb had partly wrecked a building in Piccadilly Circus-it was the buildlng in which madame's brother-in-law had his office.

Captain Angus) an d e, friend obtained leave in Cologne, M attempted to jeaoh Berlin only to be turned back by the guard on 'reaching the boundary of the occupied territory. S'o they wandered up the Bhino nnd came upon the city of Frankfort, whilst it was in the ' in temal disruption. The Reds -were in charge, and commanded tho streets with machine-guns. The revolutionists had red bnnd6 on their arms end others woro white bands.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19191125.2.47

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 52, 25 November 1919, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
942

BAPAUME TO COLOGNE Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 52, 25 November 1919, Page 7

BAPAUME TO COLOGNE Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 52, 25 November 1919, Page 7

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