VICTORY IN A FEW MINUTES

Hokitika Guardian, 30 January 1917, Page 4

VICTORY IN A FEW MINUTES

Saxon Lairs Bombed, / ' (Prom W. Beach Thomas.) With the British Armv in ~ the Field, Njv 27 Snowy, dark, miserable. Six o’clock of a winder's morniog. The ground loathsome with debris, ecoria'ed like tbe-cocr.e or ao uv«l nehe—such the oireuinstances wJch with our Northern and island traiairg we chose for our latest adventure this Saturday morning.

The Saxons opposite us were already depressed when our growliog guns fiudde. ly took np the eoenfc in one burst of “ music.” Every Saxon—so I infer from their own account —want to ground as inafart y as rabbits in a warren when a gun is fired; and they told us afterwards—perhaps with some truth—that not one of them was hurt. Yon can never tell with the yapping of this capricious British artillery whether it means business or not; and risks of an attack may be taken. Bat it meaot’ business this time, and on the heels of it came irresistibly packs of English and Canadian bombers. And success came quick'y—more quickly, perhaps, than in any attack on a large scale that we have yet made. On the right the victory was won within » few miuntes; the

— 7 foxes were “ chopped.” The Saxone in their lairs found themselves among bombs before they had full time to congratulate themselves on the harmlessness of the guns. 'No battle in this upside-down soil and indistinguishable fortresses is uniform, and this morning’s charge varied in every way—in character, in direction, in speed, in suooesa, Lat me begin from the right and east, on the sontb of the River Ancre. We attacked from the base of Regina and Staff Trenches on a line more or less parallel to tbe river. The ground

undulates, and one ronnded bill looked especially seductive. It promised a full sight from above of the villages np the river, especially of Grandcourt, The trench we attacked was well defined, tolerably even, and not remote. Suiting the circumstances, tbe attack, delivered with the dash and spirit of troops whose special genius is attack, went with rare smoothness and according to book. The total fronton the south side of the river was about 5,000 yards, but it was cranked, and the two arms of the attack converged. On the right our troops moved northwards, and the smooth attack of which I write extended for about 2,300 yards along this arm, GRANDCOURT A DONG JOB. At this point the wave was broken abruptly. A sunken road for the hundredfh time provided rbe enemy with a strong defensive position, and some m .chine guns were well piaoed But the rooks that broke the comber did not extend very far. Another wave moved eastwards with its left reat ; ng on the river and its marshes, and the troops in touch with the river pusbed right up into tbe outer mins of Grandcourt—a fair-sized village, straddling to some length solidly along the south of the Ancre. At any rate, one cannot in looking at the river see any bouses on the other side. Here fighting is likely to be continuous for a while. Some strong and well-tra-versed trenches (of whioh we thus bold tbe river end) ran up the hill, and no sort of fighting is more long drawn than this lateral clearance.

A simultaneous and yet separate battle on a smaller scale wae engaged north of the river. Oa the northern cliff and along the road in the valley we forced a way right up against what may be called the second German defence system. The speed of advance is astonishing. Beancourt was not taken till Tuesday, was not cleared till Wednesday, and the lire not properly consolidated till Thursday. On Friday morning daring patrols occupied the so-called Boia d’Hollandp, nearly half a mile farther forward, and this morning other patrols advanced as tar agaiD.

THE RESPECTED TANKS. The Germans have fought obstinately and with skill in tbe centre of the southern advance, on the edges of Grandcourt, and not least to the noith. of the northern, advance, and the Prussian Gmyrns fought with real dash near Warlencourt yesterday. But our advance was very “si ck” and comparatively easy along the river and the snorter but broader advance on the right astonishingly complete. The losses vary, of course, with tbe obitmacy of the fighting, but where the success was quickest it was singu-

larly bloodless. The position left by the fightiDg is curious in some re : peotp. We have a considerable promontory in onr line along the river, especially north of it in front of Beaucourt and the Bois d'Hollande, where we have advanced three-quarters of a mile. Across the river we are up to the outskirts of Grandcourt and above it we bold the seductive round hill to which I have referred, dominating the slope to the river. I have not heard of the active presence of any “ tank ’* in this Action, but odd of tbe German prisoners—a Saxon —was something of a hero among his fellows beoause he had seen one at close quarters. His criticism of the baast was less military than German, chiefly expended in the usual adjectives that ring

through the corridors of every Continental exhibition . “ Wunderbar ! Wondersohon ! Prachtvoll! ”(“ Pine! Beautiful! Magnificent! ”