'BARNEY' BREEZE’S EXPERIENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 1 September 1917, Page 3

'BARNEY' BREEZE’S EXPERIENCE

AT MESSINES BATTLE.

Writing to his father, Mr J. J. Breeze, of Revell street, from Brockenhnrst Hospital, Private “Barney” Breeze sends the following interesting account of his experiences: “Just these few lines to lot you know everything is going well with me, and I hope it is the same with everybody at home. My wound in the back is doing fine although I am still in bod. I went under an operation the day before yesterday and had the metal taken out. The Doctors here tell me that 1 had a marvellous escape as they do not know how the metal missed my-back-bone, it struck me just below the right shoulder blade and travelled downwards about fcmr inches and then across the small of my back and shot upwards again and lodged up against the backbone on the left of my back, so you seo it mado a good track across my back. I was pretty lucky. But now the metal is out everything is doing well and I expect to be up in a few more days after they take the stitches out. They have a new way of operating on you here. With mo, they just ran me down to the Theatre, laid me on the table, then they deadened the whole of my left side with cocaine or something and went ahead to take the metal out. You can feel every cut they make and fell them taking the inetal out but there is no pain attached to it. It took them li hours to get.it out but it never troubled me. I think it is a long way ahead of chloroform.

Well, now about what I saw of tile /push. We had a good idea six weeks before the push what was ahead of us, as wo could see they were building gun positions, and light railways, and train loads of ammunition were coming in and being stacked in heaps all over the place, and then we had a bit of hard work laying cables for the artillery which was continually straffing Fritz’s, trenches and roads of communication behind his lines. Then the assembly trenches had to be dug—all night work as it was in NoMan’s Land.

We used to have to walk 5 miles to the trenches, do 6 hours good hard toil digging then walk back 5 miles to our billots.

We had a month of this and when all the assembly trenches were dug and our wire entanglements cut and cleaned away, we had two days and then went into the trenches for eight days, but Fritz knew what was ahead of him and he made things very warm for us, so they had to prill the Ist. Canterbury Infantry Battalion out of tin s lines as they got a bad cutting up. We went from the trenches about three, miles back for our rest, before we went into the push. Wo were out 4 days when we had to puck np in fighting order, and were told we were going over Thursday morning. Then wo marched to Hill 63,—1 dare say you have heard about Hill 63 in the early part of the war. We were in a tent behind tho hill till Wednesday night at 9 o’clock,—tho bombardment had been continually going for tho past three weeks we went from there to the assembly trenches arriving there at 10 o’clock.

Thousands, and thousands of ■ troops were on the move going to their different sectors. We got in opposite our, objective at 10 o’clock, and were told that zero was 3.10 a.m.,so wo had 5 hours to wait so I pulled my gear off and had a sleep till three and then got my gear on and waited till the order—‘Over tho top with the best of luck.”

Then it came, then we just saw one great flood of flame and heard a terrible roa'r and felt the ground tremble under us in terror, expecting to bo swallowed up with it. Then the machine-gun barrage opened and wo could just see one great j red flare along the horizon behind us. j Over we went. You could see the men smoking as if nothing important i was ahead j One has absolutely no i fear at all after one leaves one’s own ! trench and one never thinks of getting ; hit. However we got over without very j much trouble as Fritz 'showed no fight at all, just came out to meet ns with their harids up. Our artillery with two barrages one of all guns up to 6 inch on Fritz’s line for the men to follow, and all over G inch olaying on his guns, was a beautiful sight -to witness. We had very few casualties going over. It was while digging in and bolding the line, where all the casualties oci

coned 1 got tliit just when wo had reached our objective. Well, that is ail I saw of the push, because as soon as I got smacked, I made for the dressing station. n*nd got dressed and was sent to a hospital in France, whore I stayed for 24 days and then got shipped to England. This is a very good hospital tho hast of food and well looked after.