OUR MEN IN FRANCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 June 1918, Page 3

OUR MEN IN FRANCE.

RAIDING EXPLOITS.

WELLINGTON, June 14. The following message, dated June lltli has been received from the official war correspondent:— Though recently the New Zealanders have not been in the severe fighting it will have been noticed that tiiey have been getting a good many immediate awards. This is largely a result of their daring and initiative in successfully raiding tho enemy, even in broad j dayiight. Some of our units have made j a speciality of this work, outwitting, j killing, and capturing the enemy time : after time and getting off themselves with rarely a scratch. The fame of an j Otago man who goes out when • the spirit moves him, and invariably comes back with some prison ers, has spread even to adjoining divisions. “If the General wants a prisoner he can have one any time for the asking,” was a recent remark of his. Fre- < quently such raids are planned by n.c.o’s ,

and the men themselves, and battalion commanders and brigadiers know little or nothing of them till they are over and the men produce the goods in the shape of anything up to half a dozen very much surprised Boches. Some daring New Zealanders go out at night, mark down an enemy post, and on the following day creep up a labyrinth of old communication trenches or across No Man’s Land armed with revolvers and bombs. The Bodies, taken by sur- , prise, as a rule surrender, but if there are any who refuse to come in they are promptly dealt with by means of bomb or bullet. The other day some of our men came upon one of these enemy outposts and quickly had it at their mercy. One German who was writing a letter or reading a newspaper in the trench knew nothing of the raid until a stal-, wat New Zealander jumped from the , parapet on to his chest. At two o’clock one afternoon two of * our n.c.o’s crept upto within ten yards 1 of an enemy post and then, hearing a 1 movement, jumped through the wire ] and.captured two prisoners. On returning they were heavily bombed by the j enemy, with a result that the Germans killed one of their own men and wounded one of ours in tho arm. With the exception of the dead German, the party 3 readied our Hues in safety. The last 1 of these raids was carried out on a beau- 1

tifill sunny morning by two n.c.o’s and four men. They worked down by a hedge till they got a full view of the enemy post. They saw three men shoulder high above tho trench. The New Zealanders then moved down another trench, leaving two men on watch. The other four worked down beside the hedge, crossed over the enemy wire, and jumped right into the enemy. Two Germans were immediately captured ; within a further fifteen vards three bivouacs yielded more orisoners. The raiders, with their bag then made their way back across country to the starting point, thence along the southern side of the hedge' and so into their own lines without a casualty. This method of capturing a Boche without a preliminary bombardment saves a lot of money as well as casualties to us. The following awards have been made:— D.C.M. Sergeant P. McGregor, (Otago). Military Cross; Second-Lieutenant M. Macdonald (Rifles). Military Medal: Rifleman F. P. Drury and W. H. Edwards (Rifles), Sergeant 0. A. White, Bombardier R. D. Pattie, Corporal Macnamara (Foild Artillery), Sergeant A. Swanson (Otago).

LETTER FROM GENERAL GODLEY. WELLINGTON. JuJto 13,

“I do fool that although the. German is at present rushing his fences with some success, he will fall very heavily before he gets to the last one. This was the opinion of a British general oxprssed in a letter, dated April 28th, received by Sir James Allen by the last mail. Referring to the exploits ot the Isew' Zealanders, ho wrote: “They indeed did magnificently in the fighting south of Arras, 'and their bag of machineguns was really wonderful.” Sir James Allen also received a letter from General Godley, from which he gave the following extracts for publication: — . ‘‘Since I last wrote you wdl have heard that the New Zealand Division went south and arrived just in time, to help to stem the Boche advance thcic. I heard very good accounts of what they did A Their lirst attempt since the landing oh Gallipoli at what was practically open warfare seems to have been, on the whole, quite successful. Up here we have, had very strenuous times, as you - will have seen from the newspapers. Anytning that we Could lay our hands on had to be pressed into the line, among them being the second New Zealand Entrenching Battalion made up of Reinforcements and the remnants .ot the Fourth Brigade. They did excellent service. They have now, I am glad to sav, been taken out again and gone back’ to their proper role, as reinforcements for the division. “I had also to form a company ot all softs of odds and ends of my corps at Headquarters, among them being • some men of the New Zealand Emp ojment Company. They did en work in filling a. breach m the line Similarly New Zealand cyclists oi my corps and mounted troops were employed and did well. , ‘‘The fighting has been desperate but the men have fought magnificently and considering the force in which we were attacked, the Germans have not made anything like the progress they had hoped for. Reinforcements come up well and quickly, but the difficulty is to "et time for reorganisation, and of course, we do still want a tremendous number more men.”