FIGHT HOUR BY HOUR.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 July 1918, Page 4

FIGHT HOUR BY HOUR.

GLORIOUS DAY FOR ALLIES

(From Hamilton Fyfe.)

With ttik British Army, April 3 c

Yesterday's signal defeat ol the enemy’s violent and repeated effoiis to capture the line ot heights behind Kemmel was the most bloody and complete reverse he has suffered since he failed before Atras on March 28.

He has now had five definite and verv costlv sct-baolcs. li\ ice he was repulsed from Givenchy, the taking of which he had calculated to be an easy task; at \ illers-Tjre-tonneux last week he was fairly and squarelv beaten ; at Arras he had such a bad experience that he has not tried to do anything in that area since. He found yesterday that against French and British troops "together he could not push his way any nearer to the hills which he must have it he is to hold Kemmel and to thrust farther towards the Channel ports.

It is just on six weeks since the German offensive began. We have inevitably suffered heavy losses. Our men have had as hard a time as ever any soldiers have been through in any war. That is no figure of speech, no exaggeration. It is the bedrock truth. But on the whole we have from the military point of view ho reason to be dissatisfied with the results of these six weeks’ fighting. What the British Army has done may be very simply and shortly illustrated by these figures. Everyone knows what a splendid deience the French made at Their resistance was generally and rightly called the greatest victory of the war. For weeks they fought with desperate gallantly and saved the fortress from being rushed according to the Germtin plan. Alter that they had relatively easier work, though still continuous fighting The ‘ first weeks were the critical period. During those first weeks in 1916, from February 21 to March 17, the French had 21 divisions against them. During our critical period between March 21 last and April 17 the British Army had to stand up against ro2 divisions, five limes as many as were emploved during those early and dangerous weeks of the Verdun offensive. How we kept our feet at some points when the I>lows from the German sledgehammer fell so heavily and so numerously even the men who had been under the blows themselves scarcely know. Flow we have parried them and then struck hack will make, when it is fully told, as fine a page as there is in any history of war. ATTACKS CRUMPLED Ul*.

The story of yesterday’s battle, which began before light and was prolonged until long after dark had fallen, "will not be the least glorious of the episodes upon that page. Here are the varying stages of the struggle for the hills, in which some 10 German divisions, not far short of 100,000 men, were held and flung back again and again, as they -trove with the utmost violence and, 1 must add, the utmost bravery to dislodge us from our positions.

5.30 a.in.—British front attacked from Zilleboke I,ake southwards. After terrific barrage the Germans advanced with fixe I bayonets, not in masses* but in groups, trickling towards our line. They were evidently ordered to charge as soon as they get sufficiently near, but that moment never .arrived. Our Lewis gunners played upon them with such deadly effect that their attack was smashed up before it reached us.

6 a.m. French line assaulted with equal vigour. No impression made upon it.

9 a.in.—Another attack repulsed by one of our divisions. Germans forming up for a third.

10 a.m. —The French hold the Scherpenberg, the 400 ft high hill, which is the next highest to Kemmel Hill. A fresh German wave of assault has been beaten back by the 25th Division, with fearful losses to the enemy, so report says.

11.30 a.m.—The fighting round Locre, which has been warming up all the morning, has now reached a pitch of fierce intensity, which makes it clear that the enemy is determined, if possible, to retake this group of ruined cottages that so often has already changed hands. Parties of the enemy have penetrated to the cross-road known as Hyde Park Corner, between the Scherpenberg and Mont Rouge Some lew can be seen trying to s.varm up the lower slopes of the former hill. An airman brings in a message saying that he thinks lie can distinguish German field-grey uniforms on the eastern slope of Mont Rouge also. This seems to Re the critical hour of the battle. If those few become many the Allied forces will have to retire and. fight upon positions farther back.

MAGNIFICENT 21 ST DIVISION. Noon. —Our men have repulsed a fourth attempt to get through on the road between Kemmel and La Clytte. All attacks on our line have failed. The 49th Division, composed of West Riding troops, have beaten off repeated pushes of large enemy forces. The 21st bore the brunt, of the assault and withstood it magnificently. Hard fighting in Ridge Wood. \

12.30 p.lll. —The French line is intact in front oi the Schorpenburg, and English troops have stopped all the enemy’s attempts to turn the flank of the hill by getting into the north-east of it. Near La Clytte the French line is broken back a little towards the valley running up between the Scherpenburg and Red Hill, into which parties ot Germans forced their way an hour and a half ago, but the southern slope ol the Scherpenberg is held firmly. No one knows at present who is in Locre. Fierce fighting is going on all round it. The chatter of machine guns is incessant and at times rises to a continuous roar.

3 p.lll. —The crisis has passed. The FrenchhaVe repulsed all attacks nuule on them since midday., so have our three valiant and duggnij divL B*js| jjsijt.h »nd jj'jjlhj &H

claim to have killed very large numbers of Germans. ‘The enemy’s bombardment has increased its violence. He seems to feel that his troops need more support from the guns. The air throbs with the bursts of big shells, spouts of earth shoot up high into the dim> atmosphere ; every few moments trees are blown down ; the ruins of farms and farm buildings are still further pulverised.

4 p.m.--The enemy is still at Hyde Park Corner, but he is not very numerous. Fie is, therefore, not very dangerous; still, be must be got out. The little salient he has made into the French line is about to be attacked. Then the Germans will lie back where they started.

530 p.m.—The effort to get the enemy out of Hyde Park Corner has not succeeded yet. There is very stubborn fighting in progress now. At Locre the Germans have been cleared out for the seventh or eighth time bv a verv fine and dashing attack of the French. A captain saw that there was a lull in the enemy’s attacks from the village, lie quickly organised an assault party and swept through the village, driving the Germans down the road to Drauoutre. He might have gone farther, but there he came up against the barrage which lie had asked the French to put clown in connection with his attack. 8 p.lll.—Locre has been retaken by the enemy. A succession of waves was seiit against it and the German guns made the place too hot to hold it. 0.30 p in.-Hyde Park Corner has been cleared of the Germans by a similar effort to that ot ilie French captain. The initiative shown by the French officers has stood out as one of the features of the battle. Willi sudden energy the Germans were attacked and started on the run. Then they were not allowed to stop. The French chased them, machine-gunning them all the time, until they were some 1,500 away from the slopes of the bchetpetiberg. The Allied line is therefore as it was this morning, except for one small dent which is oi no importance. IO p m ._We have even improved upon our positions of the hour at which the battle began, for it is now reported that Locre is once 11101 e in French hands. As tar as can be made out we have the whole village now, which is better than we have had for some days. Also, the British part of the line has been a little pushed forward towards Kemniei village.

It has been a day of frightfully hard conflict and of anxiety at times, but it has ended most favourably for us. We have not let the enemy gain what he wanted, and wc have made him suffer terribly. His constant pushes have brought into the battle a very large number of his men, and every attempt to advance has cost him veiv deal. Midnight—Quiet has fallen upon the scene of the battle There is only desultory firing. The Germans seem to have no heart lor • further attacks. There is no moon, but the air is clear and moist in the light ot lamps and candles the wounded are being looked alter in the advanced dressing stations, then put into ambulances to be taken to the rear. On the battlefield the dead are being collected and buried. No more lighting seems likely for the present. The 21 st, 25th. and 49th Divisions have, each received the warm thanks of the Army Commander ‘and the Commander 111Chief.

I'he reply of our gunners to the unprecedented artillery violence oi the Germans on Sunday and yesterday had very useful effects m many places. One shell iell on a partv of ration carriers who were gathered round a field kitchen waiting for the soup to be served. The 16 were killed outright and 14 more were wounded. It is not surprising* to hear that the difficulty of getting* men to volunteer for ration-carrying has increased lately. We also forced the enemy to assemble his troops for the attacks lie made so repeatedly much farther back than usual, to avoid our barrages. Tuis was of disadvantage to him. As for his aerodromes, they were bombed night and day, and he was machine-gunned as well from low heights bv our daring fliers. On the* whole the day and the night preceding it must have been as bad for the German troops as any since the northern battle commenced.