WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1918, Page 4

WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

A LONG SPELL OP STRENUOUS FIGHTING. (From Captain Malcolm Loss, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces in the field). September 15. The long spell of strenuous fighting in which the New Zealanders have taken such a conspicuous and continuous part reached its culminating point in the assault on the Troscault ridge, east of Havrincourt Wood. During the past few days this fighting has become sjomewliat confused 1 and more determined than ever. The ridge constitutes one of the buttreses in front of the defences of tli e Ilindenburg line. A certain well-known trench was the key to the position—the main defence line of the enemy in this sector. It was defended by stout divisions, who wore ordered to hold it to the. last. Prisoners said that all attacks upon it were to be resisted to enable the Hindenburg line to bp further strengthened, and that the final withdrawal would he to that line, which would he held a t all costs. THE NEW ZEALANDERS ATTACK. At dawn on September 12th the New Zealanders attacking, in conjunction | with troops on the flank division, and following a splendid barrage, the Rifles ! had no difficulty in attaining the firs) objectives. Further progress, however was difficult owing to the intense rifle and machine-gun fire that came from ; a . trench held by the enemy in con- , sidernble force. Except for a feu ! posts wo pushed our line and remnm- ■ ed for a whole day on the first objec- ! tive. Frequent bombing attempts by i the enemy to win hack the positions we had gained achieved no result. To the ; south, the battle fluctuated owing to ' the strong enemy counter-attacks. One ‘ delivered at 0 n.m. drove our thin lino hack for some distance. A second was delivered at 2 p.m., along sunken roads, with a covering of machine-gun fire from an adjacent trench. Heavy fighting ensued for the possession of the captured trench. As the enemy had succeeded in outflanking us from the south, we had to withdraw from almost I all of the trenches captured .except ! one portion that we continued to hold in strength. At- 7 p.m. a further attack under a barrage was made by us to endeavour to attain the final objective. At first oflr men met with stub (born resistance, but by 7.30. their j line was well advanced. Ihe determined Jaegnr assault troops counter-at-tacked "again at 10.30 p.m. advancing down the trenches and we had to make further slight withdrawals after stiff ' lighting. We captured forty-three unwounded and fifty-seven wounded prisoners, and our line was still left- in advance of the original position. English troops, gallantly fighting on our left, captured the villages of Trescault and Havrincourt, hut on our right no progress could he made. The enemy had fought stubbornly along the whole front and his machine-gun fire hat been intense and well aimed, j ENEMY DETERMINED. 1 On the following day local fightim continued for two sectors of the trend by both sides, the enemy showing r dogoed determination to hold thp remainder of the ridge still in his possession. At 2 p.m., we again attacked and drove the enemy out of part of t trench he was holding. The remnant? of oiip German company, realising the position, fled across the open, the rh Zealanders at them as they ran. Elcvm umvouuded prisoners of the Jaeger ma-chine-gun companies remained with us. it is noteworthy that: these Jaegers have more machine-guns than most of the other divisions and that they use them with determination and skill. During the afternoon and evening the enemy renewed his counter attacks, and forced us to withdraw a little, and at 1.45. a.m., he came at the New Zealanders with bombs and liquid fire, forcing one of our posts to withdraw. The enemy shelled with guns of various calibres throughout, and also used much gas. GERMANS LOSE HEAVILY, in addition to losing a large number of prisoners the enemy suffered very heavy casualties. One of his companies was reduced in a day from sixty .to twenty-three, hut was lucky in getting reinforcements up a communication trench -during a rainstorm. Men of the Rifles were the principal actors in this strenuous fighting, hut at the finish Wellington troops also had a hand "gALLANT NEW ZEALANDERS. Most extraordinary were some of the daring adventures upon which small parties and even individuals embarked. The men themselves say little about, these, and often one only hears of thorn bv chance. One of the finest traits in the character of “the diggers” is their modesty in regard to their own most gallant deeds. About the last day of this fighting the sergeant- of the Rifle Brigade and ten men went forward to exploit a success already gained, and in a sunken road came unexpectedly upon a whole company of the enemy. Our small hand might have been pardoned had they taken to flight, hut they stood their ground and fought. Any Gorman who didn’t put up is hands was killed. A Jaeger officer who rushed out of his dug-out to rally his men was promptly shotOthers in the immediate vicinity then surrendered. By this time there were only some six left unwounded, hut they proceeded to collect the other Germans from shell-holes, till eventually the half dozen marched hack to our line with fortv prisoners. EIGHTS IN THE AIR, So much, for the events on land. Almost every night now we witness thrilling scenes in the air. The oEhor evening we watched a German plane, being held in the beams of over a dozen •searchlights, while “Archies’’ and ma-chine-guns were firing continuously at him. Presently the bright silver of his wings in the searchlights turned to flame, and he began to make an awful descent of thousands of feet in one streak of yellow flame, the red and blue of his signalling flares shooting out from ihe column, and adding to the pyrotechnic display. Finally the treefringed crest of a low ridge behind which he fell was silhouetted against the glow of his burning petrol tank as it, crashed to th"e earth. Later another plane was brought down in the same manner, and a third shot in a vital part landed in our lines. Two of its occupants got away in a strong wind in parachutes. The pilot, a fine strapping young fellow, was captured by the New Zealanders, and was very crestfallen, owing, to his had luck. Tonight the clear moonlight vault is a buzzing hive of planes, and at intervals come the uneven droning bass of the German machine, the dull crash of his exploding bombs, and the rattle of machine-guns, and the staccato hanging of “Archies,” all bent on his destruction. While writing this message loud cheering outside my flimsy hut

announced the , flaming fall of another j enemy machine. The “diggers” scorning cover, were all on the' watch. ■ Nothing pleases them more than to see a Boche bomber descending: in flames. ttmmmmnmmammmmmrrmtai