WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1918, Page 3

WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

■lll I I « II Baa**. • t mut m u • -- [ , -*«» ANOTHER FINE ADVANCE. J DEJECTED GERMANS. " (From Captain Malcolm Ross, Official ' War Correspondent with tho New 'Zealand Forces in the field}. N. Z. HEADQUARTERS, Oct. 23. " ] The New Zealanders made another splendid advance in the battle which i was recommenced by the British armies j this morning. Canterbury and Otago ; troops asembled across the Sello river i just south of Solesmes. After waiting for a short initial advance by an Engs lisli division that had been holding the line, they went forward at 8.40 a.in., following a destructive barrage that made hundreds of the enemy take to flight. The ' oops were in fine form, e and pro-, i :■ f or the retreating enemy. 10 Prisoner.: .. --.a began to come back, d They t. ere a mixed lot and very dejected. l'hev had been told that Germany had agreed to all our demands, and 11 they wondered why we were still fightp* ing. Pressing on, the New Zealander? in crossed a small stream, and, still meeting with slight opposition, reached theii first objective shortly after noon. Forward and to the right of the vil lage ahead, lay an obstacle in the shape of a stream of considerable size, name-: 1 St. George. Here the bridges wen '* blown up. hut the troops, making ligh to the difficulties, reached the otlio side with but few casualties, and aftp an hour’s pause proceeded to exploi as their success towards another streame,n the river Escaillon, with steep bank th and a considerable flow of watei l in Ahead lies Reandignies, and beyon ii that Lo Quesnoy, with its old wall an V fortifications. ?t * A GOOD DAY’S WORK. 50 - In all we have advanced to-day 600

yards, and the battalions that took th< first objective are still strong enough t< |go in again to-morrow. It has been i line day’s work. Other divisions engaget i in the battle have also done well, ant i there has been a big haul of prisoners j The weather which recently has been i djull and wet cleared last evening. I This morning the battle-field was veil- , !cd in mist, but later the sun shone ' out and everyone was in high feather | Continuous streams of traffic, tinhin- | dered by the enemy shelling, and regimental bands stationed at intervals played stirring tunes as the troops marched to victory Tho New Zealand Artillery did excellently. They were in position, south-east of Solosmes, and, having fired from there 6 a.m., they limbered up and dashed forward to shoot for the advance on the- next objective . For this shoot the batteries , had already 350 rounds of ammunition f dumped in -Solesmes. DEVILISH DESTRUCTION AND BRUTALITY. One found ample evidence of the devilish destruction of tlie Hun. The ■ houses had been looted ,and much of ( what could not be carried away was smashed. A large number of civilians wore left behind. They gathered in. groups to-day, aiul were somewhat dazed by the sudden change. They watched for hours our troops and traffic streaming past. Some of them recognised among the returning prisoners, German officers and men, who had hut a little while before treated them brutally and some civilians could with difficulty be restrained from violence upon a man who only a few days back, bad kicked a little child in the street because it did not get out of his way. Bub the saddest incident of all was that of a gendarme returning to his own town. Tie had had no news for four years of his wife, who lived here. To-day lie learned that before the Germans' departure ’her two children lmd been locked in. a room while she . was gagged and outraged by the German soldiers ,and. as a result of her illtreatment she was already dead. When I expressed doubts to some civilians who told this story they took me to the doctor who had attended the woman, and he confirmed the statement in it, s entirety. He did his best to save her life but failed. Fines were imposed upon the civilians for trivial and even imaginary offences. The treatment of British prisoners was brutal and they were made to work at trench-digging and wiring under shell-fire. . October 23 (midnight). The cnenw has had a heavy blow today Otago and Canterbury troops continuing their dashing advance tins evening secured the bridgeheads of the Escaillou river intact. They have detachments across the river and are advancing on to the high ground eastward ■ LIBERTY ONCE MORE. October 24. Last night many New slept in a town through winch a tia months ago the German Emperor aid Crown Prince motored en route. to - Cateau. As the “All Highest” passed, nil civlians. on the pain ot severe punishment. were made to remain indoo s Now those civilians are getting »at from the noisome cellars, in which they have been cooped up lor 10 or j a V” to the old living rooms, strewn w ith the remaining household goods. UM night many lay awake listening to t^ho continuous rumble of wheeled, tin . our victorious army, punctuated with the sounds of English cannon. A Roche battery commander, P° 8 ““‘> emptying his gun pit before, re ti eating, fired >, few shells at.us. Otherwise "0 were unmolested. To-day from many houses the tricolour flies in the bright sunslnno and pale-faced civilians, freed from then bondnirf», gather in little groups ml curiotlsly ‘ watch the army streaming forward. The majority of the prisoners are helping to clean up the town and are already friends with the mhabitil,'th‘ VARIED FIGHTING.' Along the corps’ front yesterday fighting was curiously varied. In some sectors machine-gunners stoutly resisted the advance. In others they did not fierht with much determination. Many ran before the initial creeping barrage, and resistance weakened as we advanc’d We heard that the enemy had heard the sound of our approaching tanks and news of this getting (p >ok:> the / rear, the enemy began to heavily shell part of our front before the attack commenced. The New Zealamlers, fortunately, escaped tins. Enemy air-scouts were aggressive, s ! ng ° ‘ , era patrolling the line offensively, aml Iwo sealers reconnoitring under stiong patrols of single-seaters. Generally, speaking, there was more enemy and ierv-fire than has been experienced tor some time on the line of the Non Zealanders’ attack. wf’V A BRILIANT PERJ’ORMANCL. Further details of yesterdays hg 1 - ing add to the admiration of the splendid feat of the South Ishinders uho a * vauced so far and cventuall), ui du cover of darkness, stormed theJ'.cadlon bridgeheads. In addition to die aUdlerv, Canterbury and Auckland inach-ing-gim companies greatly helped i infantry in their advance in front of virLV,; villacc, wliidi «* lv in the day. The machine-gunnel s drove their limbers rigid up and in a very short space oi time laid their guns oil' the limbers and ucie minir a barrage in front of the advancing infantry. There were absolutely racing and their performance was paiticulaiij brilliant. Later, they made a L j 1 advance to protect our right ‘ a ” which was. in the air at one time wore holding -000 • beyond theiy boundary. A , famous i division on our left kept well abreast of ; the Ne\y Zealaiulers, the Gordons cs- ) pecially distinguishing r ' r Canterbury and Otago men moveil 10.. 5 ward to the high ground ahead, and got I on under the fire, of German maeluno--0 gunners on the right, but one compauy , was swung round to keep the enemy t i down while another on the left kept J I advancing till it reached the outskirts ■> j„[ Beaudignies, on the hank of thf / Ecaillon river. Hero they were held L* I up by machine-gun fire. Later we se v cured the bridgeheads, • then th< d enemy came back again, and there i t- vor y ‘ brave New Zealand soldier wn ‘ s j killed. Tn the gathering darkness In f- i saw some men, and not being ,r ! sure about them ho called upon then j_ Ito surrender. A German, draw ing , ,e"! revolver, fired and shot him dead. Tin ~1 1 enemy were, however, soon driven off re nil d Otago and Canterbury men wen ht on and held the high ground beyond th r river. THE ENEMY COME, nt More machine-gun opposition wn Its m et in the darkness from the top of th r - slope, but this morning our men wen K | for the enemy again and after in flic U ing casualties drove him off once mori Throughout the day prisoners wei 00 captured at intervals, but riot in larg

numbers. Last cveniSg the groom of an Otago battalion commander handed over one small batch that lie had rounded up, and this morning a baton of over 80, including three officers who were closely pressed, hoisted the white flag and came in with full packs. An intelligence- report, which was captured, giving the positions oi the divisions in the line, specified the New Zealand Division as a tired and wornout division.