A WAR STORY

Hokitika Guardian, 7 August 1929, Page 5

A WAR STORY

THE Bth WEST YORKSHIRE STORM MONTAGNE DEBLIGNY.

Twice within two months did a British battalion storm Montagne de Bligny, in the Andre Valley, between the Marne and the Aisne. On the second occasion the Allied troops had taken the offensive and were attacking the eastern side of the German salient south-west of Reims.

The Bth West' Yorkshire Regiment (Leeds Rifles), which had just received a large reinforcement of '■ untried men, assembled in front of Chaumuzzy Village at 3 a.m. on July 28, 1918. An hour, later the battalion advanced in small columns and reached the BlignyChambrecy road without seeing anything of the enemy. r. Then the companies scrambled up a bank and entered the cornfields on the slope of the hill beyond. It was getting light and the mist was clearing, and soon German rifles and machine guns opened upon the Yorkshiremen, who were advancing without artillery support.

For a moment the leading troops were checked, but the commander of the company on the left led a rush forward. He was killed, but his example set the whole battalion going again. It was difficult to locate the hostile machine guns and snipers in the com; there was a small wood which had to be cleared; many dug-outs in the hillside provided cover for an obstinate enemy; but the dour fighting qualities of the Yorkshiremen triumphed over all difficulties. Their progress up the hill, if slow, was sure, each small advance being covered by splendidly controlled rifle fire.

In the face of such determination the German resistance weakened and" then collapsed. Few of the enemy stayed to face the Yorkshire bayonets which now, leaving well behind the troops advancing on either flank, swept over the crest of the hill and into the trenches on its farther side. Montagne de Bligny was in British hands once more.