ELEVEN YEARS AGO

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1929, Page 2

ELEVEN YEARS AGO

THE TAKING OF LE QUESNOY

NEW ZEALANDERS’ GREAT FEAT.

Eleven years ago on Monday last—on November 4, 1918—the New Zealand Division, crowned its victorious, career yvith the most brilliant and completely, successful of all its actions in tho .Great War—the capture of th<? fortress town of Lb Qtiesnoy. ; . The' eiid bf the war was very near. By this time the rapid succession of heavy "blows dealt by the Allied forces had had a cumulative effect, both normal and material, upon the Germaii armies; The capitulation of Turkey, and Bulgaria, and the collapse of Austria—consequent upon Allied successes -which the ■ desperate position of her own armies on the Western front had rendered her powerless to prevent—had made Germany's military situation ultimately impossible.

SIX GREAT BATTLES. The victorious advance of the Australian Army Corps oil August 8, marked the beginning of the eild. On August 21 the New Zealand Division, in the Fourth Corps of the Third Army, entered the final series of great battles that brought about the collapse of German military power. Moving ever eastward with but brief and broken intervals of rest, the New Zealanders had fought brilliantly through the five great battles of Bapaiupe (August 21-Soptembor 1). 18), . OambraLHindenbwg Line (September 27-Ootober 5), Le Gateau (October ff-12). and the Battle of the Rivier Selle (October 17-25). Now. on November 4, 1918, they were called upon for their last great effort by taking part in tho Battle of the Sambne.

ANCIENT' LE QUESNOY

Between the courses of the great rivers 'Sambre and Scheldt is a wide expanse of country where no great natural obstacles bars an invasion of France from the north-east. Here, on high grpund between the smaller rivers Ecailion and Rhonelle stands Le Quesnoy,, founded in the, eleventh century. It-was surrounded in the middle of . the twelfth century by extensive ramparts which had not prevented its capture by Louis XI (1447), Henry II of France (1552), the-Spaniards (1568), Turenne (1654), Eugene, (i 712). In 1793 it had been captured by the Austrians, and with its recqyery in the following year is connected one of 1 the earliest recorded uses of ’ telegraphy. Before Le Ques-noy,-the English soldiers had, in the year of Credy (1336) been for the first time exposed to the fire of cannon, gome three miles to the south-east of, . the toil'll lie the western extremities' of tim groat Mormal Forest, which oastward falls to the River Sambre, Through the forest on August. 28, 1914, the German invaders had pressed hard on the British coluffms retreating from Mona, It was fitting, therefore, that the delivery' of this..ancient town and the clearing of the enemy from the vast forest should fall to the task of the soldiers of the youngest country in the Great War.

NEW ZEALANDERS’ TASK. The general plan laid down for the British Armies was to continue their advance in Aulnoye railway junction and other centres of communication about Maubeuge vital to the enemy, and if possible, cut the main avenue of escapie for his forces opposite the French and Americans. The New Zealand Division held a line west and north-west of Le Quesnoy, roughly from the junction of the CambraiValenfciennes railway lines, southward to Ghissignies, and nearly parallel to the Cambrai line. The task allotted to the New Zealanders was in conjunction with the 37th Division (right) and 62nd Division (left) to attack and establish a line nearly four miles east of their starting line and 2-J- miles beyond the eastern ramparts of Le Quesnoy. Without intense bombardment, which would destroy historic monuments and material wealth, and cause casualties to the civil population, a frontal assault on the fortress town was impossible. It was arranged, therefore, to envelop it from the flanks. Seven brigades of field artillery and three batteries of heavy' howitzers carried out a complicated barrage of varying rates co-ordinated with the movements of thq troops on either flank, whose operations fell into five phases.

SCALING- THE RAMPARTS. The attack opened at 5.30 a.m. on November 4, and despite the vigorous resistance of the enemy, who was aided by the diversified nature of the heavily-wooded country, the New Zealanders gained all their objectives and Le Quesnoy was completely surrounded. Shortly before 11 a.m. some captured Germans were sent into the town to explain the situation, and later an aeroplane dropped a message to (the commander of the garrison calling upon him to surrender, but without result. Finally Lieut. L. C. L, Averill (son of Archbishop Averill) w'ith Lieut. H. W. Kerr and several men of the 4th 'Battalion, Rifle Brigade, scaled the inner wall of the rampart, followed shortly after 4 p.m . by the remainder of the battalion, which thus had the honour to claim the town’s capture. The Germans gave in, and a few minutes later the 2nd Rifles marched in through the Valenciennes gate.

TOWNSPEOPLE'S OItATITUDE. The civilians gave the New Zealanders a wildly enthusiastic welcome, and in. the process of clearing up the town eagerly assisted tile riflemen by indicating tbe hiding’places of their late master. On November 10 President Poincare paid an official visit to To Quesnoy. the New Zealanders forming a guard of honour, and four days later General Hart and the Rifle Battalion com manders went back to Le Quetnoy to receive a flag from the town and present in turn, a New Zealand flag. The delivery of Le Quesnoy lias since been commimnorated by the townspeople by a memorial tablet on tinrampart at tbe spot where the wail was scaled, and tiro planting of a New Zealand garden in tbe moat. On November 4 the New Zealanders advanced six miles, capturing Le Quesnoy, Villcreau, Potelle, and Merbignios, with nearly 2000 prisoners and 60 field guns, including batteries complete with personnel and horses. The passage of tbe great Mormal Forest on the following day under conditions of aggravated difficulty was a notable performance and set the seal of final and complete success on the work of the New Zealanders in the Great War.