IN MEMORIAM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4475, 4 October 1922, Page 2

IN MEMORIAM.

BATTLE FOR GRAVENSTAFEL. The fifth anniversary of the Battle of Abraham Heights and Gravenstafel falls to-day. This was pne of the greatest victories of the third Ypres campaign, a victory for British soldiership .and British generalship alike. The New Zealanders and Australians formed a single solid phalanx in the centre of the battle-line.’from Gravenstafel Spur, and Abraham Heights to Broodseinde. Together they were the greatest overseas force which ever attacked the enemy. Gravenstafel is one of the proudest names in the record of the New Zealand Army. It was a set battle, for which the enemy was as prepared as he could be. The enemy barrage was the worst the New Zealanders ever encountered, and the mud was an appalling obstacle. Had the New Zealanders failed, there would have been every excuse fpr them, but there was no failure. Indomitable spirit overcame all difficulties and snatched a victory comparable with any pf the hard-fought struggles in which the Dominion’s troops have been engagedBut victory had its price: many of the Hauraki Regiment paid the supreme sacrifice, including the late Captain C. A. Hubbard, Sergeant E. L. Brenan, and many other splendid fellows from Paeroa and district. Memories are recalled to-day npt only of pur own Dominion’s losses on that day, but also the spirit of service and devotion to a noble cause, in which those young lives were given.