“LEST WE FORGET.”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4609, 3 October 1923, Page 2

“LEST WE FORGET.”

BATTLE OF GRAVENSTAFEL, To-morrow will mark the sixth anniversary of the Battle of Abraham Heights and Gravenstafel. This was one of the greatest victories of the 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 Broodseine. Together they wore the greatest ovenseas force which ever attacked the enemy. Gravenstafel is one of the proudest names in the record of our New Zealand Army. It was a set battle, for which the enemy was as prepared as he could be, and his barrage was the worst the New Zealanders ever encountered. The mud was also an appalling obstacle, and had the New. Zealanders failed there would have been every excuse for them, but there was no failure. Indomitable spirit overcame all difficulties and snatched a victory comparable with any hard-fought struggles in which the Dominion’s troops had fought. Victory had its price, and many of the Hauraki Regiment paid the supreme sacrifice, including the late Captain A. C. Hubbard,, Sergeant E. L. Brenan, and many other splendid fellows from Paeroa and the district. Memories will be recalled to-morrow not only of our own Dominion’s losses on that day, but also of the spirit of sacrifice and service and devotion to a noble cause in which those lives were given.