"LIKE A PACK OF HOUNDS."

Levin Daily Chronicle, 9 October 1917, Page 3

"LIKE A PACK OF HOUNDS."

I Vivid Story of New Zealanders' Fight. | Favourite Officcr Falls. [ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.] D?ER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] .Received October 8, at 9.5 a.m. London, October 8. Mr Philip Gibbs says the New Zealanders had many fights on the way to Gravenstafel and Abraham heights. They were surprised at the number of pillboxes and blockhouses. Apparently the Germans thrust little groups of men into these positions with orders to hold them at all costs until tho advancing German divisions reached them. As a prelude to this attack the enemy guns laid a heavy barrage over the British line half an hours before our attack commenced. The New Zealanders did not escape this shelling. Their brigadiers experienced intense anxiety, not knowing from their dugouts, over which the enemy's fire passed, whether the New Zealand boys were so cut up that a successful assault would be impossible. % Fortunately the New Zealanders were not seriously hurt and were not thrown into disorder. When the moment came they went over the top like a pack of hounds on a good hunting morning. They had gone only a few yards when they took fifty prisoners. There was a blockhouse just outside the New Zealand assembly line. The garrison surrendered without a fight. Our gunfire had smashed the course of a stream near by, turning the ground Into a swamp, and the New Zealanders had a deyil of a time getting through. Some fell into shell holes, and the men on solid gaound hauled out those in this slough. The only safety point in these battles is close behind the barrage, which had now travelled on with its protecting screen of shells. However the New Zealanders somehow managed to scramble over 800 yards in time to catch up to the barrage. The first fight for a blockhouse was at Van Meulen farm. The New Zealanders began to drop under bullets from the farm. They were held up for half an hour until " leapfrog" battalions, that is men going to pass through the firpt waves to the next objective, came up. Here a New Zealand captain beloved for his gallantry and generous heart, led a rush of Lewis gunners, bombers and riflemen. The captain fell dead, a bullet in his heart. With a cry of rage the rest ran on.