THE NEW ZEALANDERS AT FLERS

Nelson Evening Mail, 27 September 1916, Page 5

THE NEW ZEALANDERS AT FLERS

GERMAN TRENCHES CAtRRIED BY ASSAULT. - ' A STIRRING DAY. The following special l d£(spatcli has been.l received from the New Zealand OfficialWar C<«"respondient (Mr Malcolm -Ross),J dated September 16 • "For' a week past I■ have. been privi-1 leged to witness the preparations'for the ■momentous battle wnich." has ; just commenced). During the prdiminary bombar dimeiit our guns must have thrown" at least 12,000,000 shellis on the ' enemy's lines and positions. I&oon after' dawn todlay the attack commenced on a grand ssfale. The cannonade -was a terrific spectacle, more wondterful even tfhan the July bombardment. Every hollow and- slope held batteries of our flashing guns. In a few oninutes the " front for miles wasone continuous Hne of- clouds. in one saw the flashings of' innumerable she:!!® on the left. The Germans fired ■shells that burst in a rain of red sparks.' and sent along pillars of .light grey skyward. These hent sei-peiitwise, and gradually across our terrain (in that locality ; in half an honir-'th^-whole battle-, front of battered woods, • villages, and' rolling downs' was enveloped* in an everspreading clotid of ashen- put of. which came our planes,' still holding the mastery of the air, and' dropping messages as to how (the tide of -battle was ■going. • ' 'With this dawn the Boche saw for the first time approaching across his trenches our newest and! most wondrous war invention, slowly creeping like some •Saurian across deep trenches' 1 arid shell craters, as if they did) hot exist. They wei-e monsters that spat fire and 1 lead, yet turned the enemy'® lead) from tbeji" own hard skins. The sight of them must have been ai nightmare to -the first Boches that saw tliem. At the time of dispatching this message from Hie battlefield all ds going well."