ANZAC RAIDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 26, 29 August 1916, Page 8

ANZAC RAIDS.

NEW ZEALANDERS ATTACK GERMAN TRENCHES. PRISONERS AND MATERIAL CAPTURED. ENEMY BOMBED AND BAYONETED. (From Malcolm lloss, Official ar i Correspondent with the New /ealaml Forces). Northern France, 7th. July. While great battles are being fought with a fierce and bloody determination farther south along the line in France,

the An/.acs have been harryng the enemy witli their artillery and trench mortars, and almost nightly raids are being made. The Germans retaliate with their guns, and also try theii hands at raiding, but so far the honours have been entirely with the colonial forces. These raids have undoubtedly been useful in deceiving the enemy as to the actual point ol atjtack in connection with the great push, and apart from that they have also had a deteriorating effect upon his morale. When in the silences oi the nigl.it he suddenly finds his tionchos swept with a storm of high explosive, and, a low minutes latei, a. band of .sturdy men, with bayonets gloaming iu the flashes of the Hares, come tumbling over the parapet into trench and dugout, the bravest Bochc is apt to quail and put up his hands. Added to all this is the bomb and the cogwheel knobkorry, which makes the situation still more disconcerting.

Quito recently I spent a night a forward position observing one oi those raids. We went in the darkness along the duck-board walks! and through the fields, and eventually found ourselves in a deep trench. In a dug-out, more or loss shell-proof, wo found an Australian Brigadier and other officers waiting. Presently, with wonderful and dramatic precision (he guns opened on the enemy’s front trench. The crack of tl/o gnns, the tearing noise of the shells overhead and the bursting of the shells ahead, made a terrific noise, Ihe preliminary bombardment might well be called intense. We went outside, and, crouching on a mound of earth behind (he trench, viewed the scene. It was: strikingly picturesque. A drizzle oi rain,! am] the smoke from the shells, abided.:to the effect. The sky was aglow with bursting shell and flare, {■lumps and lines of trees were sil-, houettod against the flashing lights,* now clearly, as there was a particularly bright illumination from a number of shells and flares bursting together at one point, and now ghost-like, as the intensity of the bombardment momentarily died down. German searchlights waving across the firmament added to the general pyrotechnic effect of the display.

For a considerable time there was no word of one party, and the artillery barrage was kept going. It was ;ui anxious time, but the commander remarked that he was not worrying. Half an hour beyond midnight a report came that the enemy was dropping tear shells around one of our batteries, but the guns continued firing. , After some waiting wo heard that men from all three parties were I coming Safely back over their own ; ■paranet. There were also a few killed and wounded to be taken in. Presently, in the small hours of the morning, the first of the returned raiders began to reach the dug-out where we were. They brought wtih them three prisoners. On comparing notes, afterwards, it was found that, in all, they had killed about 80 Germans. On the way back through No-Man’s-Land some of the raiders, when the Germans sent up flares, flattened» themselves down inly a ditch half filled with dirty water, and when the shrapnel began to come over in another place five of them crowded into a shell crater that forcibly reminded them of Cairnsfather’s famous picture. “Well, if you knows of a bet-, ter place you better go to it.” Considering that the Anzacs had some 250 men out in this triple raid their casualties * were not heavy, and the enemy certainly suffered to an extent that made the excursion well worth while.

GOOD WORK BY NEW ZEALANDERS. One of the most successful of all those Anzac raids was made by the New Zealanders, who assaulted a section of the enemy’s trench recently on a fine dark night. The preliminary bombardment by the artillery and trench mortars commenced at 12.30 a.m., and after twenty minutes the guns lifted to form a semi-circular barrage, during which the party went forward, and finding the German wire well cut by the high explosive

I from the trench mortars, got into the (front German trench without great {difficulty. Indeed none of the parties met with the slightest resistance in I their forward move. The raiders remained for some time in the trench, land then withdrew. They brought hack with them ranch booty and ten ■ prisoners. They killed 15 Germans in the trench, and a number were also (undoubtedly killed by our shell fire. Our artillery ceased firing, but the enemy continued his bombardment of our positions. Capt. A. B. M'Coll, the leader of the party, was mortally wounded while gallantly assisting his men. He had got safely back to his own trench, but returned to help our stretcher-bearers, who had p;ot into difficulties in a ditch not far from our parapet. When getting back over the parapet he was caught by machinegun lire and severely wounded. Ho died before reaching the dressingstation. Apart from this our casual-

ties in this raid wore only one man killed and nine wounded. Of the nine only lour were wounded during the course of the raid. The German wire entanglements j were found to he thirty-five yards I through and four feet six inches , high, the wire having very heavy barbs placed close together. Their parapet was twenty feet wide at the base and six feet at the top. The trench sides were rivetted with lattice work and there were no sand bags . In the trenches there were no dug-outs I under the parapet, but there were j shallow shelters. At one point there was a large bomb store with an iron door. Out of this door three men came, a fourth remaining inside and 1 shutting the door. The door was i blown in by an engineer after the j raiders had withdrawn from the j trench. A shaft was found leading from a deep well to a bombing station < some distance in the rear. It was demolished by an engineer who followed the pipe-line for some yards, but could not find the pump. The trench was six feet deep, narrow, j strongly traversed, and floored with | duck-boards. The parados, which was not so high as the parapet, contained a number of roomy dug-outs. In : several there were beds. They were I all very strongly constructed, with a i thick solid roof, supported by heavy iron girders. They were sufficiently roomy to permit ol a man’s standing up in them. Amongst the booty taken back by our men were a number of Prussian and Saxon helmets. About this time a raid was also made by the Wellington .Regiment. This raid, however, was not so successful as was anticipated, the artillery not having been able, as other occasions, to cut all the wire and silence the enemy’s machine guns. Thus the raiders got through only in twos and threes and the enemy bombed them in detail. Apparently the raiders got into an outwork and not into the main trench. Some 50 or 60 of the enemy tried to follow the raiders, but were kept back by a Wellington lieutenant and his men. During the raid the enemy searched Noman’s Land with their machine-guns. Lieutenant K. Munro was killed by •shrapnel before the bombardment lifted. Lieutenant Sheldon was wounded. The enemy’s barrage on this occasion was heavy. No men were found irf the trench into which our men entered.