TOMMIES "GOING OVER."

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 5 January 1917, Page 5

TOMMIES "GOING OVER."

STIRRING EXPLOIT OF A BATTALION. A HOW GEE MAN TEENCHE* WEEE CAPTUEED. A graphic description of the latest exploit of a battalion of the Liverpool Eegimcnt in capturing German trenches is to hand from the front. Their deeds on this occasion fully sustain the reputation their have gained ill the war. The correspondent states: The Liverpool have once again "been over" and nibbled some more of the German trenches. "Going oven'-' is the ''opular term with "Tommy" for making an attack, and the number of times one has "been over'' is considered a very important item in summing up one's fighting experience. On this sccre the Liverpool can consider themselves jlo be warriors. In their last exploit | they carried out th e task allotted to | them with their usual pluck and tenacity, and, if anything, almost :-.dded to the reputation of the battalion. A messenger came down from the front iin e with a message from headcpiarters. "How do the boys seem, corporal?" "Oh, in the pink! They intend to get some of thein own back from the Germans, and are just waiting for the word.''

The show was due to start any moment, and as we were talking the artillery was keeping up an intermittent fire on the German trenches, when suddenly there broke out a veritable hell of thunderous noise, which shook the ground and almost deafened one. As one man remarked afterwards,, "the air almost seemed to hit you.'" ' It was great to know that the tornado of shells "'as "ours." immediately this terrific noise started, we secured a point of vantage to see the boys "going over.'' Away in front of us our shells were bursting into little grey £>alls, and soon they became a cloud of kmoke. Between us and this cloud there wer,e lines of troops moving across to attack the German position with as much precision a s if they were on parade. Through the glasses one could see an occasional figure drop, bat the lines kept on, and were lost to view in the' smoke of our. barrage. GERMANS VEEY MOROSE.

It was a great, inspiring sight, and we strained our eyes to try and follow the movements of our boys. • A "big fountain of dirt bursts up just near them. ■'' Whank! '' the Germans are replying to our barrage. In comparison with our fir e it was a puerile attempt, which, we regarded quite contemptuously. We resigned ourselves to await the news of how the boys had fared. Before long a runner came dashing Tip to headquarters with a scrap of paper, which he handed to the commanding officer. We soon learned that eaclt company had done well and carried their respective objectives. A few .more moments passed, and then appeared a straggling procession, a triumphant procession, except for the German prisoners, who, although they were glad to be out of our; shell fire, looked very glum and morose. With their clothes'dishevelled, some of them splattered with blood, our boys made their way to the dressing station to have their wounds tended. Although they were all iu pain, they were smiling and happy, and almost every one of them had a souvenir, which were mostly German helmets.

Those that could not walk were borne down on srtetchers by the courageous stretcher-bearers, who on every one of these occasions worked like Trojans. They stood round the dressing station, patiently waiting to have their wounds dressed.' They told us how the Huns had put up a'very feeble show and how they had chased them a long way past the objective, and then they started asking us if we considered their wound was a "blighty" one or not. The German prisoners were to carry our seriouslv wounded prisoners to the advanced dressing station, and indeed • they seemed only too pleased to do it. Things quietened down a bit, and the boys° consolidate J and held the position. We had nibbled a bit more from the Germans. When the history of the W ar i< written, that afternoon's work will appear as only a very small item, but from an artillery point of view previous battles before this war were a picnic in comparison. %