WAR NOTES

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 8 September 1917, Page 3

WAR NOTES

FIGHT FOR A WINDMILL. AUSTRALIANS AT WYTSCHAETE. Eye-witnesses describe the wind-mill which the Australians took in the Battle of Ypres, as the outstanding feature on a s'light hillock in miles of flat country.

The Germans (says Sydney Sun’s correspondent in London on 4th August), realising its importance had fortified the environs extensively using every possible obstacle, including wired hedges, in order to keep possession. They reckoned without the Australians, who, fighting to the right of the broken ground overlooking Wytschaete, charged magnificently on Tuesday morning. They won their way foot by foot up the knoll to the windmill, despite the fiercest opposition. One Australian battalion bayoneted 100 defenders. The survivors had had enough and threw up their hands. A most desperate battle raged for hours, around this small hillock in the midst of the plain. The Australians ultimately reached the summit and captured the , windmill.

The Germans, knowing the great value of the windmill for observation purposes,, greatly massed superior numbers of fresh troops and charged and retook the mill at night, regardless of loss. The Australians did not yield easily, and beat off numerous counterattacks before sheer weight of men gained the windmill. The Germans, however, did not enjoy possessions, long. The Australians making a magnifeent bayonet charge at midnight literally hacked their way back, till the knoll and farm-lands were strewn with German corpses. The Australians remain in the midst of a rain of German shells. Further counter-attacks are expected.