BETWEEN BATTLES.

Taihape Daily Times, 20 October 1917, Page 6

BETWEEN BATTLES.

..AUSTRALIANS IN FLANDERS... SCENES BEHIND THE LINES. LONDON, Oct 3. Between the last great blow and the blow which is anticipated now at any moment the main battle-work on the jiubtraiian front, east of Ypre's, continues to be organisation by day and scouring and digging by night, writes ivir ' Keith Murdoch war correspondent of the Sydney Sun. Every man at suck a time has a task absorbing all his waking -hours. In the front line there is no sleep for anybody, for the enemy movements continue to indicate his plucky, though desperate intentions to counter-attack. The great armed camp which made victory possible i s still an extraordinary spectacle For miles behind our front the fields are dotted with camps, horse lines, artillery parks, and reserves. Prisoners continue to remark with amazement upon the thrusting power of the British armies thus disclosed to them. ' MAGNIFICENT ARTILLERY. The work is all at high pressure j mostly under shellfire, in the desolated area of'the "guns beyond Ypres. The artillery continues to work magnificently, taking the guns to the new positions won in the advance, and pouring out shells, the supply of which is now without limit. I visited to-day the green fields behind the battlefield where some of our assaulting troops are now resting. No reaction is apparent. The buys are quieter than when I saw them in the line, but are still full of satisfaction with the battle and the master-minds ' which led them to such a victory. Like good soldiers they were cleaning their equipment removing the mud and dust from their rifles, and making themselves good-looking again. ' One party, which had been without sleep for two days, marched miles .to camp, and then tumbled asleep from ex haustion. AUSTRALIAN MINER'S DAY OUT They awoke fresh and-eager as children to clean and examine the/ captured machine-guns and other trophies. Each has a story worth telling. The officers with, them as they sprawl about the grass—colonels and brigadiers alike —are all talking eagerly One of the strangest cases was a South Australian miner who was sent out to reconnoitre. Crawling from shell-hole to shell-hole searching for Germans he discovered a Victorian scout. Together they located a German machine-gun 200yds ahead which was taking steady toll. They decided to stop. They crawled forward, knowing that visibility meant "Death. After a struggle with bombs against the machine-gun they killed the gunners, except one, whom they made carry the gun back to the Australian line. THE MISSING DIVISION. This South Australian had in the advance personally attacked a post, bayonetting three and capturing nine. The same night fie worked heroically establishing a post. The officers vouch for the facts. The excellent equipment of the Bavarians opposite the Australian right i s much commented on. They are a division fresh from the with new waterproof sheets, clothing, and weapons, each bayonet tasselled with red and gold. The Australians are pounding the mound at Polygon with heavy shells. The great counter-attack intended to be delivered against the Australians last Thursday was traced to this mound. The Germans arrived by motcr-bus to a point on the Menin Road, near the mound, and disappeared apparently into tunnels. Their emergence was carefully awaited and then the heaviest gunfire was poured on to them. The Germans are still searching for that division.