TAKING OF GRAVENSTAFEL.

Taihape Daily Times, 26 October 1917, Page 2

TAKING OF GRAVENSTAFEL.

INCIDENTS OF BATTLE NEW ZEALANDEBS IN ACTION. LONDON. October 9. Describing the advance in \vhi-;h the New Zealanders took Gravenstafel and

Abraham Heights, Mr Philip Gibbs writes: Kain fell heavily during the day land night and the shell craters are already ponTls brimming over into swamps of mud. Through the mist the British artillery continues its drum fire, making it hideous for the GerSians hauling back their guns behind Passchenaele Eidge. Winter conditions have come upon us. Along the roads Australian and New Zealand horsemen go riding hard, with the horses' flanks heavily splashed with mud. Gun waggons and transports pass, flinging up mud. Ambulances bring wounded men cold and wet, from the line, but within a few hours they are "warm inside the dressing stations, between sand, bagged walls built up inside the ruined houses. They are still within the range of shell fire, but are safer than in the open fields.

Among the wounded men in a forward dressing station were a tall New Zealander and a wounded German with a bandage round his head. A friendly voice, speaking in German, said: "How are you getting on?" The German looked up and said: "It is better here than on the battlefield." The New Zealander, interjected: "Fritz fought all right," Chatting together, the New Zealander and the wounded men recalled how a number of " German soldiers in shell holes after the barrage had passed sniped our officers and men as they swarmed forward, though they knew that by not surrendering they were bound to die. It was the last courage pf the human beast at bay.

In one case two such men confronted a divisional general, who was walking ahead of his tetaff. An aide-de-camp whipped out his revolver, expecting to see the general shot, but the general quietly informed the Germans, who were slightly wounded, that the* English had won a very great victory, and if they were good boys he would send up stretcher-bearers who 'would carry them to the dressing station. There were many human episodes, during the battle. After the Australians had marched many miles through the night over appalling ground they .only reached the place of attack half-an-hour, before the battle started. The story of the night march was in itself a little epic. When the Australians reached the Broodseinde cross roads, which formed the key of the position, a dozen men ran out from a blockhouse. The Australians shortened ;their bayonets. Suddenly from the centre of the group, a voice shouted in English, : "I'm a Middlesex man, Don't shoot." The caller had his hand up like the rest of the group. "It's a spy," shouted an Australian. "Kill the blighter!" The voice replied in English. Finally it was shown that the man belonged to the Middlesex regiment and had been captured .on patrol some days earlier. The Germans took him to the blockhouse, and he could not get out of it because of our gun-fire. His captors treated him well, and shared their food with him, but when the drum fire passed the Middlesex man knew that he had a good chance of being killed by his own troops. & j