HARDEST FIGHT OF ALL.

Taihape Daily Times, 30 April 1918, Page 6

HARDEST FIGHT OF ALL.

COLONIALS IN ACTION. i i ' STRENUOUS day of killing. LONDON, April 18, Australian and New Zealand wound' «d soldiers agree tliat they never experienced harder fighting than during the Gerrdan offensive. Though few •who were in the recent battles have yet arriving in England there are some who helped to stop the first on the

Somme. * . , . A Queensland lance-corporal declares that his battalion, which had done proudly in many fights, received a report that the enemy had broken through with armoured cars. His battalion vdth others marched with all speed and took up positions on the high ground in the neighbourhood of Arras. The report proved incorrect and the Australians returned to the roads and marched throughout the night and up till four o’clock in the morning. They had the best breakfast possible under the circumstances; then they were ready for a big day. It was this day that things happened. The Australians, many of whom knew every inch of the country from the experience gained in 1916, were surprised to see shells bursting in unimaginable spots round Albert the first direct intimation that the Germans had broken through. The battalion was ordered to do an approach march of two miles by daylight and relieve the JB'lack Watch their old friends who had been heroically fighting rearguard actions since the ■offensive opened. Although the advance was made in extended order, the battalion suffered considerable casualties from the heavy shell fire. The men lay hiding until dark, and then they took over the line, the lance■corporal and another non-com. commanding the platoon. There was a rousing welcome from the Scottish, who cheered the Australians like "brothers.

DEALING WITH THE SNIPERS A Brisbane lad, describing the entry into tbe trenches, said: “1 never saw cur boys take it so well. They dug in as best they could under a railway ■embankment, knowing that a real, chance for hot fighting was imminent. They had not to wait long. The German snipers, by daylight were active. We sat up, and by ten o’clock there was not a German sniper left, and we were able to look over safely. It was an amazing sight. A few hundred yards ahead hundreds of Germans ■marked the skyline on a low ridge. They had been arriving in motor-cars and lorries, and were marching in solid bodies. We touched them up properly, but did not prevent them from assembling in the hollow. The attack came an hour later from a point 400 yards distant. The Germans came over in waves, without much bombardment. Our boys never had any of this sort of fighting before. It was go as you please , with rifles and machine-guns. We stopped them. Our boys were tired of shooting. They were lying out in the open upon the railway firing rapidly, simply knocking down the Germans. It was the most strenuous day I ever had — such killing as the Germans will remember. Our casualties during the attack were mostly from machineguns. After hours of tremendous work ' the attack failed. We had retained the positions.” The battalion had a compartively uneventful time during the next few days in the ragged line; but the men suffered on April 5 under intense bombardment. The Brisbane lad was then wounded, but he learned that a German mass attack broke the front line. Australian supports immediately went up and retook it. A Melbourne boy who was seriously gassed was reticent regarding his exploits, but he said that he would be content, if he only came through, if le could have the opportunity of telling the parents of his mate in Australia how bravely their son dided. One lad who was wounded at Passchendaele las a second wound in the same leg to testify to the severity of -the fighting mt Dernacourt.

NEW ZEALANDERS’ PART. Other Australian units were rushed in the line north of Albert. The New Zealanders took a splendid part in stemming the tide at the critical moment. A Tasmanian tells of the heroism of a young officer who had a bullet through the shoulder. When the "wound had been bound up he refused to go tack, saying that he must rejoin his platoon. He had not walked 200 yds. before a bullet went through his head. The Tasmanians took up positions "where cavalry had been patrolling the previous day. They met the attacking Crermans in the open. The enemy’s masses wavered under the withering iire. The acting-commander of the battalion. was wounded. 5 At another point 12 successive German Waves against a New South Wales .battalion crumpled up. The Australian Siege Battery, which was caught In the maelstrom of the Axmentieres attack, upheld the highest jfcraditions of the army. It fought des-

perately for 24 hours, amidst a terrible barrage, the Germans flooding the position with gas and high explosives. Ultimately masses came on and machine-gunned the Australians who were threatened with annihilation. Nevertheless,, they extricated all their guns, and dragged them to prepared positions in the rear, where they recommenced shooting. Theirs was the last battery to leave the area. They refused to retire until the eneipy was •outflanking tfchemv One officer 'who was wounded is in London. He states that the men worked like tigers, and with the utmost cheeriness.