FROM BRETONNEUX.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 May 1918, Page 6

FROM BRETONNEUX.

WELCOME IN LONDON. LONDON, May 1, \ Many men who were wounded at Villers-Bretonneux are in hospital In London. Hundreds of women and girls gathered at Charing Cross when the men arrived, and threw flowers into the ambulances, "blowing kisses, and cheering. The officers are overflowing with admiration for the men's fighting. It appears certain that the Australians, including a certain Victorian brigade and a composite brigade, were called on to counter-attack as soon as possible/ Some battalions marched thither from eleven o'clock in tne morning until five in the afternoon, and then dug in and attacked at ten without artillery preparation. It wag regarded as a forlorn hope. Machine gun bullets"' pattered like a hail storm. Veteran officers state they never saw anything in France to. equal it, but the darkness prevented good marksmanship, the shot flying overhead) '-'... The men did not know the ground, and trusted entirely to compasses, yet they marched on as if on parade. The officers had no need to say a steadying word. A GLORIOUS JUNCTION. .-, The Victorians worked round the northern side of the village, whilst the composites worked from tne south. It was a glorious junction. The men knew they had caught the garrison in a trap.

.A Melbourne solicitor, recently promoted from the ranks, said: "The Boche got windy immediately he saw he.was surrounded. The tanks worked down the village street. : It must have been hell for the crews working in their gas masks. Many Germans refused to emerge from the cellars, and therefore it was necessary for bombs to make a grisly mess of these shelters." \

'Others state that they- never saw tbe boys fight more eagerly. They inflicted terrible losses. •• Daylight revealed the enemy" dead thick. The Australians 'take their honours modestly, insisting. f that the Germans didn't fight. : •• "Well, I am convinced';"; said a Melbourne lieuteanant; who lost 'his left, "that the Boche won't fight at close quarters. Many with machine guns begged pitifully for mercy." - -The Boche' artillery was wonderfully powerful, and made a terrible barrage on Thursday," but fortunately It failed to get an accurate range. The New South Wales trOopfe held the' section of the line north of r Bre'tonneux, and defeated three 1 ' fierce * alta'cks, the heroic defence making possible the successful counter attacks. '