THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Taihape Daily Times, 26 November 1918, Page 6

THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

SCENES AT THE TAKING OF LE QUESNOY. A MAORI THE FIRST MAN IN. WHO WAS HE? (From Malcolm Ross, Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces.). j LONDON, Nov 8. Fifty years hence there will he old men sitting in the ingle-nook in New Zealand telling their grandchildren tales of the storming of Le Quesnoy. The more, one sees of the wonderful old fortress the more remarkable seems the achievement. Men of mettle would have held for a month; the Germans lost it in a day. The outer and inner ramparts with their moats and island bastion in between, bade defiance to an invader. That such a. Jortress should fall to New Zealand,ers is an episode in history. Stranger still is the fact that the first man to enter Maori —one of our pioneer battalion.

After stiff fighting and several casualties to officers and men, a battalion Of the Rifle Brigade found themselves "within three hundred yards of the Porte de Valenciennes. Already the Boche had laid a .mine.- Presently there was a loud explosion, and the ■bridge was hurled into the air The garrison, entirely held by New Zealanders, fought on. At 2.30 the battalion Commander (who is one of our most determined fighters) decided to try a sortie. Two officers and ten others went. forward. To this party there had attached themselves some Maoris of the pioneer battalion, who lor the moment, having nothing else to do, joined the fighting troops. One of these, seizing a Bpche rifle, led the way, and shot the first German he saw. There can be no better account of the incident than his own terse and humorous description: "When I see .the Boche I shoot and kill one. Then I shoot again and miss. Then I fire the third»time but no plurry bullet." (There had been only two bullets in the magazine of the Boche rifle). The .Maori then realising there was little ~~more that .he could do, returned to his unit and exchanged the rifle for a shovel, well content that he had killed ""*at least one Boche. Like some demon in a pantomime he faded out of the picture, 'and no one knows his name or number; but the Battalion Commander is still looking for him to recommend him for a well-earned decoration.

This Battalion, like others, fought remarkably well, and what they accomplished helped greatly to let another Battalion into the centre of the town, where the Commandant formally offered his revolver in token of sur-. render. The sortie did not lead to any very definito result, but later, when the German machine-gunners had been driven from the rampants, and two field guns thiat had been shooting at the battalion at point blank range, had been silenced, the men swarmed into the town. They had been' seen previously by the inhabitants, who wildly •cheered ithem on. Entering the town they had a similar experience to that of the Fourth Battalion, who had already entered from the other side, after scaling the rampart well on their tall ladder. People excitedly crowded about them, and they were hugged and kissed and presented with flags and flowers. The frenzied delight of these Frenchmen and Frenchwomen was unbounded. Later, into one of the vaulted chambers lately occupied by the enemy, went the battalion commander and another officer. Thither the Bbche lad conveyed much French furniture — beds, mattresses, pillows, mirrors—and some of the poorer-people now rushed in, anxious to get their own back.

Near tho door, was a piano stolon by the Boche. In a moment of inspiration a Frenchman sat down at it and commenced play the "Marseillaise." The effect was electrical. Men, women, Children, %?.$ soldiers joined in tho stirring strains §f m splendid hymn, Ine echoes of which resounded from the valuted roof. The thin faces and forms of the "liberated '•-civilians, in the light of two candles held by the battalion commander, and one of his men, made an unforgettable scene that only a Rembrandt could do justice to. The place was strev.n with Boche equipment; and one excited old Frenchman began hacking at it with a German bayonet that he had picked up. Then the battalion band inarched in along the Kue Thiers, and so on to the place 'D 'Amies, followed by a wildly exciting throng, wav : ng the tricolour singing and cheering. The band struck up the "Marseillase." That put the townspeople on fire. Ono moment you would see women shouting and singing in wild delight, and next tears were streaming down their laces. For four long year? they had been bond slaves—now they were free. Belief long-expected had come at last, as one old man put it: "They took our liberty; they took our fo-od; they took our furniture, and now la bonne delivxance!" THE RIFLE BRIGADE'S WORK. In telegrams already despatched ; I bave referred to the work of the thro:' battalions • of the Rifle Brigade. - It,,

-i'-.y now be added that the first battalion had a very hard row to hoe owing to difficulties on their right flank. It was not a want of valour in the neighbouring troops but rather a thin barrage on this part of the advance that was responsible for this. In this battalion the commander and no fewer than ten officers were wounded, and though the commander continued to fight, so. great a loss in officers was undoubtedly a handicap.

Of ali me Dattalions the Third had apparently the easiest run through. It had nevertheless some extraordinary experiences. It had a few casualties from enemy shelling about three in the morning in getting to its assembly points. It followed the Pirst Battalion, and at an early stage of the ad-' vance got into a fog, so dense that the left Company could not be seen, and two runners were sent out to find it. Presently one of them came back with three Hun automatic revolvers, slung about him and a broad smile under his tin hat. It appeared that his mate and he had suddenly stumbled on a German machine gun position. "I'm sorry I could not find the Company, sir,'' he siaid '' but my mate is bringing., in a machine gun and what is left of the crew." Sure enough the other runner soon appeared with the machine gun and those of the crew that had" not been disposed of with revolvers., Runners had rushed the position, kill-.-* ed several, and the rest "Kameraded."There was another incident, that had a touch of comedy about it. The Battalion Commander, Intelligence Officer, three signallers and three runners advanced their headquarters to an orchard. The Commander was standing on the road when he noticed looming up through the fog a number of men whom at first he took to be Tommies advancing from his right Tear. Taking a second look at them he saw they were Boches. Most .of his menwere sitting with their backs against apple trees and smoking cigarettes. Realising the danger he called upon : them to prepare for action. They were, eight to about eighty, but they sailed into the enemy with their revolvers; a second lieutenant rushing in with such vigour and determination, that the Huns, taken completely off their guard, at once put up their hands. The eight New Zealanders began to strip them of their arms, actually' taking ( the revolvers out of the hands of the officers. They were Germans trying to get back to their garrison in Ques- , noy. Amongst them was a messenger i from the First Battalion whom they 1 had captured, and he, too, quickly ' "Kameraded," being afraid that his fellow-New Zealanders would shoot. ! Afterwards it was seen that these Geri mans had a machine gun ready to fire. llf they had put up a fight it would I have been headquarters and not the ! eighty Huns that would have been ! prisonered.

Later on this Battalion Commander sent a German officer into Le Quesnoy with a message asking the garrison to surrender. A platoon commander took him up to the inner gate, before which the German burst into tears, being afraid that his own men might shoot him for a deserter. • The diggers, however, insisted that he should go in. They saw no more of him. About three in the afternoon two more Germans were sent in with a message to say that if the garrison did not come out in batches of five at a time, the New Zealanders would slaughter the whole lot. These two peace envoys returned, and stated that the German soldiers were willing to surrender, bu'..

the Commandant would not agree. Apparently, however, this dire threat had some effect, for atferwards resistance gradually slackened, and the next thing this Battalion Command heard was that the New Zealanders were over the top of the highest wall and into the citadel. One tank whic some New Zealanders directed to a machine gun nest that was holding up Tommies on the flank, did really good work. Two scouts did a very plucky thing; they ran into a party of between twenty and thirty Huns, killed twelve and brought in the rcs«t as prisoners. Another incident was the dropping of .(ammunition of one of i u" planes —a kindly and a daring asi'ion -t—though our men Averc not in no >d of it. The advance was so fast that those behind did nr. know its extent, and artillery office s who came up to iisk if it was saf » to come so far with their guns, were told that the line was already far ahead. The New Zealanders cbuld sec numbers of the enemy run-' njing away, but could not get. at them. The initial barrage was magnificent .and even terrorising to our men, who in some places thought twice before--starting after it. The noise and concussion were so great that officers told - : me they suffered from headaches so -severe that they could not sleep that . night. . During the day several batches of > Germans came in under the white flag as our troops advanced. Under the crushing blows both in offence and defence by the British and French armies on the Western ■j front in the latter half of this year, it is quite clear that the enemy suffered enormous losses. Both in Flanders and here there are German cemeteries that contain thousands of graves. In one place during the recent advance corpses have been seen bound together in fours with wire. One wonders if they were destined for the glycerine i factory. German pioneers and the transport personnel have been depleted to. hold fast the line, and generally there is great disorganisation in units. The enemy, appears to be retreating fsist to the Mons-Maubcugc line. In the meantime orders have been issued ill view of German emissaries appearing on this front, with the white flag 2 j to ask for an armistice. In the recent ) fighting wo have had losses, and many • good men have gone under. Never in the history of the Division have the diggers beein in ii greater heart. Their morale is truly wonderful. (To be continued.)