IN THE TRACK OF BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1916, Page 5

IN THE TRACK OF BATTLE.

: A DREADFUL sight.j London July 12/€ The Times' correspondent in the lYest C'amp gays:— 3 "It has been a quiet day. We at'] tempted no grand advance, but gained minor successes, consolidating ths' ground, and the Germans made no gainajj anywhere. "i "The present interest centres in th* line about La lioiselle, Contal aiaisonj" the MameU Wood, Montiiuban antl Bernalay. The latter is entirely in oui hands. Fighting continues in thdf vicinity of La Boiselle and Contal Maison, with desultory German artiW lery lire. Our troops have becu ex<| tremely active, despite a tremendous thunderstorm over the whole fighting area. "I visited the Frieourt battle-ground.) I It was a dreadful sight. I went throughL remnants of rusted and torn barbed"! wire, and twisted railway lines, to tlw| German front line. It was all ridge awij pit and hummock. There was no veS'lj tige of the true surface of the The obliterated trenches were pitted!, with huge shell holes. The village wtsl a shapeless heap of brick and masonry, with no streets apparent and no hmuea>^ - WAR'S AFTERMATH. "It \fas easy to sec where tho BrltisHk went. Parties were still gathering .upjj the dead and preparing the bodies foil burial. Some lay where they bad faUen'j) with their heads towards the Germans trenches 'Others were being gently «uu| reverently laid in rows on the openj. grouud. A service was read at 6 o'clockj, in the afternoon. "it "Beyond the front line the Geritaaij dead, dressed in grey, were mostly ill the trenches and the dug-outs. Th'fy] had lied when the British broke itlj Gome were killed by shell-fire, somct bombed and other bayoneted. Appari 1 ently numbers of the wounded had' crawled into the dug-outs to die. Others were bombed inside. One man was killed in the mouth of a burrow, audi had fallen down the steps, blocking thej entrance. Armless and legless corpses were everywhere. One dug-out was used as a dressing station, and in i<J were five who had seemingly died whild. awaiting attentioli, ' "The German trenches here were! deeper and wider than ours, and morel, open to shells, but the troops kept a 9! much ns possible in the dug-outs, which' were also more extensive and better and deeper than ours. In those that werej not smashed were found immense qUMW tities of unused cartridges, bombs anc( hand grenades, together with the dead! men's helmets and personal "The immense strength of the Gcri man defences makes the capture thej most heroic feat of all. Villages, woods, eminences and hollows were converted! into veritable fortresses, on which thfj Germans had labored for 18 months* omitting 110 protectable device." GALLANT ULSTERMEN, KO SURRENDER, BOYS!'? London, July An eye-witness describes the prowcsS of the Ulster Division during the assault. He says that the wood ii< which they were drawn up before advance was overwhelmed with shells, It looked as though nothing could live 4 hut the Ulstermen emerged, marching asi steadily as though 011 parade, and slowljj but steadily crossed No Man's Land. 'J Then they suddenly charged across ', two lines of trenches, shouting, "No sum render, boys!" The German fire raJcei| them Tight and lift, and the machine* guns in a village enfiladed their righfl flank, but battalion after battalion came out of the wood steadily, and thq enemy's third line was soon captured!, and, despite the continuous thinning of) the successive waves, the fourth, liaij; was taken also. "The commander then decided that it would be impossible to storm the fifth! line until the division's flanks werej cleared, but the command to check thein arrived too late, and already the Ulster* men were pressing on. I watched par*, ties, that miraculously escaped shells,' enter the fifth line, which was their final objective, but they could not hold it because the division had advanced into a<' narrow salient, while the corps on the right and left oT it had been unable toi advance. Hostile guns and machine* guns were concentrated on the Ulster*: men from both sides, and they weraj ordered to retire. "But many preferred to die on the hard-won ground. While I write they) still hold the lirst and second lines, de-i spite the enfilading fire, and occasionally pass back batches of prisoners over the deadly zone. Five hundred iiavq already arrived. The Germans' owg, shells killed many." "*