POZIERES.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1916, Page 6

POZIERES.

■&XZACS' SUPERB DASH. I NIGHT ATTACK DESCRIBED. I StPLEXDIDLY COOL AMID RAIN OF SHRAPNEL. By Captain C. E. W. Bean. British Headquarters, July 22. I have just returned from watching a great bombardment. In front of us, some hundreds yards away, was a line of ragged shell-stripped trees behind the remains c.f a 'battered hedge. Along that hedge run, the German trenches which defend the village of Poziercs. A few tumbled walls behind trees and a low sandhill of brick-red dust, with the skeleton of one Toof, are all that can be seen of the village. To the left, beyond that ash-heap, is another small wood, probably once an orchard. Our line curves round to that orchard. Tonight an Australian force will charge over this front in an attack iwfaie'h I fancy is a greater test than Lone Pine, perhaps evert greater than the landing at Anzac. In that village, as far as I know, are some of the cream of German troops, a reserve division of the Prussian Guard. Huge shells have been tearing out the heart of Pozieres village for many days. Ibis afternoon as we watched, pillar after pillar of pite'hblack earth was shot 50 feet into the air by great shells, which tore down from the firmament with a hiss, as if the sky were one huge canvas sheet and some giant were ripping it from file zenith to the horizon After every explosion within 200 yards of us we had to duck behind the parapet to

avoid the whirling metal fron- the backblast. Shrapnel and high explosives bursting in brickheaps threw up curtains of tawny dust. GOING TO HOP OVER. There was no difficulty in holding up one's head and watching where one wished, because no man would expose himself to -shoot in those ruins unless to meet actual onslaught. Yet men who were observing there told me that yesterday they clearly could see small parties of Germans moving in those trees and Tunjiing across an open ash-heap on some necessary fatigue. The bombardment has never yet been so intense. Our men in the trendies, reminded me. of many scones at Anzac and Helles. They go forward in great heart. "All waterproofs to be collected anil sent back to Dump 2," a corporal was shouting. Men were cleaning rifles, others were reading Australian pa,pers, others were yarning. Some were boiling tea over their little trench fires, as in Gallipoli. Many were getting what sleep they could. "I believe we are going to hop over to see Fritz to-night," said one of the men, looking up. They know well what sort of a job is ahead of the.ni; 'Pozieres, as official communiques have, stated, has already been once attacked. H do not know what sort of obstacles there will be; one could see a flat stretch covered !with a low crop of'grass and thistles. ! through which ran a railway built 'by j the Germans to feed the trenches. Then [beyond the broken hedge, and lastly the j remains of a village along the oil Roman roa!»' July 23. HORIZON ONE BAND OF LIGHT. Shortly after midnight, by a splendid I night attack, the Australians took the l greater portion of Pozieres. The attack was a complicated one. and wag carried out in several stages. After several days of steady, slow bombardment, our artit■lery, sliortly after dark, increased to I very heavy fire. Others were attacking I besides the Australians, and the bombardment was spread over a fairly large front. I had never before seen such a spectacle. A large sector of the horizon was lit up, not by single flashes, but by a continuous band of quivering light. A mile away you could catch the sweet heliotrope scent of "tear" shells with which the German replied to our batteries, and one passed through areas thick with heavy chloroform of scented gas from the gas shells. Towards the end of the time a torrent of artillery fire was suddenly turned on the line in front of Pozieres village ] and almost immediately afterwards the Australians went over the parapet. The first trench across the wide stretch of grassy fiat was taken Immediately; the linu went straight through the German shrapnel as it the pellets were raindrops. Even at this stage, in spite of all the bombardment the machine-guns were sweeping - the ground. The first line consisted of a miserable trench, much of it recently dug. Few live Germans were found in it, and they were mostly cowed. A"TRENCH OVERLOOKED. The fire was coming from t'lie further trenches. The line dropped into tic first trench, digging furiously, while our shrapnel continued to rain overhead. Presently the fire lifted still further. and the Australians swept on to the second trench. This was very different, being deep and well-built, but in parts so smashed by the bombardment that some o! the men have told me they went past it, not knowing it to be a trench at all. This line in general seems to have been just beyond the tramway which runs under the fringe of the vil' .;je. In many parts of this line the Germans were faiiTy numerous; they were mostly bayoneted or taken prisoners. The Australians again started rapidly to improve this trench, and after another short interval swept onward through small woods at the back }f the village street and into the 'heart of the village itself. As thef passed through the trees they saw against the shell glare the outline of two heavily constructed mounds, which they recognised as gun emplacements. Beside one gun could be seen tiie figures of four men shooting with rifles. These were quickly killed or wounded. The line swept past the guns, which, when last I iheard, were still in our hands, THE POZIERES ANGLIi In order to understand what follows, it is necessary to explain that Pozieres was a very strong point just in front of and forming part of the original German second line. That line consisted of two strong trenches running nearly north and south, behind Pozieres, which itself was also surrounded by trenches. The British a week ago captured the German second line south of il'ozieres, almost up to the town, but meantime the Germans had built what- Canadians call a "switch" line running across from the second line to the third, just north of the British new positions. This line runs roughly from near Pozieres due east to Flora- ■■"^-^—-- - '

Pozieres, therefore, forms .practically the angle of this line with the old second line, but a short portion of the old second line still projects from the south•eastern corner in possession of the Germans. This, though torn to pieces by shell fire, is still strongly (lcld by Germans, and the right of our attack bends away from the village to this point. The British troops, wiho attacked at the same time against the switch-line running east from this point, took a portion of the switch, but were forced later to withdraw. There were continual bomb encounters at the switeihline junction between the Australians and Germans. That was the position at the time when I left the battle field. A WILD NIGHT. The troops drove during a wild night through shrapnel, shell, and machine-gun fire and fought around difficult angles and through complicated stages with extraordinary coolness and success. They had a famous corps in front of them, but the Australian troops showed discipline and capacity for being controlled intelligently amidst the awful surroundings of a night attack, which only those who ,saw them iu tight places in gallipoli would have suspected. Australian officers sacrificed themselves with sheer carelessness of anything but duty. The battle is still very fierce. The Australians will undoubtedly have to -withstand a tremendous shelling during the day, and a quiw certain counter-attack. The shelling was fierce from the first, and probably fiercer at dawn. If any men could withstand that trial these troops will. The Army Commander has already thanked them for their attack. As I left the scene, two ever-attend-ant aeroplanes were Hying most dangerously low through the morning mists in order to carry back to the authorities the latest information from the patch of shredded brushwood on the brown shellscorched uplands on which our boys are

at this moment making their great steadfast sacrifice for their ideal of the world. JN DELVILLE WOOD. SOUTH AFRICANS' GALLANT STAND AGAINST MACHINE-GUNK. (Renter Special). j British Headquarters, July 23. ( The story of 'how the South African contingent fought for the mastery of Delville Wood against overwhelming odds will go dowai as a great epic of the Golden Cape. For several days they remained in that fire-searched fastness. Their slogan when they went in wa.s "If the South Africans do not gain their objective it will only I>e because there are no South Africans left." They did all that was 'humanly possible;.more than would.have 'been thought possible could their deeds of valor liave been foretold. Behind innumerable stockades of fallen trees German machine-guns squirted death upon the indomitable legion. From every spreading bough enemy snipers continually cracked their rifles. From many batteries shrapnel, lachrymatory, and lii.sh explosive shells screamed and creashed amid the splintering wood. The splendid Africans, toiled strenuously to consolidate their position. But diggingin amid a tangle of dense undergrowth, with the ground porous as a sponge from the interminable pounding of shell-fire proved to be a well-night hopeless task. Yard by yard the depleted remnants were forced to yield the ground, which nothing living and breathing could hold. If you would know what service these South Africans did to the cause during those terrible 'hours, seek the opinion of the British troops who fought—with the utmost tenacity and courage—oh, yes, let there be no mistake as to that—in continuation of their line. When it seemed that men could not any longer cling to the spot, one colonel (whose name will live in the glorious story of South Africa's share in the great war) rallied the remains of his battalion, and for two solid days continued to defy the Germans. Finally, when relief came at last, the pipers of the South African Scottish headed the blackened and wearywarriors back to their rest . quarters, skirling an inspiriting pibroch with as much strident pride as though they were man-'uing past in review order, wliiilst the lads roared out the refrain. The Germans are now probably at the concert pitch of tlieii resistance opposite the front of our offensive, and may yet need a good deal of battering before they will bend to any great degree. That the battering is going on night and day without intermission, need scarcely be ?-aid. At no time since the wai began have we had a clearer or more concrete measure of tilie task confronting us; at no time has our Army felt more complete confidence in its ability to compass that task.