ENGINEERS ON THE SOMME.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1917, Page 6

ENGINEERS ON THE SOMME.

HOW THEY CARRIED ON. THE EANE BETWEEN THE BARRAGES. * 'iPtei i (From Capt. Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with K.'A. Forces) i Northern France, January 6. So much time lias elapsed since Ave left the Somme that I may now without indiscretion be allowed 'to give some general account of how the New Zealand Engineers worked there. The C.O. of our Engineers is v an Englishman, of whose work and many fine qualities displayed under the various fortunes and misfortunes of battle in Egypt, and in Turkey, and in France we are all proud. There are other Englishmen—l use the term in its broader sense—who have been in the thick 6f it with the New Zealand Engineers, both on Gallipoli and on the Somme.

PRELIMINARY WORK. It- was towards the end of August that the Field Companies of the New Zealand Engineers and the Pioneer Battalions entrained and left fori the area of the corps under which we were to fight. The transport of these units arrived by route march at the same time. A bivouac camp was\immediately established. No time was lost in getting to work on two trenches which were an important defence switch. The weather was exceedingly wet and stormy, but fire bays were reclaimed, communications improved, and wiring; done. Weep dug-outs were developed. Some work waß also done on one of the' main arterial roads—a road that was continually under repair. One night a party went out to develop communication trenches' in Delville 'Wood. At this time the wood was not wholly in our hands. The ground was new, the weather bad, and the shelling heavy. ' The work was therefore not only difficult but dangerous. But it had to be done, and done it was. At one time tjie enemy shelling was very heavy for twenty-four hours. Included in the hail of bursting metal were some choice samples of the diabolical gas shells. Our men were new to these. Later, we got a little of our own back in this matter of the new warfare. As may be gathered from Sir 'Douglas Haig's report if we have not outhunned the hun wo have at least got level with him. Weather we can keep pace is another question, hut J have seen on the Somme a Tatlicr quid, and studious young man from one of the Varsities—l fancy he is a student of Divinity or Logic or something of that kind—telegraphic address is humorously printed on his cards as "Frightful." It was a supreme satisfaction to us to welcome him on the Somme. , Wecan't, allow the enemy to go oil hit'ingbclrfw the belt forever. He has been allowed too long to indulge in these tactics, and the Neutral Referee have been unable to stay his hand in this as in other illigitimste directions.

By September 3 our Engineers—l sliall lave to write separately of the Pioneers—had started on work specially connected with the memorable attack of September 15, 011 the front allotted to the New Zealand Division. The -Engineers concentrated on one communication trench, the Pioneers on another. I shall not say where they are, though bv this time no doubt they appear very (Jearly on the German areo photographs. They were depply due, they were duckhoarded, they were decorated with name boards so that no one could miss .the way, and at every two hundred yards there was a runners' shelter. Frequently the work was interrupted by German shell-fire. Once one of our own "hows" fell short and hit the end of a duckhoard n man was carrying. The board ■went up in the air in splinter', but, strangely enough, the man was uninjured, though somewhat surprised. High explosives at times play strans-e tricks. This eipnloymcnt gave our Engineers one of the rare chances they have had in this war of acting as field companies. Generally they have lieen mixed up with working parties of infantry. By September 14 the two trenches were completed to the foremost line, and they 'were the .envy of the officers, of other divisions who saw them . An En»lish colonel, passing one day, remarked, "By Jove! \our New Zealand Engineers will do me.' "Why?" queried a mode-t field company oflicer. ''Why, those trendies ,are the finest piece of work I've seen. I'll make it my business to let the Army Commander know about them," said the colonel. But the boys themselves were quite modest about it. They never talked about what they had done. They ducked for cover when the enemy started to shell. 'Sometimes they cleared out altogether for a little wnile. Then, when the shelling moderated, they went back to work. 'ln later days, when the Somme battle progress ed, these trenches saved many lives both New Zealand'and English." Once in them yon were fairly safe from anything but a direct hit. But the Boelle paid thejn a good deal of attention, and there were times when I myself have picked lip chunks of iron still hot, and have walked across the bodies of men killed in them hut. a few minutes before, ed the Somnc battlefield, and had got ed "the Somme batlegcld, and had got into the line. _They marched up these ways in the night time, and an English division came out, practically without loss. But, in addition to the construction of these communications, much other work was done as well. For a brigade Headquarters, a deep dug-out was made in seven days. It was thirty feet long. It had three stepped entrances. ft was sixteen feet below the surface of the ground. This work fell to the Pioneers, assisted by a tunnelling company detachment. P.oads also were repaired, assembly trenches dug, and dumps established and stocked. IX THE GREAT PUSH. Then came the big push on the 15th, ■ hen the New Zealand infantry swept behind their, own barrage, through (lie bursting shells of opposing batteries, over line alter line of enemy trenches, .Hid on beyond Flers. They 'could have' enniinned their victorious march right "ii : > Gueudeconrt, but the exigencies ; i" ' !■ > iriii'iry situation were such that ij wot allowed to push forward. vers had orders to hold tlicm- ■■ liliness to go out in the early i make strong points in the enemy's lines we hoped to ' F.v one o'clock in the after- ;. were working in what had j - enemy's front line, improving .'•.'••re I trench, blocking the ends I a ; probable bombers, and forming I , ..ing machine-gun emplacements i ,i wide zone of five, at places well- ■•:! beforehand by the Divisional '• ith the aid of maps and the iniis>!e air photographs. These strong [jjuii.ts were made in two nights. At

times the barrage tire was very severe, and the work done; for the most part necessarily in the open, was trying and , hazardous. In constructing these and ] other strong points subsequently both officers and men showed the greatest gallantry and determination. Our advance went so quickly and so far that the first strong points constructed were never needed, and even the first-constructed communication trenches fell largely into disuse. One was quite content to walk in the open to the crest of the ridge, risking what shelling there was, before getting into the trenches. All the same it was necessary to take the precaution to. make these strong points and communications even at the expense of some toll in killed and wounded and gassed. In war you never know what'may hap--1 pen, and very often it is the unexpected , that happens. Fortunately, in this in- [ stance, it was to the Hermans that the ! unexpected happened. They never came near their old lines again.

STRENUOUS WORK UNDER EIRE. As the operations progressed so did the work of the Engineers. They made deep dng-outs for Brigade Headquarters and machine-gnn crews, tl,iey fixed up a dressing-station and constructed aid posts at which the doctors and their men could work in some degree of safety, thev continued the communication trenches, dug assembly trenches, improved accommodation for Battalion Headquarters and various signal stations, and did much road work. Most of these operations entailed crossing a barrage of artillery fire twice a day and working under heavy shell fire. The digging of the assembly trench was one of their toughest jobs. In the words of one of the officers, they had what lie called "a hairy time" then. It, was "an awful swine of a place:" All this is soldier language that conveys a good deal to an expert, and leaves a great deal to the imagination of the uninitiated The men did not make very much of it at the time, but looking back on it now it seems a brilliant piece of work very bravely done. So far as my memory serves me, their worst time W3 on the night of September 1!). They were in a shallow trench two feet wide. Tlie enemy turned it on to them that night properly—shrapnel, high explosive, ami everything he had. He was slinging the shells in salvoes, four at a time, That flight 14 of them were laid low. Four were killed outright. A sergc-ant came out of that little adventujoVith the Military Medal. He had rescued wounded under heavy fire. '-'The poor old Sappers," remarked the C.R.E., "they don't get any awards until they get into a mess! ' I«or hours officers and men had to lie, flat in the narrow, shallow, muddy trench. Major Barclay, who the other day received the Order given by the King of Montenegro at the'hands of the Corps Commander, was blown into a shell hole. Corporal Fear, a fine fellow, who earned the D.C.M. on O.'allipoli, was killed by a shell splinter. The foramen wtjjo were killed were lying flat in the trench. Their bodies were not much knocked about. Others, more fortunate, had narrow escapes. A shell burst right' at the feet of one sapper. He was blown into the air, but, though wounded in four places, he escaped what everyone who saw the incident thought must bo sudden death. But, for the number of shells that the Boches ,put over that night, (he result was really small. The enemy made one mistake. We shall not tell him just yet what his mistake v.v.s.

And now in a few pimple words let me complete tlie tale. As soon as the shelling eased, men started off in the darkness for stretchers. Then tlie.v gathered in the wounded and carried them' li H; to the dressing station. Tliev csr. lack and buried the dead. And the remaining ir.cn set to work and finished their digging. Then, tired and sleepy, back thrr.v 'h the barrage they trudged 'to their bivouacs. There, in the daytime, they tried to sleep—as soundly as the "kukas" would let them. Kuka is a -ifaori word for one of the minor horrors of war. It sounds a little more polite than the real name. 'And so finishes that little story. If it. is not one to stir the imagination I don't know where you will find one that will. And yet these men were not dispirited." fn the words of the C.Ti.E., "We were 1110 it hickv!"

BETWEEN TWO BARRAGES. The work in and about Tiers and forward of that position 'was of the most strenuous and dangerous nature. Officers and men .walked to and from their work between two enemy barrages in the night-time. To a casual observer this seemed like courting death. But (he two barrages were not joined up. An oliieer had worked the whole thing out. He had noticed the lane, and noted the fact that it continued. The tw;o ban-ages ran obliquely and were not joined up. He even had compass bearings 01 the line to take. Walking along this lane in the darkness with the t:nm° der of the guns in their ears and the flashing of the bursting shells in their eyes the men went as darkness descended, worked all night, and returned ere it was yet dawn. The lane was shout a hundred yards wide. By keeping in (he middle of it tliey had fifty yards to spare 011 either side of the bursting shells. It was pedestrian exercise of an exciting kind, and when some, German gunner had not looked too well to his sights and an occasional shell burst a little forward of one barrage or a little short of the other, even th o <e who kept well ii. the middle of the lane had little reason to complain of any lack ol incentive to hasten their steps.' And yet these men went forward as coolly gs if they were walking down Bond street or crossing Piccadilly. I know of one shell that burst within nine feet of a group of these men who, so to speak, wore "going home with the milk.'' Hut it burst straight up, and not a man was bit. In any case, they were too dog tired to take much notice of it. Tliev scarcely halted a second in their slowstride, and emerged safely through the smoke of it with various laconic remarks that need not be repeated here.

THE WATER-FINDEBS. As soon as the English and the New Zealanilci's Tad taken Flers village the Engineers sent forward one of thoii bravest officers, whom we shall refer to as Lieutenant X. He was asked to see what could be done with the existing water supply, and to report generally on the water problem. A medical officer also made an expedition into Flers, and with remarkable promptness the supply was tested and reported good. This was a perfect God-send to our troops. The lieutenant continued his good work, making reconnaissances in broad daylight in spite of the shelling. He found well after well. And at night lie would go out again with working parties clearing and developing the wells and fitting them up with windlasses and buckets. Tlie shelling at this time was sufficient, as one of the men said, to make your hair stand on end. But the work v.as

of very great value, to our forward troops and also to some of the English troops on our right. Lieutenant X., in spite of his daring, came through it all without a scratch. He certainly deserved his luck. USEFUL WORK ELSEWHERE. Meanwhile about half the Engineers were employed in some extremely useful work behind the lines. The lieutenant I have just referred to, with his men, made a dressing station near Lon-, gucval. Even here the working parties were under shell fhe. While engaged in this work he had four of his men killed and wounded with one shell. Other parties did great work improving communications and transport facilities. This work continued till the Division left the Somme. Important road work also was done behind the lines by the New Zealand Engineers. A good deal more might be written about the work of our Engineers, hut enough has been stated to give a good idea of what they 3id and how they did it. It remains only to be added that the transport, units worked hard and continuously on the forwarding of engineer material of all kinds, including a very lerge quantity of stores for cover for giins. Horses afld waggons suffered a good deal from shell fire. The health of the men was excellent, and the conduct and keenness of officers and men admirable.