THE TAKING OF MESSINES.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1917, Page 6

THE TAKING OF MESSINES.

HOW THE NEW ZEALANDERS STORMED THE JUDGE. A THRILLING BATTLE PICTURE. (Prom Malcolm Ross, Correspondent wit Ii the New Zealand Forces in the Field). Belgium, Stli June. As the days advanced the constant -pounding of the guns died away in the South, but only to increase to a giant crescendo in the North. The cuemy realising that another attack was imminent began to strengthen his defences behind Mcssines and on other parts of the lino occupied by our and the adjoining coTps. The railway line from Lille to Oomincs, which is on the Lys, east of Messines, was, towards the end of April, reported doubled, the road -from Lille to Tournai had been widened, and later much defensive work had been done close to the line.

As our own vast preparations drew to a close, new guns began to arrive, and .planes multiplied in the air. Thousands and thousands and thousands of tons of ammunition were stacked at many dumps. These were cheering sights. Finally our gunners got to work with the great bombardment. The enemy replied furiously. Then dumps began to go up and burn. This on both sides of the liiie. The explosions shook our huts miles away, and vast columns of smoke rose in the air. I watched, from a vantage point a few hundred yards away, one spectacular outburst that continued for hours, and that made as much noise |as a battle on a small scale. Tbis was discouraging, but it was only, nfter all, a drop in the gigantic bucket. Next day 1 the vanished stores were replaced, and our sweating (runners had not to slacken their efforts for an instant. By day there 'Here columns of smoke and dust all along the Herman line. By night the skv was radiant with the flash of guns and the flame of bursting shells. One began to hear mysterious talk about "X" and '•Y" and "Z" days, and speculation as to the time at which an attack is to commence, which very few men know until the last.

As one great bombardment succeeded another, at uncertain intervals, that tense feeling of subdued excitement and expectancy, even of elation, that pre ceeds a great battle seemed to creep into the minds of men about to take part in it. Ono watched companies march sinking, or with bands playing, along the roads towards the front. Some carried banners. An Tri=h battalion pa=sed one da-v oarryinsr a sroat green banner on •which was the Crown, and the Harp of Erin. They said they were going to plant it on'the Messines Ridge. They sang, as they went, snatches of music half'lilts, and "Tipnerary." 'which one seldom hears now-a-days. Our own men went cheerfully to the front. Their con- | fidence and their morale was such that they considered themselves already in Messines. for by this time they all knew | that the honor' of attacking this strong 'and dominating position had been allot- | ted to them.

ON THE EVE OF BATTLE. At last we knew that the day had arrived. Shortly after midnight I left Divisional Headquarters in company with another correspondent and our Official Photographer. Our car had to run the gauntlet of a road that was constantly barraged by the enemy. On this occasion ho was putting over gae and tear shells, as well as some heavier stuff. Hurriedly we had to don our gas masks. In such a situation the driver has all the worst of it. It is had enough to drive at night with no lights burning, but when, in addition, he has to see tho 'way through goggles dimncd by breathing, and to avoid probable shellholes, the strain is not altogether a light one. But we reached the farthest point to which a car could go in safety. Gathering together hastily our steel helmets, j gas-masks, binoculars, and some food 'and drink we sent the car back at once, and started through the open for a point of vantage in the subsidiary line right in front of Messinc. This place was being peppered by German gasshells, and all the men were wearing their masks. Along the tree-fringed pathw&v, by which wc 'Went, we saw dimly through our goggles two stretch-«r-bcarcrfl carrying a sorely-wounded man, his torn from his body by shell fire. Hampered by our masks, we felt our way along a path on and beside which many shells had made holes in the earth. The gas-shells were still •falling. They do not burst, but fall •with a whining ping as of a rifle bullet hitting against hard rock.

THE GAS SHELLS.

Just b&fore one o'clock we gained the comparative safety of the trench, and, proceeding along it for some distance, settled down to the vigil that separated us from the appointed lniur. We arrived panting, and were glad to be able to take oIT our masks. But soon the gas shells began to fall about us once I again, and we fat with the rubber mouthpieces in our mouths, holding our no3e.s, breathing in through the composition in the tin canister in the brown bag. and breathing out through the rubber valve. Meantime some of us had got more gas than was good for us, and felt a tidiness coming over us. Several of our men came at intervals along the trench breathing heavily, some staggering, and some sick with the deadly poison gas that the Hun had added to all the otiier horrors of war. All the. more it made one determined that he should l>e beaten in the field. Our only consolation was that he was probably wetting back some of his own medicine, one hoped, with interest added. Away on our left a fire broke out, ami lit the northern sky with a red light, which gradually died down. At titervais. from overhead, came the droning of planes, and, looking up, we saw <larins night fliers, only a few tundred feet above, returning from the <!i>rn>iUi lines, like great black birds i against the sky. The usual flares went I up a'.i along the line, momentarily lightin" the gloom with tlieir brilliance. Our ahcllin" had died down to what was justordinary. We wW.ed to deceive the eoeinv —to make him think that we were <roin"' to uke it quietly for a day or two longer. Tin- howitzer shells from further back whistied wearily overhead from both lines. The lighter field guns immediately behind us were almost silent, lygofi-kofi slinu.H.lr, UOgfoaJfin ftrand, 1 ' THE EVENTFUL MORNING. At 3 a.m. the first faint streaks «f dawn appeared in the sky to the, southeast of Messines. Away on the bit, where the lines best over the ridg» a the direction of

shooting skyward. Then a double green light went up in front, of Messines, and •tell slowly, verv beautiful in the darkness that still veiled the earth. Polknvl ing that ca-ine the stuttering of machinejguns. Wo looked at our watches anxiously. The crunch of a big German shell not far away momentarily distract-

Ed attention, ami then more gas shells began to arrive. The German was endeavoring to hamper our night communications. in the trench one iiad to step warily over the recumbent forms of sleeping soldiers who were to participate in tho great doings of the day. i'or some minutes now tliey had been awake, and the lion-corns. were seeing to it that they had a good meal of savoury steiv and biscuit and tea. Out of the goodness of their hearts they even offered to share their meal with us. Then, full of good food and profanity, they set about buckling on their heavy loads of ammunition, shovels, and ration*. The spurt of machine-gun ike liad died down. I looked at my watch again. It was ten minutes past three. The first gun of our thunderous barrage spoke, and immediately there was the roar of hundreds and hundreds of cannon of all calibres, and. the shells came screaming overhead. .Tt was as if thousands of great bees wero coming suddenly down on a homing wind. And these 'were bees that stung to some purpose, too. Wo watched tho German S.O.S. go up all ■along the German line. AN ENTHRALLING SPECTACLE.

Almost at the same instant we were faced with the most enthralling sight that I had yet seen in the war. On the left a great mine went up in vast masses of earth and smoke and lurid red llame, like a night eruption from the throat of some great volcano. It was the great momentary flash of the red flame, lilco the wd of a blood orange, brilliant against the black smoke, that impressed the vision. In quick succession other mines, five or six in number., heaved themselves skywards with awesome effect, making the ground rock and quiver as if stricken with a great earthquake. One felt the trench against which one leaned heave and tremble, and miles away people sleeping in their beds, felt their houses shaking. The Germans now knew that the momei.t of attack 'which for so long they had been dreading had come in very truth, but their frantic S.O.S. signals went up in vain. They had been ta,kcn completely by surprise. Indeed, so uncertain were they of the day and the hour of attack that they had only just completed the relief of their lines, for opposite us were the ISth Bavarians instead of the Saxons, who we knew were there the night before. .Before two minutes had passed all this had loccurrcd. And now Hell itself seemed to have been let loose. The ceaseless roar of the guns of the two ODposin" armies, the crackle of machinegun and rifle fire and the bursting of bombs made such a noise that wo bad to shout to make ourselves heard. The whole hillside, whipped with a hail ot shot and shell, became more blurred as the dawn advanced, and the horizon that we had begun dimly to discern was soon hidden behind an impenetrable pall of dust and smoke, in the midst of which ■we could see the bright lights of the enemv's distress signals and the flashes of our own bursting shells It seemed as it no human being could live through that tornado.

THE 'DEFENCE OF MESSTNES, In order that the reader may the more easily follow the description of the hattie it is necessary to give a brief general 'outline of the defences of Mossmes. In the dip of the shallow valley mfront of the Xeff Zealand lines ran the Steeilheek a small stream about four feet wide, wired on the left by the enemy, and somewhat marshy on the right. Fortiuiatclv the long spoil of 110t > dr >' ther had dried the ground a good <lcal, 'and had left so little ■tfater in the stream itself that it did not seem likely to b> a \crv serious obstacle to our tioops. From the Steenbeek the ground sloped gently up to Messincs, perched on the low ridge crest. From various points in our own trenches we got cl views of the western edge of itself, and the frontal defences that the onemv had established on vUc slopes below The furious bombardments of S«V,.k fences to a very considerable iMen obliterating the trenches and blownV the wire into tangled masses that great gaps through which our men coud n-s With microscopic care wo ban S3* 52 «.**«• landers was the capture and the bold nfof Messinos itself. Within the past few days it had been reduced to a mere "wl^lUrvTut^Tnerof'dccp si,--', and machine-guns might withstand the bombardment.

j A VERITABLE FORTRESS. Tho defences of tho town itself eon- | sisted of a front line system of trendies ( on the brow of the ridge, and of a ,'somewliat complicated exterior system, | of which tho eliief feature was the line I running along a straight road on the ! western edge of the town, this being j tho sido facing our attack. I This system was further strengthened j by two Bastions, known as the Moulin I de Hospice, in front of the centre of | the town, and Au Bon Fermier Cabaret I (the Tavern of the Good Husbandman), : some little distance to the right. In | addition there were, of course, the interior defences—the -dug-outs, cellars, and strong points in the village itself. Then, as if they had feared an en- , veloping movement, the enemy had com--1 pleted an all-round defence, which he had wired, even in the rear of the toWn. ( Thus Messines wa* a veritable fortress, entirely surrounded by trendies and i barbed 'wire entanglements. ! Behind tho town the ground sloped : gently down in the direction of Warncton and the River Lys, and there was a well-prepared communication trench, •known as 'Unbearable Trench, leading from tho south-east corner of the village to the reserve line for a distance of between SOO and 000 yards. This \ line continued along the eastern slopes ! of the ilfessines-Wytschaete ridge to the ' north and southward towards ihe Lys. Altogether tho position iwas a very .strong one. It had been held by the Germans since the first year of the war, and prisoners told us that the troops were to defend it to the last.

! THE ATTACK LAUNCHED. ! So far as the New Zealanders were concerned, their plan was the attack and rapture of Messines, and to provide the first protecting defences on a line some distance in advance. Roughly speaking, they attacked ou a front of 1300 yds. The infantry along the entire corps froi\t advanced to tho assault simultaneously. On our left there were Australian troops. As will bo gathered, there was in this battle no preliminary intensive bombardment, so that the-element of surprise 'was all the greater. At the appointed hour, the moment tho bombardment began, the men left tho assembly trenches and advanced across No Man's Land, without any protecting barrage, pidc by side. On tho left were Southlanders, next them men from Canterbury and on the right were the Rifles. On our extreme right was a strong point, known as La d 3 etite Douve Farm, situate in the German front line. A separate body of troops from tho Rifles assaulted, captured, and "mopped up" the farm and its defences.

Tho other troops went right on over the German front line, mopping*up parties being left to deal with tho Germans who might still be found alive there. | As a matter of fact, there >was little re- ; sistance offered. The leading troops •went right on to a line in front of the j first system of German trenches, and ; 'stayed there. This was accomplished in ;'a very few minutes. French troops of 1 the same units went on to tho lino right | in front of Messines, the left flank slowing down to enable the troops of the ! divisions on the left—which had a great!or distance to go —to get level with tiieni. For the mopping up of Messines itself, and the capture of the line in front of it on the east, fresh troops of the Cantcrburys and the Rifles advanced, and 'were soon successful. All this we failed to see owing to the gloom of early morning, and the dense screen of smoke 1 and dust raised by the creeping and | stationary barrages. The enemy defences ' oil tho east side of the town were cap's tu red bit by bit as the barrage lifted.

THE THUNDER OF THE GUNS. The thunder of the guns increased, making the windows of houses in the villages far behind the lines rattlo conj tinuously. TJie noise of enemy guns and i of their bursting shells 'was now added | to tiie din. There was 110 use in worry - j :ng about shells failing near you, because you could not distinguish their explosions in the great volume of sound puli sating over a whole countryside, unles3j ; they fell within a few yards of you. ''lt's some stunt," said a man' at my ! side. "My oath!" replied a soldier on ; the fire-step peering over the parapet. It ! was more spectacular even than the j Somnift battles that we had witnessed, j At 3.40 a.m. the German red flares j were still going up, but farther back | now. On our right (lank, amidst the. ! general din, we could still Ihjm the ma- ] chine-guns stuttering. At a quarter to | four the thunder of the guns was as loud | as ever, and the wljole ridge was still , blotted out in tho ashen grey pall of j smoke and dust. A plane ilew low up 1 to our trench, banked gracefully, and turned back towards the German line ' for another look. As he turned we saw ' in the ' -'Might the curious effect of the : flash ci the guns on bis under wing. Presently there was a stir of men in our j trench, and ■ a, lance-corpora,;, with

"N.Z.it." on lis shoulder strapn, said cheerily, 'Up and over, 'boys!" He was a Canterbury man—but from Cumberland. Many of tho men had already, climbed out of the trench and were calmly waiting watching the great; bombardment. - They went forward right across the open, toward the breaking day, and the goal that some, alas! would never reach. "Pass the word along for any man who gets wounded to stick his rifle upside down in the ground beside himwas the last words >We heard tho corporal say to his men. Some stretcherbearers went over with them.

Flares were still going up on our right where Australian troops were forming a protective flank for the main attack. Slowly, very slowly, the daylight came, and above the great smoke curtain, through tho thinner haze, we saw two Boche balloons whose observers watched the debacle of Prince Rupprecht's Army..

THE BRITISH PLANES. Backwards and forwards flew the British planes, circling and swooping, shot at by the German gunners and machinegunners, firing their own machine-guns in return, and all the time risking the hail of our own shell that went whistling all about them. One we saw hit by one of these shells. He turned and came back across our. trench, unsteadily steering with a broken tail. As he approached, a piece of the tail broke off and fluttered down in the morning breeze. He steered a course above Red Lodge, just missing the trees, and landed in a shelltorn field a mile away. ' I saw the plane afterwards 'with the beautiful laminated wood propeller resting in a shell hole, and the machine little damaged. South-east of Messines the sky took on tints of red and gold above the battle smoke, and then the red sun slowly pushed his rim above the bank of cloud. On the left a Boche balloon made a black dot against the clearer sky. A tree loomed darkly against the screen of grey, and in the foreground the stakes and barbed wire of the entanglement in front of our trench completed the picture. It was such a picture as Turner .might have painted. The sky was almost the sky of the Fighting tcmerairc. The planes were now wonderful. They ,eamc back in great flights across the German lines from some destructive mis■sion. Twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty, we counted within our own small battle area, and, flying low, they simply sAimed tho hundreds of shells that came at them from the German arti-aircraft guns and left the sky dotted with the puffs of their black smoke. On my homeward way across the fields later in the day I saw the derelict piano of one of these brave fellows. That morning he had brought down a German balloon, then he had descended to 75ft above an enemy trench and had used his machine gun to some purpose. Later, seeing some of the German transport hurrying away from the battlefield, he went after two lorries, and, whilc\sliooting at them, was himself shot through the thigh. He then stored his machine back across the enemy and our own lines, but in landing had the misfortune to hit some tdlegraph wires, which toppled him over as he came to earth. He was only a bo? of nineteen, but he lit a cigarette and laughed and chatted as they took him to a nearby dressing station to have his wound attended to.

THE TANKS. The New Zealand Division was to have the co-operation of a number of tanks, but the infantry did not depend upon them and went on in advance. Walking down our trench some ; little distance I came upon two of their observers peering into the greyness, looking for "Willies," as they called them. At last, through the greyness one of them spotted what he thought to be a "Willie"—"one finger right of the smoke rising from the slope in front of Mcssines." But the only "Willies" we saw that morning had come to grief before going very far.

"Willie" —one finger right ot the smoke rising from the slope in front of ■Mcssines." But the only "Willies" we saw that morning had come to grief before going very far. THE ADVANCING INFANTRY. As the ba.ttle moved forward and the sun rose we could see quite clearly the ruins of Messines silhouetted against the sky. And on the slope just in front of it, for the first time, men. They were close together in a line of considerable numbers, and were going forward as calmly as if on parade, though by this time the enemy was sending in some heavy shells. Their forerunners had mopped up Messines and had established •themselves in tho enemy trenches oit the north-east and south-east of the village. On through the village they went. Three or four hundred yards from the outer east edge of The "town the ground dropped very gently towards tho Ly3, and these men were allotted the task of establishing themselves on the crest of this slope beyond the village and of talcing up a strong line of defences which they were to,hold. All this they did in. excellent style. From this line advanced posts were pushed out for three or four hundred yards. The Brigadier himself, a bravo fellow, loved by his men and respected by everybody, walked along the line and reported all correct. Next day while 'walking with his General at the front he was killed in action. We have just come back from his funeral feeling that his placo will be hard to fi.ll.