BOXING.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1917, Page 5

BOXING.

CARPENTrEK v. WILLABB. Washington. August 22. Carpentier lias arrived at an Atlantic |<ort. It is anticipated promotor? will endeavor to arrange a inafr'li between Carpentier and Wiilard for a world's championship Vm*.

THE MESBINES RIDGE BATTLE. DESCRIBED UTY MAJOR-GENERAL' RUiSSELL. WOli.lv OP -NEW ZEA'LANDERS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Sight. The following extract iroiu a lei ter from .Yuv-jor-t.cnirAl Si ' IL Rnsso]! road by the .Minister of Defence in tin.' House t'lis afternoon: ''The Messines ritig-.., or that part , iv uieh t/io X< v; Z<:alaiiiicr£- had to attack, ji« a i airly steep : idgc on which (he Cier;li!uin. wvre very comfortably entrwioJicil, W:th i-sceilc-ct. observation of everything 1 (hat was going 011 in our lines below him. Ho v.-a.-i, in fact. on the rim of a saucer, while we were at the bottom; consequent]}' ;i!i our preparations in the way i of improving our communications and , constructing assembly trenches had to be done at Naturally, tke work at aight was never so or so tisy as by day. and for four or live weeks prior to the attack practically every man in tlie division had to spend his nights working, getting what sleep lie could during the day. This, ill itself, was a severe tax on the men's endur--anee, and I was very glad to iind it at -Jin end. There were a few days to spare in which to rest the men and give them a chance to pull themselves together lor the 'effort. CAREFUL SCHEME OF ATTACK. The whole scheme of attack had been ft matter of very careful thought, and involved a vast amount of staff work ,ior those who were responsible for the plans. The fact was that, with the enormous concentiation of artillery, life on the slopes in front of us had become practically impossible. The battle, in a few words, was won through tile weightof metal thrown on the enemy positicwis, and tho mettle of the men yho to the attack. Then everything weut | like clockwork. The weather wis in our | favor, as a thunderstorm had cleared tuo air and cooled it during the night of assembly, while tho clouds which stiii hung about the sky prevented any observation on the part of the enemy. <JonFequently, the assembly of troops was , carried out with hardly any loss, and I jou can realise what anxious moments, • or rather hours, one passes when, having 'assembled several thousand men within a few hundred yards of the position, one w aits lor the actual word to advance. 'HAD THE GERMANS KNOWS*. ''Had tho Germans been able to discover our movements, and shelled our assembly trencher, 110 doubt we should ■iave gone through with the attack, but "Under ?ery difficult conditions. As it was. our men got over tlu> parapet with hardly any loan and so excellent was the counter bu. -cry work that the enemy's burnv when it fell, was too thin to break up the attack. I'lie actual positions were carried at very slight expense, but our losses began to mount up after we reached our different objectives. Wc were withdrawn very shortly from the sector on which jtrtt attacked, (and wwG put in rather lover down tie line, where «ur irier.ds lrom iusLulia made their start. "We have since (considerably extended 011" lines by small operations without ,'any '.cry great difficulty, and are now in process of consolidating and improving the defence of what we owned. CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS. 1 "Our men wee extraordinarily confident of and tins nc doubt helper, them a lot. 'J'he onuie was Jul) Won before it- was bcjnfh, and I cannot spea.: too highly of ;hc spirit displayed by jvp.ryme. Every day, when I Bee what the men have put up with in the way of danger and hardships, it asto lishes me with what cheerfulness an' l , fortitude they put up wi'.h the very trying conditions they have to meet. "We have again received congratulations 011 ail hands for the work done by tho division, and I honestly think it well deserved. I am glad t-o say that the health of the men and their spirits are ac good as when 1 last wrote to you. "Tho reinforcements are as good as ever, and there is not a division in France but would weicome them into its ranks. I send yon these few lin«3 to assuro you that, so far as I can judge,, all is well with the division." .LETTER FROM LATE GENERAL JOHNSTON. FAtUEE OF THE- TANKS. Wellington, Last Night. The following nre extracts from a letter received by Sir James Allen from the late Brigadier-General Johnston, dated June 14, 1017: '"The division did well and maintained its high reputation as far as the artillery was concerned. 1 need ouiy (junto from a memo, sent us the day after the battle: 'The arujy commander directs me to congratulate all ranks of artillery of 2nd Aii/:acs on the success gained to-day. He wishes to thank them for the excellent work they have done during the past week, and add that the success gained to-day with comparatively little loss is entirely due to the h«,rd work and good shooting of the artillery.' "In addition, ,Sir .Douglas lla-ig came to see us, patted me on the back, mid said: 'Thank all your fellows for the splendid work they liavo do^e.' EVERYTHING GOES WffiLL. "Everything went off without a hitch. The barrage was good, the w<re was all 1 cut away, thus presenting 110 difficulties to the infantry, and trenches and strong, points were well smashed in. I went over (he battltlield next morning and was much pleated to see how we bad done our work, for although for weeks ahead one is busy locating and destroying same wire poin+.i and any possible obstacle, still you cannot see things as you do afterwards. On our front you wouldn't detect the German front and support lines, they were so smashed in, and only here and there you could find strands ol' wiiC, and I haven't been able ■to hear of a. single place where tliu infantry were held up. INFANTEY AiND M«tLLEE¥ GAIN THE DA-V. "You will read much about mines and tanks, but we had only' one mine, and our tanks were not much good. They j.eouldn't easily cross country on account of shell botes, and three of them -were knocked out by gunfire. I am afraid fheg hardly their cast. Infantry '

ji-Ttd artillery won the and nothing |olsc had much to do with it. I ''i'heuo battles aro a great strain on 'one, as once the infantry gain their final I objective and begin to consolidate the j Hun shells them severely, with the reI wilt, that all our communications get I cut and our forward observation officers who go up with the infantry cannot : communicate with us. You can imagine one controlling some 200 guus from a central place. | "As soon as the infantry captured | Me'nines and got beyond it, we couldn't | see- thcM, because of the Hun counter - | att.;!''l,'B. lint if the vires are cut. as ' fhty nearly always. are by his shelling, there is no quick means of communication by which our forward officers can if.cll lis exactly where to shoot, with tiie ' result that wc have to shoot by map, |Tjio barrages are sometimes most comiplit'.il ed, as the Ime is {very seld;o:oi ' straight, and yet von. must eo>'cr it all the way. One mistake u'*-T you may j wipe out a lot of your own men. WHAT TOE BATTLEFIELD LOOKED 'LIKE. "When I walked over the battlefield Sheila were still failing. Of course, you know, artillery live never ceases, day or lijjht. for days. A battle only means that a -barrage is thrown in as an extra, country v.as all np by shells; hardly a square yard was intact. Dead men were lying all over the place, and Huns were being extracted from dug-outs. Our tanks "were lying about where they had stuck or been shot out, and exhausted soldiers were resting. In ono place I si-w one o; our men and a berman lyiug side by side, -having appaientl) killed one anotiier. Germans were being taken to the rear to bo put it 'cages.' They mostly looked well fed and oi good physique, notwithstanding what the war correspondents say. GENERALS RUSSELL AND BROWN. Russell, our C.0.0., is reckless to a degree. He was up by Messines the (Jay after the battle, which means only a ocssation of maximum fire, not of arlillery. An officer came running to mo ;tnd said: 'Brown, (J.O.C. Ist Infantry Brigade, has been killed.' This was true. He was walking with Russell, the latA.D.C., and Pridham, C.R.K. when a shell burst near them and killed Brown, wounding Beetham. A.D.C., at the same time. "On Sunday last, -when Russell was looking over the parapet at the eneinv wire, distant about a hundred yards or 1 ss, a sniper had a shot at him, putting a bullet through nis steel helmet and bruising his head—a pretty close call. However, I think 'lie will 'be better in future. I have had five, oUlcers killed, curiously enough, by lightning—one a very excellent fellow who came away with the Main Body, Prummer by -name, a veterinary officer. The sanre Hash paralysed seven men. Brown is a srreat i loss. He was as brave as a lion," He | never said nuieh, but did a great deal." j (It will be remembered that General : Johnston was himself shot- by a sniper a week or two ago.)