WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 October 1917, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

I 2 THRILLING INCIDENTS. HEROISM, OF AUSTRALIANS. A DESPERATE FIGHT. ONLY '6 LEFT OUT OF SO. .United Service. Received 0:t. 18, 5:5 p.m. London, Oct. 17. Mr. Murdoch supplies further incidents of the fighting. A man, who volunteered fo help his wounded eaptain back to the lines, was killed. A second took his place and was killed; a third was killed also; -but a fourth brought tlie officer safely in. Describing one German counter-attack, Mr. Murdoch says they came on in waves, maintaining inexorable discipline. The Australians called upon the artillery, but the barrage descended behind the enemy, owing to a misapprehension that we were holding a more distant line. Therefore there was nothing left for it but a desperate fight with rifles and machine-guns, which were partly choked by mud. The Bosches far outnumbered us. Our Lewis guns mowed down the first wave like ripe com, 'but a second wave and a simultaneous flank attack enveloped our positions and isolated a body of 50 men, including the Lewis gunners. They determined to fight their way out, and such fighting has seldom been seen. One man shot thirteen Germans before 'he was killed by a shot from behind. Only six survivors reached the lines. The Germans were now broken into scattered parties, and, 1 after heavy losses, retired. Other attacks following were broken. Believing it impossible to hold the position, which was also useless without a further advance, the Australians then withdrew. They had stood in flooded shell holes, sometimes with the waiter up to their shoulders, A SUCCESSFUL AIR RAID. LIVELY ARTILLERY ACTIONS. Received Oct. 19, 12.10 a.m. , London, Oct. 18. Sir Douglas Haig reports: British aeroplanes carried out a very successful air raid in German territory. Hhey attacked a factory westward of Saarbrucken, forty miles beyond the German frontier, and dropped many bombs with good effect. Fires broke out in the factory. All the machines returned. Many bombs were dropped yesterday on billets and trenches. We downed three Ger-man-''machines. One of ours is missing. A French communique reports lively iirtillery actions, particularly in the region of the plateau Daieiles, on the right of the Meuse. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc. and Reuter. Received Oct. 19, 1.55 a.m. London, Oct. 18. Sir Douglas Haig reports: There has lieen considerable activity on the part of hostile artillery north-west of Ypres and on the coast sector. The activity of our. wtillery has continued. AMERICAN TROOPS REVIEWED. Received Oct. 19, 1.50 a.m. Paris, Oct. 18. Marshal Joffre and General Pershing leviewed the first American division in France. BRUGES BOMBED. London, Oct. 17. The Admiralty reports that naval aircraft on Monday night dropped many tons of bombs on the Bruges dock. All returned. Sir Douglas Haig- says: There is nothing of interest to report, THE GERMAN LOSSES. London. Oct. 17. Reuter learns that careful estimates of the German losses in the recent battles in Flanders show that they exceed the British by 75 per cent. APPALLING WEATHER. DEEDS OF GREAT HEROISM. PERFORMED BY NEW ZEALANDERS. (From Captain Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) The weather has been simply appalling. The battlefield is such & sea of mud and waterlogged shell-holes that the continued success of our last attack was an utter impossibility. In addition our men found themselves confronted with machine-guns in strong concrete positions fronted with barbed wire uncut by artillery. Under the circumstances we had to be content with a very small advance. Nevertheless we have accounted for many Germans, and have tak&i some i prisoners. The difficulties in transport and in getting in the wounded have been great, but are being gradually overcome, find the weather at last seems to have settled fine. The division mourns the loss of several brave officers and men. Many deeds of great heroism were performed in this fight, especially in connection with the rescue of the wounded. The difficulties can be imagined when it Is stated that it takeß six men six hours to bring in one wounded man from the front. In the attack on Gravenstafel on the 4th, which was so successful, also many 1 heroic deeds can be recorded such as will make the victory live in history. The manner in which officers and men risked almost certain death and wounds in storming concrete machine-gun positions and either killing or capturing their crews Was worthy of the best traditions of the New Zealand Force. Many worked and fought till utterly exhausted. Others carried on after being wounded. One man, armed only with a revolver, rushed a machine-gun position. His bravery led another man to follow him. Both were wounded, and the second man has since died; but their action Enabled others of their section to get up and the gun was captured and the crew killed. A Wellington corporal sadly wounded lay upon the ground and kept urging his ■ men to attack till a post was captured ' and the machine-gun crew killed. A PAnf.arhtirv serffeant. badlv wounded

was in command of his platoon and continued directing and encouraging his men until he became paralysed and helpless. Throughout he remained cheerful. An .Auckland lieutenant, acting as Adjutant of his battalion, had his commanding officer and the acting second in command wounded shortly after the attack commenced. He took command of the battalion and reached its final objective, and though only one junior officer per company was left succeeded in holding the line and repelling three counterattacks. An Auckland corporal just before reaching his objective had his arm blown oil. With splendour determination he refused assistance and ordered his men to push on; and by his coolness and courage steadied them at a trying period. These are only a few of the many brave and daring deeds done in this < battle that will rebound to the credit of New Zealanders for all time. CZAR'S SECRET SERVICE UNMASKED. A HUGE FORCE. Thirty -three long lists of spies, in- 1 formers, and agents provocateurs in exEmperor Nicholas's pay have been pub- ' lished by the Commission for securing the new system of government, appointed by the Provisional Government immediately ■ after the revolution. Fifty more lists 1 mav be expected. The total number of these secret legionaries of autocracy is expected to reach 80,000. Those whose guilt is beyond doubt have been put in gaol, but it is not yet settled whether they will bo tried and punished or. merely 'kept in gaol until all peril of a reactionary counter-revolution has passed. The commissioner's reports depict precisely the same system of espionage and State provocation to crime as flourished in Turkey under Abdul Hamid IL The distinction is that Abdul Hamid ran his spy and provocation system directly from the Vildiz Kiosk, whereas Nicholas entrusted his system to the notorious "Okhrannoe Otdielenie," or security department, which occupied a big building in the Basil Ostrov district SECRET PAPERS SEIZED. The first act of the triumphant revolutionaries was to seize the security department's secret papers. Many of these were burned in bonfires butside the building. The more precious documents especially those relating to the State organisation of crime, had been kept in safes, and so escaped destruction. The revolutionaries also seized tens of thousands of secret records in the department's provincial offices, and from these, backed by confessions of imprisoned spies, the lists are being compiled. The lists will be followed by a five-voiume official "History of Espionage under Nicholas II." As revealed by these inquiries, autocracy's spies and informers were much less picturesque and romantic than they appear in the typical "Nihilist novel." Most belonged to the more intelligent working class or to the minor bourgeoisie. They were paid badly, the average wage for organising political crime or betraying accomplices being 20dol a month. The spies wore usually instructed to become member', of secret revolutionary or terrorist organisations, among these being the Social Democratic party, the Social Revolutionaries with their "Fighting Committee," the Populist Socialists, and the Maximalists. On nearly every newspaper was at least one • spy. The spies took part in committee meetings, incited to breaMi the political repression laws or to actual crime, and kept the security department well informed. NICKNAMES FOR SPIES. Every spy had a "klitchka" or nickname by which he was known to the police. The department's records bristle with such nicknames as "Fatty," "Longnose," "Sunday Boy," "Elephant," and "Arsenic." The spy had also two or three faked surnames, and he often changed his~\town and name when he fell under the revolutionaries' suspicion. Many spies and informers—like the famous Father Gapon, whose treachery on "Bloody Sunday," 1905, led to his being hanged by a revolutionist engineerwere at one time genuine revolutionaries, and became later betrayers and inform- , ers. Some seem to have served both sides honestly and earned the approval of both, and some do not seem to have know with which side they sympathised. A notable case i s "Triikhanoff," real name Nikitin, nickname "Perky," who aroused the suspicion of his terrorist comrades, was threatened by them with execution, and to rehabilitate himself was obliged to kill the gendarme officer with whom he collaborated. The murder of Grand Duke Sergius in Moscow in February, 1905, was due to the same motive. The organisation of crime, with the aim of discrediting non-terrorist political associations and frightening Nicholas into repression went on on a great scale. For blood money of 150dol a mechanic was hired by the department to lire at General Bjurikowsky, Governor of Moscow, but he was instructed to be sure to miss. Ha executed his instruc-. tions precisely, but through carelessness killed a passer-by. FEW WOMEN EMPLOYED. In violation of the Nihilist novel tradition, very lew women were employed as spies or informers. In Moscow three sisters named Palitsin betrayed scores of workmen, after getting confession from them by means of simulating love. Tlie commission's list show that the department was a hard taskmaster. In addition to paying its spies badly, it spied on them. Every security department record contains n note on the spy's history. Some are described as "moderately good," others as "indifferent," others as having "betrayed many revolutionaries," others as "energetic but unreliable," and others as "doubtful, should be watched."