THE FLANDERS BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1917, Page 7

THE FLANDERS BATTLE.

THE GRAVENSTAFFEL ATTACK AUCKLAND AND WELLINGTON. ' SILENCTNG THE GERMAN MACHINE-GUNS, (From Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces in the Field.) Belgijm, 13th October. ' In the previous article I endeavored to give some idea from actual ;xperi- . nee ot the night scene on the battlefield'' just before the attack by the Jiew Zealander? on the Gravenstafel Ridge, but- no description that could be written nor picture that could be painted, even by a Master, could give anything lika an adequate idea of the actuality. Before the attack, a front line con-1 sisling of posts had been held by some of our troops who were -not to '>p in the attack, and excellent preliminary work had been done by the officers and men. Day and night officers and men went forward with ammunition, trench stores, food, ind water, often under 1 heavy shell-fire. Back dumps had to be reorganised and new forward dumps established. A Canterbury >econdlieutenant did especially good work in this direction for the divisional dump was under heavy fire, and after iho artillery officer in charge of another dump further back wsts killed, li<! iilso did excellently in reorganising this dump. Hp had already Jist'ugui'ihed himself at similar work In the battle of Messines. The men in ehnrge of the teams had to cover difficult ground under shell-fire, and often to go through barrage fire to deliver rations to the troops, so that there v/ai .tlv.vvs the danger of a stampede One driver had his water-cart blown by a shell into ii ditch and turned upside dawn, but lie stuck bravely , by hi* work, righted the cart, and pushed ni through shelling to his destination. He was a Cantcriury man Ota«o mw did similar work.' Out on fhe irregular front ihtre were affairs w'th patrols, and fifvernl of the er.e.ny who attacked were kilhd. Pome Canterbury men were heavily pelted with gas shells. and a sergeant did brave work tending the sufferers and reorganising until he himself was wounded. One day a shell lobbed on to a bit of trench held by some Canterbury men, wounding and burying one of the men. A private, in spite of he,avy fire, stood on the parapet and dug the man out, Not content with that:, he afterwards earried him in daylight baek from the front line, and so saved his life. Some Otago men were hoidina a shell-hole position at the front until 1 the morning of the attack, and one of the captains made a special reconnaissance in broad daylight in order to report the actual position of the detached posts. He did this at great risk, owing to his action the posts were all correctly located. He was severely wounded during the reconnaissance. THE ATTACK AT DAWN. Our men were all in position and ready to attack at dawn. The previous day had been fine, but r'ain sot in about 3 a.m. There were Australian troons on the right, English troops on the left. The first waves were to consist of Canterbury, Auckland, Otago, and Wellington troops, and the succeeding waves of Wellington and Auckland. There had been a good deal of irregular shelling and some practice barrages bv our artillery, so that the enemy, although he'knew an attack was pending, was probably not at all sure when he might expect it. At six o'clock (summer time) the eightcen-pounders and the howitzers now opened with a tremendous barrage in front of our waiting while the heavier guns< further back commenced their destructive work on enemy positions well behind his lines. In the misty halfdawn the flashing of the guns, the bursting shells, and the various rockets, with the occcasional red glow of an exploding ammunition dump, made a moßt striking battle scene. The roar of the artillery was continuous, and made ordi-nary-toned conversation impossible. The men went over close behind the barrage, and immediately the enemy's counterbarrage broke loose as well, but it was not nearly so punishing as ours.

The first obstacle ill the way was th| little Hanebeek stream, now scarcely a stream at all, but simply 51 maze of waterlogged shell-holes into which many men floundered in the uncertain light. But the men made light o{ these troubles, and "Lend \is a hand, Tom, or Jack, or Bill," as the case. might be, invariably brought the requisite assistance to extricate the fallen one from his unenviable plight after which rescuer and rescued would trot on a little quicker to regain their companions following in the wake of the barrage. For some time nothing could be seen of the infantry attack'even from positions close up. owing to the h'aze and drizzling rain, but, later in the morning, when Passchendaele itself, -with its big church 011 the horizon-line, loomed out of the mist, the leading waves of men could be seen going on through shell-fire to their final objective behind Abjaham Heights, and also down on the low ridge, now one mass of shell-holes and scattered brown earth. Some Auckland troops on the left met with severe casualties, but th» ?aps were filled up, and they went on.

AUCKLANDERS IN THE FIGHT. At Aviatik Farm, Winzig, a strong noint on the extreme left, and Boeder, in front of Aviatik opposition was met early in the day. At the first-named 1 lace there was severe fighting, but the German garrison was soon overcome, and the attack went forward to the Boetler jjill-boxes, from which came heavy ma-chine-gun fire. This was also silenced in due course. At Winzig there were several machine-guns firing and inflicting caflualties on our flank. One enemy crew took up their position on top of their dug-out, but an Auicklander, who was No. 1 of a machine-gun I team, by getting his machine quickly into action, accounted for them all, and thus enabled the left flank to proceed for a time without serious opposition. As this man moved forward with his gun again he encountered another enemy ma-chine-gun. Once more he got quickly into action, and so enabled a bombing paction to get up deal with the ob"ructwg Germans. This same man, on arrival of the line at our first objective, took up a post in front, and on the moving forward of the barrage, after a halt there, he puslr'l still further out and established a post that commanded tho ridge on the left of the first objective. Hie stayed untM the " + >h, when he was relieved. His conduct throughout was a splendid example to all about him, —i he showed an absolute disregard for

his own safety from first to.last.When relieved there was only one man left with him on the gun. HEROIC WORK. At another point of resistance, an Auckland private advanced with 4 Wellington man, whose name is not known, and together these two succeeded in bombing the German garrison. They compelled eight of the enemy to surrender, nnd captured their two machine guns. By their bravery and the prompt ness of their action these two undoubtedly saved ihc lives of several of their companions. Another Auckland private took charge of his section when his commander ivas wounded, and led the men forward with the greatest bravery and determination. On encountering one strong point he attacked it single-handed, and bayonetted the whole of the occupants, seven or eight in number. Until the battalion was relieved in the line he gave valuable aid in consolidating the position, and voluntarily undertook any work that involved risk to his section. This man already wears the ribbon of the Military Medal. At the commencement of the attack, when a portion of our line on the left was held up, a L<fwis gunner rushed his gun up, and under intense fire brought it into action. Singlehanded he rushed to close quarters and compelled the surrender of-a shell-hole strong point containing a German officer and twelve other .ranks. This very prompt and d&ring act enabled the line to advance with the barrage, which otherwise it would not have been able to do. A corporal, when the sergeant of his platoon was. wounded, took over at once and filled a gap on the left flank, capturing a machine-gun that was firing from a shell-hole position. His platoon suffered severely, but 116 held on and arrived at the objective with the survivors.

The conspicuous gallantry of another Auckland Lewis gunner enabled another strong point to be taken. Soon afterwards gun was knocked out, but he immediately led his section forward as riflemen, and as they went they bayoneted several of the enemy. A shell afterwards burst beside him, and he was badly shell-shocked. His company commander sent him back, but, 011 the way down he searched for and found his gun, which was subsequently brought into action again. Yet another Lewis gunner, whose section suffered severely at the commencement of the attack, with only two men who were left, accounted for the crew of an cney gun that was inflicting casualties ('on our advancing infantry. He then assisted in the capture of Aviatik Farm, and again, later, helped in reducing the garrison of another stroll;-' point. FINE WORK BY LIEUTENANTS. During this attack, an Auckland lieutenant, when his commanding officer and noting second in command were wounded shortly after the attack commenced, took command of the battalion, which reached the final objective. Although there was only one junior officer per company left, he succeeded 1 in holding the line and in repelling three counter-at-tacks. A 2nd lieutenant, when his company commander had been killed and the remainder of the officers wounded before reaching the first objective, reorganised his company, which had loßt direction, in time to move off with the barrage to the second objective. This latter gained, he established posts, which he- held with the assistance of two captured German machine guns, and assisted in beating off three counter attacks. One n.c.0., who had to take command of a platoon, reorganised it after it had suffered severe casualties, and brought, heavy Lewis-gun fire to bear on the enemy, who were firing from a pill box Then signalling his section to follow, he rushed the pill-box and forced the garrison of 30 Germans to surrender. He then led the platoon on to its objective. Machine-guns in another pill-box were firing on to the flanks of Wellington and Auckland troops, when a corpo,ral led a party to fill a gap that had been ?hot out of the line. With his men he rushed the position ajid took thirty prisoners, two machine-guns, and one light machine gun. He then established a strong point which he handed over to the Wellingtons, and rejoined his own company. DEEDS BY THE WELLINGTONS. While the Wellingtons were forming up for the attack the enemy put down a barrage. During this time one of Ihc Wellington captains did fine work, and subsequently led his company with the utmost bravery and ability. During the advance some troops on his left drifted off their objective, so that when his company arrived there they found themselves occupying the whole of the front allotted to three companies. He worked his men gradually into the dangerous gap that existed, and under heavy shellfire he himself moved along the whole front of one thousand yards and organised and consolidated the position.

The commajidcv of a Wellington company was wounded just before the attack started, and a second lieutenant took charge and led it throughout the operations with conspicuous gallantry. Whilst moving up his support company h'e led a small party into a gap in the line where the enemy were bowling over seme of our men with rifle and machinegun fire. Boldly rushing forward he killed the crew and captured the gun. When his company had reached their objective he saw there was a'dangerous gap in the line, and without waiting for orders he at once led his company into it, thus making the position secure against enemy attack. Having <0)18 this, he then withdrew portion of hi* command back to their own position m support. There were four concrete dugouts tliffit gave the Wellingtons a lot ot trouble, but these were in due coarse mopped up with coolness and daring in the face of both shelling' and maebinegun fire. Pour machine-guns were captured as the result of .that adventure Other Wellington men, held up at one stage by machine-gun fire, were helped out of their difficulties by a sergeant., who, while his men engaged the en; ny with rifle grenades, worked round the flank, and boldly rushing in, bayonetted the crew of four. By the time their objective had been gained this company had 'opr. all but one of its officers. A Wellington corporal, with a few men gatnered from three units, attacked an enemy stronghold in front Of the main objective. Risking danger from our own barrage, they bombed the position, killing and wounding no fewer than thirty of the criemy, and capturing three machineguns that had commenced firing with serious effect. Machine-gun crew, after machine-gun crew was dealt with, the Germans, in this battle, not putting up a very stubborn resistance once our men got to grips with them. I heard of many cases of self-sacrifics and devotion to duty during this work. A Wellington corporal, after capturing several shell-hole petitions, was severely wounded before reaching his final objective, yet, knowing the great 'temand for stretcher-bear«ri, ]•» refp-»d to be carried out, but et-üßgki 1 . down alone to the re&toente> aW soft,

where his wound was dressed. A Lewi.jgunner, when his gun was put out. of action, rushed forward upon a Herman strong point armed only with a revolver. Another of his men, inspired by his bravery, joined him, and together iho two rushed the jianitiod. Both were ivound»d, and the corporal's companion has since died, But their plucLy action gave the rest of the section Ui-s necessary respite to get up and to kill the crow and capture the gun.