BATTLE OF GRAVENSTAFEL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 6

BATTLE OF GRAVENSTAFEL.

HEROIC WORK BY ,THE NEW ZEALANDERS. THE ATTACK ON THE BIGHT. PART II (From Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces in the Field). x '

Belgium, October IG. My last despatch malt with the attack on the left—the lower end of the Gravenstafel Ridg<\ The right sector included strong points at various ruined farmhouses and various "pill-boxes" and shellhole positions leading up to the heaps of 'broken brick work that once was the little village of Gravenstafel on the left and the Abraham 'Heights on the Tight, the 38-rnelre contour here being the highest point in our attack. This was iu reality a little slightly rounded plateau on the crest of the low ridge. Beyond that the gTound sloped gently to strong points at Berlin on the left, and Berlin Wood a little furfhfcr on in, the middle of and about the limit of the objective. The troops in this part of the attack were from Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington, and Otago. They were not our most experienced troops, but they have a stiffening of our more experienced officers and men. One and all they acquitted themselves admirably. Their commander dates his war experience back to Anzac and the Heights of Chunuk Bair. TOWARDS THE FIRST OBJECTIVE. The men kept well in line behind the barrage going up to the crest of the ridge, except at Van Meulen, where they were held for by machine-gun fire. The halt provided for on the first objective then stood them in good stead. Otago and Wellington troop.s took the position. The Wellingtons helped their comrades from the South Island in the capture, after which the former went on to the last objective. Thert was no great difficulty with Abraham Heights. Our men went straight over it without much opposition. At Gravcnsfa'fel, further on and more to the left, some Otagoes went forward very close at the edge of the barrage in their keenness to get at grips with the enemy congregated there. They were very successful, for they got close upon a hundred prisoners. In the meantime, however, machine guns firing from Abraham Heights had cost us some men before the time came to capture the heights.

At Berlin and Berlin Wood further resistance was met, Wellington men captured one position and Canterbury men the other. The light trench mortars had to be brought- to 'bear on one strong point, after which it was successfully rushed. There was also a strong point at Waterloo on the left of the line and slightly down the slope leading to a declivity in front of Passehendaele. This was quickly captured. It had evidently been a German battalion headquarter?, and soon after it had fallen the New Zenlanders were drinking German soda water and smoking German cigars found there. AH the farms on the way up were full of the enemy, apparently in view of the attack that was timed for about an hour later than our own. This would prihaps account for the large number of prisoners the New Zealanders were able to secure in this fight. One saw "them coming down in hundreds during the forenoon.

PRISONERS IN COLUMN OF FOURS.

One lot appeared on the sky-line early in the morning and came marching down in col unfit of fours with an officer at their head. As l:e passed our New Zealand General at a later stage of his journey a peremptory German command rang out and the column went past at "Eyes left." At intervals smaller groups of prisoners came down the duck-board trades and along the roads without escort on our part. The men who captured them had been so keen to get on with the attack that they did not bother to send anyone back witii their prisoners. The prisoners came' down willingly enough. Many of them were quite young—mere boys. As one of our men put it, they had never seen a razor in all their life." One saw tliem too, being carried in by our stretcher-bearers, pale and uncomplaining, with their life's blood ebbing on the battlefield when they should have been with their fathers and mothers in their own homes. They were, of course, not all youngsters, and subsequently in the later'attack on Passehcndacle the New Zealanders found themselves up against toughr material of the .lager type, men who stuck sturdily to their ''pill-box" positions and fought well, though under a less punishing barrage than we put across their ground on the first occasion.

There were prisoners very shaken and seared. Some evidently had been told terrible tales of British ferocity, and were surprised that our men should give them cigarettes and help along their wounded. One youth walked for more than a mile with his hands at the ready, and put them up whenever he met a New Zealand soldier. His progress along the duckwalk was comical in the extreme, his arms going up and down as if be were a marionette worked with a string. Among .the prisoners were two battalion commanders. Generally speaking the officers were more subdued, not to say despondent, than any we had captured in fanner battles. BRAVERY OF THE TROOPS. As on the'other flank, so here officers and men behaved with the utmost gallantry. The men speak in praise of one batHlion commander whose gallant conduct impressed them greatly. He went repeatedly through the enemy's barrage, steadying and encouraging his men. The manner in which subalterns and n.c.o.'s carried on in the face of difficulties when

the»r seniors in command were killed or wounded was an inspiration to all. I have heard the story of a corporal who led his section gallantly almost to the final objective. He belonged to an Auckland unit. Just before reaching the objective he had bis arm 'blown off by a shell, but with magnificent courage and determination he refused assistance, and continued to urge his men on for some little time afterwards.

A signaller with the Aucklanders did excellent work in maintaining communications under heavy shell 6-e. Once he was completely buried 'by the debris cast up hy a shell. His comrades cUig him out. Much bruised and shaken he might very well have gone back, but he insisted on carrying on. A second lieutenant, after capturing with his men two positions under shell and machine-gun fire, began to consolidste, but found other machine-guns firing on the position from the front. Taking two men with him he worked round on the position flank in killing

gun?. In this exploit he was severely wounded.

A Wellington subaltern found his platoon held up near Gravenstafel by three machine guns tiring from a ''pill-box" a little farther up the slope, lie quick])' organised a small party, rushed the position, and captured the guns and no fewer than z.'t prisoners. In this rush he was woumk'd, but lie continued 1;o lead his men until their objective had been reached. THE STORY OF A 'DEERSTALKER. In one of the Wellington units there is an elderly little man, whom wc will call Harrington, in whom the spirit of adventure was surely inherited from some soldier ancestor. Harrington, whom I met on the battlefield next day, assured me himself that his grandfather, who fought in earlier wars here, is "carved in marble", somewhere in France. In New Zealand Harrington is known to the runholders and deerstalkers of the Wairarapa district. Out towards the East Coast there is a station on which the red deer increased so rapidly that the hinds had to be shot off in thousands in the Winter because they were eating rather more grass than was good for a wellstocked run. Harrington was one of the men put on to reduce their numbers, and himself shot two thousand. He used to disappear into the woods with his rifle and ammunition, some tea and a few pounds of flour, and eome back with a record in "lugs." He was a wonderful shot. Seldom he failed in bringing down a trotting hind with a bullet clean through the neck—a shot that brings them to their knees at once. In one winter there were four thousand deer shot on that station. He got a shilling a head and supplied his own ammunition, so there was some need for his being a good shot. He could not afford to make manv misses.

Harrington was rejected for the Boer War in the New Zealand contingents, and lie tells an interesting tale of how lie, in company with a parson's son and a policeman, stowed away in one of the transports, swam ashore at Capetown, slept out on the slope* of Table Mountain, afterwards joined Brabant's Horse, and saw much service. He has also a wonderful tale to tell about stowing away on a train from Cairo to Alexandria in order to* get to Gallipoli. "But," he said, "they stopped mc a.t Alex., and gave me fourteen days' detention. Then they shoved me in the Veterinary Corps!" This part of the story I cannot vouch for, but the deer-stalking part of it and what follows are Tacts well authenticated. There was doubt in the mind of Harrington's company officer whether he was fit for such a battle as was likely to he fought on the Cravenstafel Ridge, so ho was sent down to the M.O. In answer to questions, he said there was nothing the matter with him, and he would lil,y> to take a hand in this coming fight. The doctor decided to give him a chance, and let him go back to his unit. He went straight through with the others to the final objective, and from the crest of the ridge they saw a number of Germans | hurriedly retreating. This was Harrington's chance—the chance' of a lifetime—but just as he was going to fire his company commander, a plucky young officer, Itook Harrington's rifle to do the shooting himself! Then he ordered Harringto/jto take the place of a runner who had been killed. The new runner did his work thoroughly, notwithstanding his years, and with an utter d ; sregavd of she'll fire. 'He took important messages in quick time to Battalion Headquarters in face of both machine-gun and shell fire. Not only did he do this, hut he attended to wounded men under dangerous conditions, moving them to places where they were out of reach of the bullets. Not content with all this, unaided, he captured a ma-chine-gun and two German gunners. Late in the day Harrington was scon very happy, for he had found a German who had a bottle-of whiskey in his kitBut he never forgave his commander for taking away his rifle at a time when he might have dropped any number of Germans, just as he had dropped the hinds in the winter shooting on the East Coast of New Zealand. "Fancy 'im takin' away my rifle at a time like that," he was heard to say, "An' me the best shot in all New Zealand!" CANTERBURY AND OTAGO MEN. The Canterbury and Otago men in this fight were no whit behind their North Tsland brethren in deeds of valor. I heard of a Canterbury captain, who, just before reaching his objective, was held up iby the usual machine-trun fire. At once lie organised an attack on the position, and, himself leading the way, got not only the machine-gun, but seventeen prisoners in addition. The company on his left having lost all its officers, he took command of it and directed the consolidation operations of both companies.

Then there was a Canterbury stretch-er-bearer who did magnificent work for forty hours at a stretch, and who with alacrity and cheerfulness responded to every call. A sergeant took charge of his platoon, and, after having been badly wounded, continued leading and cheering on his men. He did not cease in his efforts until he became helpless through paralysis. An Otago batta.lion commander; when the situation was obscure, himself went forward, in spite of the shelling, and gallantly reconnoitred the position so that the subsequent operations of his battalion were facilitated. Capains, subalterns, n.c.o.'s and men of the Olagos distinguished themselves by their bravery, initiative, and tirelessness in all this fighting. With almost reckless courage they charged pill-boxes from which machine-guns were firing, and in every instance killed or captured the enemy crews. One sergeant, when his platoon officer was severely wounded, alf'iough wounded himself, took over the command, and, under heavy shell fire, consolidated the position th»>, had been won- These Otagos while holding the advanced position until the hour of attack jwerc heavily shelled almost without respite for eleven or twelve hours, but bravely they hung on. When a section was holding the advanced position later in tne day a stretcher-bearer, seeing one of the men lying wounded in front, went out in view of the enemy, bound up the man's wounds, and carried him into a little bit of trench that gave shelter. All the time the locality was being heavily shelled. He then had the wounded man con"eyed back to a regimental aid post. Undoubtedly, but for his prompt and brave action the man would have bled to death. In one ''pillbox" four machine-guns and thirty men were captured. With such incidents the day passed on to victory, glorioi- 0 ---id eompV-^e. AFTER THE FIGHT. BUSHP^c: 7 THW OO^WNICATIONS Belgium, Oct. 18. The battlefield next morning presented a scene of tremendous energy struggling in the of a vast desoiatiou. All ■* •"• ' T'lfc >" •-'

secured their objectives, and the enemy, bleeding and crippled, had been 'hurled back from strong positions—from heights that ho had thought impregnable, and that ho had no doubt hoped to hold through another winter. Looking now at the ground across which the troops had fought one marvelled at their success. One felt that had we occupied such positions they would never be taken. The. courage of our men and their determination were certainly immeasurably superior to the bravery and resolution of the enemy opposed to u s in this fight. It was plain that in the ("ierinan line were too many young lads whoso hearts were not. in the fight. They surrendered too easily the moment our men got to close quarters with them. Where they did not surrender they were killed, and one of our men was frequently a match for four of them. But for their concrete, reinforced with rounded iron as thick as a man's finger, and sometimes with still stouter iron-like, the metal of a railway, they would have had many more killed. There were, of course, some troops of sterner stuff, who did fight to the last, but these were not in the majority. THE STREAM OF TRAFFIC. On this battlefield the traffic was not nearly so congested as it was on the Somme. There, roads are fewer than in the more fertile Flanders country, and where before we had only one road for two or three divisions, here there was usually a road for eacli division. As on the Somme, the roads had been torn by shell fire, but that other army of La'bor Battalions that works behind the trout, yet close enough up to be under shell-fire day and night, was alreadv busy with millions of feet of baulk timber, which, laid erossways, kept the lorries and limbered waggons, and mule trains from becoming one inextricable tangle in places where the metal had been blown away. Along these roads went the great streams of lumbering lorries to the farthest possible point. Beyond the point where the plank road ended for the time being, the stream narrowed to one of limbered waggons and mule trains, splashing through mud, in places knee deep. A light tramway already ran well forward. It was all very wonderful, and very interesting. Overhead sailed the German planes observing all this, and, later on came shelling to stop the wort. But the work went on,, on, and it was evident that the enemy had not too many guns to spare for this job. THE WOUNDED,' We called in at a dressing station where ftie wounded'were being cared for. Amongst them, still lying on their stretchers, were several (Hermans, strangelv silent and thoughtful. They got the same attention as our own men and seemed grateful for it. The wind had the nip of late autumn, if not of winter, in it, and the wounded, some of whom had been lying out all night, were glad of warm food and drink. Not one of them complained, and many were even cheerful. On one of the stretchers was a young Wellington man who had. got as [far as ''Berlin" and had then been hit. He said there was a big Oerraan dug-out there, and fifty or sixty Germans in it sheltering from our barrage. There were a lot of enemy machine-guns there, 'and in the vicinity. Several Germans were killed, ahd a number taken prisoners. They were a mixed lot, some very young and others quite elderly. Two such men we saw at this dressing ftation, the one, a pale-faced boy with hands like a girl's, the other a' typical Prussian, with a very swollen face that gave him a repulsive look, like the superman caricatures that the Boche had done of themselves in the hall at Suzoy on the French front. * THE ROAT> MENDERS. ' Tiie road-makers and the road-mend-ers were busy all along this line, but with many interrnpticfw to their wark as the traffic rolled by. Limbered waggons with their painted shells rattling in their wooden boxes ploughed through the mud. Mules, each with eight eigh-feen-pounder shells, foilr on either side, slung a canvas apron made to go over the ordinary saddle, splashed the mud over you as they toiled towards the front. And there were engineer stores, food, and water and blankets, and a dozen other Wrings, all going up. In the final stage a good deal of it reached its destination on the backs of men.

Along this road the engineers and the Maori Pioneer Battalion were doing good work. On either side of the road was a wilderness of shell holes, almost all of thnm full to the brim with water. On a. slope on the right one of His Majesty's Tank lay pathetically derelict, a reminder of a former conflict. Near here a battalion of the Rifles were at work. The Maoris were carrying on their !>road shoulders great fascines that other of their fellow tribesmen had cut in the French forests many miles behind the line. <: You having the good time up hero?" I remarked to one sturdy warrior with the name of P. B. Te Pohatu printed with, an indelible pencil on his gas respirator. .

"No fear," he replied; and when I asked him the reason he did not mince his words. "To much phirry Bosche shell," he said, with a grin that revealed a set of teeth tha't would make light work of breaking up even an army biscuit. SIGNALS. Along the line of route men from the Signal Company were still looking to the communications. Theirs is a somewhat thankless task, for the linesmen are not in the limelight. The excitements of the slow advance, the thrill of the bayonet charge, are not for them. If things go at all wrong they are more likely to be cursed than praised. And in battle things' generally do go wrong with signals, so that at times human' flesh and 'blood; have to do the work of the wires. That is often the ease in the forward positions. The running of lines from cable head to brigade forward stations is not altogether a sinecure, and the maintaining of lines once they had been laid is not easy when a fierce hattie is raging. Still it is attempted, and; with certain interruptions, done. Tn one section in this battle three hundred yards of line was broken in thirty places, and r.ven worked sixteen hours' out of the twenty-four endeavoring to maintain the connection. One lance-corporal was in this battle blown up by shell fire for the fourth time. On the first occasion he escaped with the loss of his shirt; the second time he was blown out of a trench and suffered slightly from slk..jk; wliilt his thirdr experience left him "Vi slight wounds. ALONG THE TRACKS. ' The work of pushing on the tracks to dump-heads near Gravenstafel was at times exciting enough. Here the engineers took many of the risks of the fighting soldier. You* could see young engineers 'superintending the work under fire Officers, n.c.o.'s and men worked .with a will, scorning the danger. Pushing the mule track forward under shell lire was quite an enlivening occupation. Recow^ ; "sances-had to be made for the L*°. r iSp!f- in SJf.* n * infantry ""l * , ■ ? ■" ■ '

and material was carried up under the enemy barrages. Fortunately his barrages were not so destructive as one might have expected from the German artillery.

Along these roads and tracks the D.A.O. did splendid work. One watched thorn admiringly in daylight and darkness splashing along. Sometimes a shell would explode and men and mules' would be blown sideways from the road or right off the track. One saw pathetic little groups huddled in strange shapes —men and animals that had died in the strenuous work of feeding the guns and the troops. There was not time as yet tc trouble about burying them—the living, and not the dead, were the chief concern. One marvelled to see hot meals supplied up near the firing line. One night near Weiltje a few days before the battle, a supply column came under hostile shelling, and the wagon teams stampeded. A corporal with the column stopped a team that had 'bolted along the road full of transport and troops at considerable risk to himself. He then returned to another wagon that was in difficulties, and soon that the team clear, although one horse had been killed and the driver wounded. He himself was in turn wounded, 'but he pluekily attended to the wounded driver and then carried on his work with the column.