PASSCHENDAELE WON.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1917, Page 3

PASSCHENDAELE WON.

THE CANADIAN ATTACK FEEBLE GERMAN RESISTANCE. 'l.he. capture of Passehendaele by the Canadian troops oil November (>, is thus described by the correspondent of the Mfi'iiing Post: Canadian troops stormed Passc'nendaele to-day. The battle, although confined to a comparatively narrow front, everywhere started off magnificently, and not. the least significant feature was the weak resistance of the troops opposing us. An excellent German division, the Eleventh, composed of hardy Breslau battalions, held Passehendaele, with orders to keep it at all costs. The great Hindenbtirg is said to have issued an order of the day recently emphasising the importance of the position, and declaring that if lost it must be recaptured without delay. Despite this injunction, the East Prussian contingents—w'ho gave a good account of themselves in Champagne—did not stand. A number of Canadians who entered Passehendaele this morning tol'd me that they saw plenty ©f Germans surrendering, and even more running away—,but none who held his ground. THE POINT OP ATTACK. Our advance was made on a front of a little more than two thousand yards between the Broodseinde road at the southern end of Passehendaele village and Goudberg, the line swinging forward in the form of a bow. Wo held the two outlying spurs <by Passehendaele. At Meetc'neele and Crest Farm, their strongest points, the Canadians were on comparatively firm ground level with the Gorman positions they attacked. Between Meotcheele and Crest Farm the flooded valley of the Ravbeek was a gap in our front, although not one that could be of advantage to the enemy. From the Crest Farm area on to the ruins of Passehendaele along the road that Was High Street as far as the market place was only a distance of three hundred yards. In this open space were the remains of the church and a mere mound of cemented cellars, containing many ma-chine-gun?,. They commanded the approaches from the soutli and west. On Meetchcele Spur the' Canadians, lay 'between that hamlet and Mossehnarkt. The crest between Passehendaele and Mosselmarkt held several small 'pill-boxes," and in the ruins of the latter hamlet one larf;e concreted structure dominated the spur along which the Canadians had to advance.

rue distance the Canadians 'had to go varied because of the irregular character of their line: although it was onlv three hundred yards to the heart of the Passchendaele defences .from their front at the R:-oodseinde Road, the men attacking the upper s:-de of the valley further north, had to travel more 'than twice that for before reaching their final objective. The line which at six o'clock stretched across the crest, of the ridge soui!i of Passohendaele and bent westward across the outlaying spurs swept forward almost to a semi-circle. ASSEMBLING IX THE DARKNESS. As the Canadians assembled in the darkness early this morning the Cierman batteries nervously barraged the battlefield around them. It was apparent that they feared a fresh attack. The enemy never thought for a moment that the British troops would make their winter home at the edge of Passchendaele, and this Mow had been expeeteu for several days. Nevertheless, the midnight bombardment had not the slightest eiieel on the concentration of the attacking battalions. Even when the German guns laid down a heavy curtain of tire m front of them just a mini'.co after our own barrage opened, very few Canadians were wounded. The line swung forward without a check. 1 hear .that within twenty minutes the Canadians were rooting out the occupants of the Passchendaele cellars. They met a. hot machine-gun tire from the chinch, supported by isolated gun crews in adjoining emplacements; but nowhere did tliey have to take these defences with the bayonet. High .Street, although still discernible, was so pitted with shell holes that progress bet ween the cellars was very slow; the ground was fairly good as far as mud was concerned, I)Lit it 'had been badly torn bv our explosives, and there were piles of earth and rubble everywhere in their path. The most distinct impression I have been able to obtain of the scene in the village was of Prussians bolting ■out of the cellars and trying to escape down the eastern slope. The Canadians brought up their Lewis guns and killed many of these fugitives. They went through the dug-outs with their bombs and dragged out little groups of prisoners. Judging by the stories I heard there may have been two hundred taken thi s morning, not more. The line qf objective was strongly garrisoned, and as the number of dead lying about would not account for all of the remainder the only Theory is that the others escaped when the attack began. ADVANCE BY TIME-TABLE. Nothing remains of the village except two ragged fragments of solid church tower and rods of iron and concrete over the c-rypt raised a few feet above the broken ground. It seems that the Canadians pushed round the eastern side of the village along the Moorsledc-Roulers Roads and up the highway towards Westroosebeke. and made a line in conjunction with the troops on the left, who approached from Meetcheele. The latter, although covering more ground, do not appear to have had a more difficult task than those sweeping towards Passchendaele from the south. They experienoail some trouble with the big concrete redoubt at Mosselmarkt cross-roads, but they worked round it with their bombs and blew the garrison (of t-ho Fourth Prussian Division) into the open. The smaller 'pill-boxes" were tracked with ease. In 'brief, the passage, of the Canadian's was not marked by any serious opposition nor any great - dramatic incident. Thev all seem to have arrived at. their objectives on time. At a quarter past seven observers brought back the news (hat the Germans were shelling Passchendaele, and a little later flares were reported going up along onr new line signalling the arrival of the Canadian troops on the final objective.