WESTERN FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 April 1918, Page 6

WESTERN FRONT.

IHE VILLERS BATJTLB,' AUSTRALIANS' SPLENDID WOKK : London, April 26. Mr. Gibbs writes: After writing yesterday's dispatch many things happened. We lost Villers Bretonneus completely, and the enemy was in the village long enough to staff it with men and ma-chine-guns. Till 10 o'clock on Wednesday night the Germans .believed tbey held it firmly and permanently. Then came a brilliant counter-attack. The Australian troops, by a most skilful and daring piece of generalship, were sent forward in the darkness without preliminary artillery preparation, relying absolutely on the weapons they carried to regain tfte important postiion which gave the enemy full observation of our positions on botli sides of the Homme and the valley beyond to Amiens. The splendid courage of the Australi' ans, the cunning of their machinegunners, and the fine leadership of their officers achieved success- In conjunction with English battalions they spent the night clearing out tbe enemy from the village, where he made a desperate resistance. We brought back between 700 and 800 prisoners. It was a complete reversal of fortune for the enemy, whose bodies lie in heaps between VillersBretonneux and Warfusee, and all about the ruins and fields of the neighborhood. That sector of the valley of the Soinme is no longer under fire : indeed our guns and the enemy's alike declared a truce, because the English, Australian and German soldiers were mixed up so closely that shelling was impossible on both sides. The German machine-gunners on Wednesday morning at many places were entirely cut off by the Anglo-Australian counter-attack. Small parties of Germans were resisting behind the ruins and banks while our men were engaged in routing them out. The roads behind the British lines are much cut up by the murderous German artillery fire, and passing along broken roads were-living men with the ash grey color of dead bodies. They were German prisoners under the escort of English and Australian soldiers. Throughout the morning I saw groups of prisoners limping along the roads, sometimes carrying stretchers with wounded officers. The men had been many hours without food, as they were cut off from supplies by our artillery fire. The English county regiments which were holding Villers endured a terrible ordeal of monstrous fire, which many say was the worst seen in the whole war. Finally the enemy turned the western side of the four German divisions, each of twelve regiments in full strength, managed to fight their way into the village. The Middlesex Regiment, the West Yorks, and East Lancashires put up a great fight, but were compelled to retire to the edge of the Abbe Wood, while the enemy crammed Villers-Bretonneux with men and machine-guns. The moon was Teiled by a thick wet mist and the Australian general decided that the men should'go straight into the attack with bayonets and machineguns without waiting for the artillery preparation which would tell the enemy what was coming. The plan of attack was to push forward two bodies and encircle Villers, while the Northainptons and other British troops in the centre fought through the village from the north. This manoeuvre was carried out owing to the magnificent courage of the Australians. ' The Germans fought desperately when they found themselves entrapped. They had machine-guns along the railway embankment below the village, and these fired fiercelv. sweeping the attackers, while those who worked round the northeast of the village also came under bursts of machine-gun fire, from the ruins, but they fought the enemy from one bit of ruin to another in the'street.