ON THE NEW ZEALAND FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 June 1918, Page 7

ON THE NEW ZEALAND FRONT.

OOKSTANT A?® SUCCESSFUL SMDENG. a t! . AWARDS GRANTED MB j, 1 GtAULANTRT. 1 n (From Caiptain Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces in the Field.) » 0 By Cable, June 11. ' h recently the New Zealanders n have not been in severe fighting,' it will p have been noticed that they have been u getting a good many immediate awards, e This is largely the result of their daring o and initiative in successfully raiding the e enemy, even in broad daylight. Some I of our units_have made a specialty of d this work, outwitting, killing, and cap- j turing the enemy time after time, and I geting off themselves with ibarely a c scratch. I The fame of an Otago man, who goes a out with a pal or two when the spirit J moves him, and invarialbly comes badk with some prisoners, has spread even to *" the adjoining divisions. "If the General 1 wants a prisoner he can have one at any s time for the asking," was a recent re- I mark of his. , Frequently such raids are planned by .• m\'s and the men .themselves, and bat- j :ii on commanders and brigadiers know little or nothing of them till tbey are over and the men produce the goods in i!:o shape of. anything up to half a ( iozon very much surprised Boches. | Some daring New Zeal&nders go out ( at night and mark down an enemy post, t and on the following day creep up an old 1 labyrinth of communication trenches or j across No Man's Land, armed with re- j volvers and bomlbs. .The Boches, taken ( by surprise, as a rule, surrender, and if i there are any who refuse to come in ■ they are (promptly dealt with by means j of bomlb or 'bullet- i The other day some of our men came j upon one of theso enemy outposts, and ■ quickly had it at their mercy. One ■ German who was writing a letter or , reading a paper in the trench knew no- , thing of the raid till a stalwart New Zealander jumped from the parapet on to his chest. At two o'clock one afternoon two of our n.co.'s crept up within ten yards of an enemy post, and then, hearing a movement within, jumped through the wire and captured two prisoners on top. On returning they were heavily 'bombed by the enemy, with the result that the Germans killed one of their own men and wounded one of ours in the arm. With the exception of the dead German, the party reached our lines in safety. The last of these raids was carried 1 out on a beautiful sunny morning ' two n.c.0.'9 and four men. They worked ' down by a hedge till they got a full ' view of an enemy post. They saw three - mgn shoulder fiigh aibove the trench. 1 The New Zealanders then moved down ' another trench, leaving two men on the * watch. The other four worked down beside the hedge , 'crossed oyer the 5 enemv wire, and jumped Tight into the i enemy post. Two Germans were immediately caiptured- Within a further 15 r yards three bivouacs yielded five mott> ' prisoners- The raiders, with their bag, then made their way back across country to the starting-post, thence along the southern side of the hedge, and so i' into our ow n line-% without casualty, a This method of capturing the Boche B without preliminary (bombardment saves e a lot of monev_as well as casualties to us. The following awards have been made: — e MM.-—Sergeant P. McGregor, Otago. 0 Military Cross. —Second-Lieutenant M. MaoDonald, Rifles. '• Military Medal.—'Rifleman F. P.Drury 4 and W. H. Edwards. Rifles; Sergeant 0. n A. White, Bombardier R- D. Pattie and Corporal MaoNamara, Field Artillery; i- Sergeant A. Swainson, Otago.