PICTURESQUE AND ROMANTIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1918, Page 6

PICTURESQUE AND ROMANTIC.

1N<OT.!!OTB- , EEV<" WILIi '3ii 20J-

i November !? (10 &.r.\.) Whcji tales of fiercer fights Ihavc alTUiJi't 'jcsn forgotlcr. the storm ins; and c&pusrs of 1a: Qiu-snoy by the New Zealand Hint Brigade will bo rvineinbcred as one of the most picturesque and romantic i<i<vkmts of the war. The j old fortress, which lias stood many sieges, is slili wonderfully strong witili I precipitous ramparts of well-preserved | brick bastions crowned with, tall trees I and a dry moat fronting the inner raniI part. Many besiegers have bad a tilt at [it in olden times. In 1793 the Austrians i stormed it after ten days bombardment that laid the town in ruins. In fI)J.S [ troops from the farthest British dominion have captured it from what was t)ho I world's greatest military power in as many hours. Though ultimately it fell to one battalion, the fourth, the credit of its capture belong.? almost equally to the other battalions of the brigade and 1 those of the first brigade that fought so gallantly and gradually enveloped the town in face of determined opposition. Tho German orders were to hold the town to the last. Dawn was just breaking as our troops who had assembled overnight in rain advanced to the attack behind a magnificent barrage. Mingled with the bursting of ordinary shells were shells of Mehium and Stokes trench mortars while from still others descended a smoke curtain that screened the main advance and protected the flanlis from a possible deadly hail of machine-gun bullets. The fire at zero ! hour was truly terrific. Small vronder that in this track of this cyclonic battle(Storm were found afterwards the bodies of dead Germans and many wounded iiwho could neither walk nor crawl away.

OUR FIRST OBJECTIVE. The high embankment of the railway fronting the outer ramparts was our first objective. Thia waa strongly held and gained only after stubborn fighting during which, several Germans were killed and wounded and others taken prisoner. Approaching the outer ramparts another battalion, the second, found a 77 mm. gun firing at it over open sights making an advance in the face of casualties exceedingly difficult. Meantime other battalions were gradually encircling the town io the south and southwest and the fourth battalion whose advance let us now follow pushed patrols under cover of the barrage and smoke I screen right up to the foot of the outer ramparts and in places on to their bastion heights. When the smoke screen had gradually drifted away there came the stuttering noise of machine-guns' and belt after belt of German bullets whistled through the trees at the advancing New Zealander.s. One platoon found itself cut off. It* commander was killed while endeavoring to extricate his men and in the hollow between two brick walls a daring sergeant rema'uiflt! with his mea for six' hours. CHEERS OP THE INHABITANTS. As the sun rose and the bombardment plackened civilians saw our men on the outer ramparts and greeted them with distant cheers and waving of flags, inspiring them to renewed efforts. But it was not until after midday that the patrols, like wary deer stalkers, began to mark down the Boche machine-guns and snipers and systematically shift them from the cover of their bastions. These enemy positions were bombarded with the only available Stokes mortar and one after another occupied. A narrow thirty foot ladder was hauled along and on this officers and men climbed to the top of the precipitous W shaped bastions dominating the line of advance. Messages sent into the garrison were so far without avail. One dropped by aeroplane told them they were entirely surrounded. Later on an Ultimatum demanding surrender within two hours made tilie commander think that surrender was better than annihilation and the opposition perceptibly slackened, but in sorm- of the rampart positions men had apparently not revived the news and maintained a defensive attitude.

SCALING THE BASTION. I ! This was the situation when the! fourth battalion decided to scale t&« inner wall. In front through the trees they could see a gr»at raoat and formidable rampart of brWk crowned with ma-chine-guns still in action. Only in one ■place was it possible to reacli the bastion by means of their thirty foot ladders. Tlhis was a spot at which the low wall abutted on to the main rampart. In single file the officers led their men to the final assault. The track beaten by their feet can still be seen leading between the trees and along the top of this narrow wall. With a Stoke mortar and machine-guns Olio New Zealanders drove the enemy on to the reverse slope from the summit of the bastion. Then a ladder was placed against the wall. It barely reached the top. Two second lieutenants with three men ascended. It was a thrilling moment. Leaving the last rung of the ladder these men found themselves confronted by a few Germans, who, finding our bullets whistling about them, sought safety in flight down the slope and into an underground cavern where other Bodies were sheltering.

Following upon tins initial success practically the whole battalion streamed quickly in single file along the lower wall and up the ladder. Headquarters, wlhich throughout the day consisted of one signaller with a telephone, and the •battalion commander was being advanced by slow stages from point t» point now mounted the parapet, men paying out the telephone wire as they climbed. Patrols were pushed down the reverse slope and the Bodies Sheltering underground -began to surrender freely. Within a few minutes the whole battallion engaged in the vicinity liad swarmed up the ladder and were dashing into ■the beleagurcd town through the Kue CaiUon which was the first swept vri'Ji our machine-gun Mre.

A UK MOB ABLE SCEXE. Then a memorable scene occurred. The inhabitants realising that at last deliverance Iliad come rushed from cellars and houses and soon from every buildin" the tri-color was flying in the breeze Alone a street lined with an excited cheering throng the Diggers marched embraced and kissed and showered with autumn flowers. Tho enthusiasm know no bound* Here and there a rifle still cracked, our men taking no chances j when they saw a Boche who had. not surrendered. The battalion commander inarched with revolver in one »»nd and csxlands-in the other. The excited cMli&n* stuck flowera in «» me", tunics end even in their gas respirators and fifflowed cheering to the mam squaw wtoere the German eooranferj Willi a. hundred men already drawn up, gurraafcwd to a young NewZwtod

t'i- H-nom ", e handed his revolver.- .\'.-sa:~ tiro« other Germans kid f.clibenwV/ fired sonw of the l.oavi-s and dewy, toiujvr.B v.f black «:n.oke rose and drifted suacoj to the aorOwn rampart?. Two New Bsabtrjfc officers wtn aunt with a Hundred prisoners to figpt the fliuiiK. Oi-b:r prisoners were; j-ounded u;> *ud gjk.lisn-d in the iw.n squill*. Cl<*'e at Jiaiij w«,i ii jrcat .barbed wire enc-Kisar* v.ih-:T« tV-se Frencli men and women «uci our prisoner.-, fctd been loi't in the ixm without food or clothing till somi> of them died of hunger and exposure. The/ seemed surprised that W should tr»av tiie Germans so humanely.

line battalion got Its steaming cookers into vhe town and the men, after their strenuous fighting, enjoyed a hot meal. The inhabitants had given them hot coiree and food frc-n their own scanty stores and pressed upon (li'.ein the best accommodation their homes could afford. Many a digger v.sed to damp clay slept that night on a warm bed. This morning the Divisional General and Brigadier formally visited the town. Ttye former, after a brief stay, rode off to the forest of Mormal to see how his still advancing troops wore getting ou. Beyond Quesuoy- !!iu established headquarters in his motor car. The Brigadier remained to receive a civic welcome and congratulations. The band of the second battalion played the Marsellaise and our National Anthem amid renewed jubilation. Then the- battalion, no\v somewhat reduced in numbers because of its dead and wounded, formed up in t!ie square and headed by a band playing inspiriting mtisic mardhed past the Brigadier, who sitting on ilia charger hand to rim of stce! casque took the salute of his war worn heroes. Swinging proudly down the main street the little column was showered with ilowers and flags. White haired old men doffed their hats as the battalion passed, but the younger people, lert sedate, followed cheering and waving their tri -colors Thus in a cold drizzle of rain, but still in great heart with band playing and flags flying and a solitary English gun shooting at a jar distant target, the New Zealanders marched off from tho old town they had delivered from the ruthless enemy.

A PED-LETTEtt DAY. IN HISTORY OF NEW ZEALANDERS. Novembed stb, (11.10 p.m.). Yesterday and to-day will remain for ever red letter days in the l.istory of the Now Zealand Division. Apart from the capture of Le Quesnoy by the Hide Brigade, the splendid advance of the othet brigades must be regarded as an almost unique achievement. In two days the division had advanced between eight and nine miles fighting all the way. From west of Le Quesnoy it has passed through the great forest of Mormal to within a short distance of the canalised Sainbre. Yesterday the Auckland and Wellington troops, under cover of a smoke barrage, broke through the German lines to the north of to Quesnoy and stormed Eamponeau, Villereau, and ■B'o-binges, through difficult country largely covered with orchards and hedges and dotted with farms. Penetrating right into the enemy battery position, they captured many guns, and by nightfall had estaiblished themselves half a mile inside the forest of Mormal on its Western ride. Many German dead? in the track of these troops and horse teams lie prostrate besides abandoned guns.

The advance was continued to-day by the Otago and Canterbury troops who gained the obje.«tfves east of the forest seven thousand .yards ahead and within about half a inflo of the Samlrre. A feature of this figliiing was that they had to go the whale ti'.iy through the forest without artillery support- Tt was an advanced guard action almost ail tV way, with only machine-gun support for the artillery could move along only outside roads and could not see what was doing in the forest where tne enemy bad posted machine-guns at stars formed by the cross roadl Progress w,as by no means easy. To-day about 150 prisoners were captured.