WHOLE BATTALION DIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 February 1919, Page 6

WHOLE BATTALION DIES.

FRENCH TRIBUTE TO THE DOMINIONS. A thrilling story of a British battalion —tlie 2nd Devons—that fought to the death is briefly told in g. special order which Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Ha.ig recently issued to the troops in France. The order embodies a translation of an order of the sth French Army, which' was issued by General Berthelot on August 20. The translation is as follows: "On May 27, 1918, at a time when the British trendies were being subjected to fierce attacks, the 2nd Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment, repelled successive enemy assaults with gallantry and determination, mid maintained an unbroken front till a late hour. The staunchness of this battalion permitted defences south of —— to bo organised and their occupation hy reinforcements to he completed. "Inspired by the sangfroid of their unllaut commander in the face of an intense bnmhanlment. the few survivori of the battalion though isolated and without hops of assistance held on to tlicir trenches north of the river and fniioht to tlio ] as t an unhesitating oliedience to orders. 'Tims tin! whole battalion—colonel, twenty-eight officers, and 252 non-com-missioned officers and men —responded with one accord and offered their lives in ungrudging sacrifice to the sacred cause of the Allies."