HEROIC FAILURE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 November 1919, Page 12

HEROIC FAILURE.

STORY OP BELLEVUE. s NEW ZEALANDERS' BRAVERY. WAVES ADVANCE TO DEATH. For several days after the conquest of the Passchendaele Ridge the New Zealand Division busied itself with the congenial work of adapting the German trenches to its own defence system, but ahead was the ugly fortified post of Bellevue Spur, and the story of how the men of New Zealand squandered their life blood in a glorious but fruitless attempt to reduce this enemy stronghold two. years ago is best tola in the cable message which a few days later cause New Zealand itself to thrill from end to end with pride and .sorrow: "Bellevue Spur is aij ugly V-shaped hill, rising to a height of 200 ft above th« flooded Ravebeek Creek, its sides extending 100 yards back into Passchendaele township. At the point of the V, which is about 200 yards wide, a deep concrete structure stands overlooking our lines, with narrow slits manned with machine gunners and snipers, governing every approach. Two irregular lines of wire, each ten feet deep, extend across the front of the redoubt down the hill to the valley, where a smaller redoubt bars the flank. Bellevue looks a forbidding stronghold, and was the scene of one of the greatest incidents of the war. Against this spur thousands of fine-spirited New Zealanders flung themselves at dawn on Friday, October 12, 1917, with high hopes of crowning an unbroken series of victories with the greatest victory of all. The enemy barrage plavetr heavily on them for twenty minutes before the start, but the lads rose eagerly from a line of shell holes and began a steady advance wave, our barrage plunging ahead. The men sank sometimes waist deep in mud. The barrage wenr taster than advance was possible. The enemy machine-gun fire swelled to a shh'elc, and many men fell, but others pressed on. They reached the Ravebeek and plunged into this deep morass. The enemy's main barrage of shrapnel and high explosive descended hereabouts, whilst, machine-guns, which were now thickly studded in trenches between redoubts, seemed to close the passage over the stone road which traverses the morass. Many, nevertheless, pressed irresistible over the dead and across the road, others plunging through the water, though wounded, and some were drowned. Then tho ascent of the slope I>cgan. and the first wave, which was now thin, reached the wire. The gallant lads tried every means of piercing the wire. Wave after wave advanced to death. Many were riddled with bullets and others dropped to the ground and began crawling beneath the wire. Manr who were shot remained where they fell. Some reached to thn other side, charged and fell. One reached the redoubt and began to crawl beneath the slits anil round to the side. Perhaps he might have altered the fortunes of the engagement- with bombs, but he was killed by one of our rifle srrenades, which we were firing from shell holes. The great effort ended. The waves had determinedly expended themselves. The survivors remained in shell holes, the .Taegers sniping so accurately that any head put above ground was shot. They waited another effort, which the commanders decided was undesirable. The line was organised at night time, but later was somewhat withdrawn, in order to permit the shelling of the enemy position." Bellevue Spur was finally taken some days later by the Canadians, after heavy fighting and severe losses. The New Zealand Division was in dire need of repair to its sadly thinned ranks, and was accordingly withdrawn for a rest and reinforcements, after which it spent a trying winter amid the morasses and minefields of a southern sector of tlf& Passchendaele battlefield.