NEW ZEALANDERS IN ACTION.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 20, 30 July 1920, Page 2

NEW ZEALANDERS IN ACTION.

NEWS FROM F3ANCE. F1RST WELLINGTON HAS A "WARM GO.'4 (Extract from "N.Z. Chronicle." Nov. 22, 1918.)

We were in snug "possies" on a ridge in reserve and railes away from the line, where all we had to worry about was how to dodge parade during the day and Fritz s aeroplane bombs by night. Alas, however, such liappy times soon some to an end in this part of ihe world, and on Wednesday morning October 9, we moved forward, The day was bright and sunny, and we found it warm marching. Rumours of all descriptions passed amongst us as we moved along. We were only going up a few kilos, to remain in reserve until the Division took over, and after that we were moving baek again. As we pushed 6n we passed Divisional Headquarters, and there spotted another Divisional Commander conferring with ours, and that naturally strengthened our hopes of an early relief. — We crossed the Canal about 12.30, and halted on the further. side for lunch, on ground which only a waek or so before had seen strenuous fightirg. The whole battalion, four companies and Headquarters, enjoyed their midday meal together. While we were thus engaged ihe Divisional Mounted Polics moved up beyond us. Naturally, they were greeted with "rousing cheers" from the fighting men. "Must he a long way from the war yet, diggers. There go the Police u > ahead -of us,"' were the remarks passed by one digger when he recognised Ihe blue puggarees. At 1.15 p.m. we took up the trail again, bearing half-right from our position on the canal bank. A village appeared in the hollow ahead of us, and we picked our ; way amortg the heavy traffic moving towards it. On the roadside we came across a battery or so of English lreavy artillery. The guns were silent, and the gunners about were sitting smoking. "Out of range, chum," was the replv wa received when we asked them where the war was. We entered the village and passed along the main street. Since the Hun had been pushed back his shell fire had reduced every . thing to ruin. Beautiful brick buildings lay shattered, the church in the centre had had its steeple top blown off, and the cemetery at its foot was nothing but a mass of shell-holes and ruined tombstones. German dead lay everywhere, telling the beavy toll the diggers had taken as they advanced. One German, in the attitude of firing a rifle, lay dead against the brick wall of a building. It was the last buildinr on the farther side of the village, and he had evidently sought protection round its corner while he kept up a fire on those advancing up the street. A digger had apparently surprised him from the rear, and, when shot, his xifle had merely fallen from his grasp and his body had sagged against the wall, finding support there, and as we passed he looked for all the world as if he were alive instead of stiff and dead. The Maori Pioneers were in the village filling in the shell-holes and generally clearing the way towards the line. Several of them had been prowling about the ruined French houses. and had salvaged some articles of apparel, whieh they seemed to take a huge delight in wearing. One chap had a hard hat on, another wore a woman's veil under the back of his steel hat, and a glaring red tie adorned another. War or no war, they seemed quite happy. We pushed on up a short rise. In a sunken road vre came across a German ammunition waggon, which had fallen foul of one of our shells. In .among the remains of ihe six horses all the drives lay dead. The limber was shattered on oa e side, and sacks full of vegetables- — potatoes especially— lay seathcred everywhere. We advanced about another mile and were then allotted our ar,eas for digging in for the night. Most of us dug holes in the Ievel ground about two or three feet deep, and long enough to lie down in, an>l with oilsheets over the top to keep out the damp we turned in for the night. A little later a drizzly rain came on, and the air turned chilly on top of it. So we slept not so warmly as we should have liked. Nest morniixg we "stood to" until 10 a.m., awaiting orders, and rumours staxted to fly round again. "The Division are just in rear, and are taking over to-night. Wo're not going any further up." That was the first one which came from the vicinity of the cookers about hreakfast

time, but by 10 o'clock the tune changed. "Fritz is going for his life, and there is no established line. The relieving Divisiov won't take over until we hold a defin-i-tc line. The first Brigade has to go forward and establish one." About 12 noon we moved forward again, and it began to be whispered roimd among us that there was a stunt on— one objective that night, October 10, and another the following morning. We crossed the main railway from Cambrai to , and found its rails with pieces about six inches long cuc o-ut of them every few yards. Crossing it we found ourselves in a wide stretch of beautiful country for miles ahead. Every here and there were huge crops of mangolds, and every other square foot of ground bore evidence of having been made full use of by the Hun for grain cropping last season. The cGuntryside was dotted with small villages in the far-away back areas we had just left, where everything had been reduced to ruins by shell fire. To look at the country we were passing through and then imagine bloodshed and was a very hard thing to do. Everything looked so civilised and peaceful. At 4.30 p.m. we halted to make ready for tea. The battalion transport had not arrived, having gon,e a round-about way by road, and we had some time to wait. When it did arrive, one particular company cooker was missing, and full details as to the cause leaked out later when it arrived. They had taken a wrong turning which took them to another village some distance away, where they were met by an enthusiastic refugee population. "Bon Soldiers! Vive l'Anglais!" they greeted, and out of sheer joy almost hugg d our cooks and storeman. Our boys wondered what on earth had happened wher they met with this reception, and there being only a few of them they felt rather embarrassed. However, they found the right road again, and came back with the tea for their anxiously waiting company. One girl in this viila-ge is reported to have done fourteen months' hard labour for giving a handful of com to a "Tommy" prisoner, and a little boy and his sister, both aged about nine, were given several lashes with a whip for taking a handful of wheat each from a heap the Germans were putting into bag,s. Everywhere there was evidence of the severe domination over the civilian population. They all appeared terror-stricken and frightened if they were spoken to. Some of them looked as if they did not yet realise they had been liberated. After tea wTe pushed on again, and had hardly gone a hundred yards before we heard that the night's objective had been taken by the South Islanders, who bad followed up another Fritz retirement. He had dug in again on the banks of the canal. Our objective was to be a rise cn the further side. Darkness was not long in coming, and we soon had the unpleasant experience of floundering about looking for our way in a pitch-black night. By this time we were getting fairly tired, and most of us felt rather glad that old Fritz had retired beyond our objective. None of us felt very hostile just then. We tramped and tramp. ed ahead, but still seemed to be getting no nearer the war. In a sunken road we came across some of our South Island cobbers — a reserve company. "How far's the war, Big?" was the first question we asked. "About another two and a-half miles vet. Goodluck!" Securing a few mere shovels from them to "dig in" xvith, we set our teeth and pushed on again. Between 10 and 11 p.m we marched through the village of - — — , situated on the top of a rise and looking down on the canal. As we went through, the Hun was putting 8-ineh stuff into it, making things any thing but pleasant. We put on steam ar.,1 moved as fa^t as we could. A few ga.-: shells also were lohbing round and the wr smelt strongly of gas, and once when we were passing where one had burst half an honr or so earlier our ey,es began to weep, and handkerchiefs were brought intj prominent display, but the air was not thick enough to make necessary the wearing of masks. Next we came to a mine-crater in the centre of the main road, a huge hole, big enough to hury a fair-sized liouse in. "Look out Dig! There's a whizz-bang

hoie. Keep to the left." This remark was one of those passed back along the column. And we now often wonder what old Fritz would say if he heard the diggers calling his traffic-blocking minecratns wliizz-bang holes. Passing out. of the village we followed a down-hill road for several hundred yards, but, branching off this to the left, we picked a way in the darkness across the fields toward another village on the canal bank. We negotiated several wire fences by crawling under or through them, and crunched through patches of mangolds. We crossed a small gully and were incar to the top of the further side — tmee companies in all— when Fritz opened up cn us with whizz-bangs. It seemed as if he had spotted- us through the darkness and was just letting us know that we had at last bumped up against the front line. Salvo after salvo he fired over, altering his range every other one, until we had them "lobbing" all round us. Suddenly, in the midst of it all, three of us thought we spotted a light shining towards the enemy from the window of a lone house on our left. "Put, that light out!" somebody shouted, and, strange to say it disappeared. Two diggers immediately crossed to the house and prowled round with their rifles at the "on guard," but they could find no one, and we came to the conclusion that what we had seen was a reflection from a flare in one of the windows. The shelling had not ceased, however, and we eased off a little to the left to get out of the line of fire, but, strange to say, it seemed as if Fritz had anticipated our move, for he altered his range and commenced planting his shells exactly where we were ahout to go. We altered our course slightly again, veering still further to the left, and moved almost in a circle. We looked for all the world like a. huge mob of sheep being attacked by worriers. Five minutes more and the shelling ceased as suddenly as it had begurf, and me moved again in the direction of the canal village. We had gone ahout 109 yards when three of us in the rear of the last column spotted some figures moving back hurriedly on our left. With the suspiclous light, still in our minds we challenged them, but they paid no heed, and instead, seemed to push on all the faster. We three— a boy sergeant-major, and two others — moved out after them, carrying our arms in a handy position. When we came close enough the SergeantMajor challenged again: "Halt! Who are you?" Again they failed to answer, so we ran until we came up with them. They tumed out to be two South Islanders who had become separated from their company and had been too engrossed with their own troubles to take note of us. We assured them they were very lucky, and made back for our crowd. On our way we passed a company commander going out with a wound in the leg. He was the only casualty our Battalion had suffered from Fritz's mad strafe of a f,ew moments before. On the outskirts of the canal village we found the 2nd Brigade dug -in. We relieved them, and they moved back. - As our iellows setled down, misty rain commenced falling, aixl the air grew cold. Patrols were sent forward to reconnoitre the village, which they shortly after reported "All Clear." They had been met by a crowd of French refugees, who gave them an enthusiastic welcome. One party had secured a Fritz prisoner in a celiar — locked him in— and handed him over to us. He was a young fellow, scarcely twenty, and seemed dazed when he found himself in British captivity. Just before dawn two companies crossed the canal and established themselves on the further sid.e. The rest of us then moved up into the village. For somf time things were fairly quiet. An occasional H.E. shell would come whirring overhead, and several small. gas shells kept landing behind us. "Emptying his dumps before pulling back, ' was the common yerdict. One section of us settled down in a village cellar and had a few hours' sleep. Our objective was to be taken the following morning. PunctuaJIy to the minute the barrage opened, and the diggers scrambled out of their possies and pushed forward. In a few moments chits began to come back : Objective taken." For some time all was well. A report came back later, however, stating that Fritz's Jaeger Reserve Division — one of their picked regiments — - had come back at our men after they had dug ki, and had either taken some of them prisoner or had killed them and carried them out. At first we were inclined to disbelieve the report, but in the end it unfortunately proved true, and the rest of us had to fall back slightly and again dig in. From the time his S.O.S. signal went UP> Fritz put over a heavy strafe of fiveminutes. They began falling everywhere, from the front line straight back into reserve. Signal wires, maintaining the communications, were soon severed, and

the linesmen had stiff tasks a] them. It was not long befor ol hit the roof of the huildiug & stcl1 At that time some of us were ^ K ■ Hun prisoners, when the furtherTN the next room ciashcd in, and ' shell: and splinters of slate roof alTi 01 i of brick went flying every,vhere " 1 Huns lost no time in clearing 0«t t building opposite — a brick stable-and I had a fair task to keep them still | The strafe continued until weli aft ^ midday, when it gradually wore 0ff things became almost silent. Bothp^ guns and ours were quiet, and but f the cracks of a few stray shots from °f ers, no one would have known that. was a war on at all! After the stirr^' I events of the morning it seemed uncan?] and every moment we expected a sudd^' break. It did come eventually, at^" four in the afternoon, when he counterJ attacked the Division on our right 1 A whisper then went round among ' that we were going to be relieved "that 1 night, and our hopes began to g0 Up w \ leaps and bounds. Billeting parties were j sent out, so the rumour had good founda- 1 tions. It was about five o'clock when ' we were all "standing to" with packs m ready to move, that the order came for to attack. There was yet another stunt ^ ahead of us before relief. The ridge top 1 had to be taken, so at 6 p.m. we again 1 hopped over, covered by a barrage. Thjg | time, Jaegers or no Jaegers, the digam '] were determined to carry out their job j and they streaked across No Man's Land like so many dogs let loose from the chain 1 and old Fritz bolted for his life. dug in on our objective. When our at j tack opened hejnust have been a the act 1 of withdrawing his guns in rear, I S.O.S. fiares failed to bring forth attpVj, ! and our guns thundered unceasinglj lot'l a full half-hour. In going forward in the darkness oi? j fellows had somehow managed to missii machine-gun "possie," and when tlie oh • jective had been taken this gun opened ; out in all directions. Bullets whizzed eveij, where until it was thought high time U send forth a "mopping-up" platoon. Meairf while, the Fritz gunners had evidentjjl taken note of their position and tried {jmake a break for it through our new$ established front line, but unfortuna%: for them they found Ihe diggers waiting for them ; and out of the 18 or so of J gun crew, 16 were killed, one woundeda and one taken prisoner unhurt. Akcnht - silence reigned , and the next thing we ; knew was that a Compasy had ariwodwl relieve us. Not a shot was fired during ! the whole time the relief was taking ; place, so, weary and tired, but none thd less happy, the diggers tramped back ti] billets for a well-earned rest. If you were by chanee to enter a certain j village and peer through the windows oi! the houses, you would see us, before huge fires burning in big open 'fireplaces, sitting back in comfortable arm-chairs, some with feet on the mantelpieces, smoking pipes, and discussing Germany's latest Deace offer. ON TOWARDS LE Q.UESNOY. I Lying on a cove's back in hard rnri | for an old digger who got something ta® | Fritz on Monday the 4th, soTtieirlfi'aj round about Le Quesnoy. Leaving Solesmes about 5.30 on | night we marched a distance of si® , fourteen kilos. A drizzling rain commenced j falling, but soon eased off. Every ew.j yards the long procession would kai ^ | and jgrowl ! (It would make Bairnsfat er s '01e °Bill coin new growls). The joumj took about six hours. We had euppefj and some men at its end ; and there m | open, 'midst cookers and nmch I10I£e"| and with yon Damitall not far away managed about five hours' sleep. w_ , again, we had some "kai,'1 to f°A 1 old dig. for the fray, and tbe began "Our battery (1st tTJj went in with six gun-teams, as t a ^ was on a very large scale an 1C | strength of the unit was being use That assembly in the dark ! L'S-1 ^ ^ everywhere. Jerry— who was ?o , away, as his Very lights ^ A completely ignored. About J were ready, and the guns npP«a * ( irg flashes into the paling have never had such a g^or^ouS nI., oi j since Messines, Dig. The ham»the guns was like the continuou- ^ those big engines climbing up takas. _ ,ater with J We had orders to get ^ #» : our company, and after a wni ,y)y;l lunged. The day light : it developed into a light mis ' (j]al,(j««| smoky aspect ; and the sma ^ soon were passing throug ^ ^ I delighted the eye of an q{ c3V passed down through l°nc ^ical bages of the blue, pickling « il ^ Fritz had planted for s" , 0j Solesmes, too, he had a J two hundred acres o ^ variety. Cabbages, ^b"^ morfi cabbages .-®8 ' .