ANZACS UNDER DEADLY SHORT-RANGE FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 247, 16 October 1917, Page 5

ANZACS UNDER DEADLY SHORT-RANGE FIRE.

ADVANCE HELD UP BY SNIPERS AND MACHINE-GUNS. LONDON. October 15. -•Ir. Phihp Gibb.. describing Friday's battle, says that the Anzae troops on the right flank made good. They reached the edge of a hummock called west Farm, and killed the garrison, but the German machine-gunners and riflemen holding another knoll beyond Crest Farm subjected the Anzacs to a deadly short-range tire. The Anzacs would ba.e held their ground here none tn? l»i s jj t h e y j. a d been supported on the left, but other Anzacs, who were sv '-ifc a bad time in the swamps there, were unable to make much headway iv a deadly fire from higher ground. Rain fell the whole time, making -c ground even worse than before. The mist thickened, preventing the aero-F-Uies from directing the guns. Consequently it was decided not to continue second stage of the attack, and to withdraw the Anzacs on the right e _tre. Th e Cermans on Friday afternoon opened an intense barrage lasting night. The German defences were protected by blockhouses. All the fcacnine guns from the supporting lines were sent to this front. The enemy aever massed so many machine-guns on bis front. Many were posted in rces. Tnere uvre never so many riflemen scattered among the shell craters. "c machine-gun fire and rifle fire never ceased for an instant during the "ack. Our men, floundering in the bog*, were unable to keep up with the wage. The German snipers and gunners shot with a cool aim while our awn struggled forward.—, A. and N.Z. Gable. 1 -'lr. H. P. Robinson, again confirming recent German violations of the -ross. says that in some units the proportion of casualties among the 'retcner-bearers exceed- those of the infantry, as the result of deliberate P in g. Two day.- ago three out of four members of a stretcher party were C, -Ped at close range, and shot dead. A British officer in a shell hole near by, "!_ the shooting, seized a Red Cross flag, and. waving it conspicuously, Relied straight at the .niper's hiding-place. He halted a few yards from « German position. The Cermans. presumably out of curiosity, withlield r tore. Speaking ,n German tiie officer poured out his indignation, point- ,.' " at r ''" German stretcher-bearers v.ere moviug about unmolested. The '-nnans h-teiicd in silence. The officer finished, turned back, tossed away the .: and flounder..l back into the shell hole.—("Times.") Mr Douglas Haig reports:—Eastern county troops made a successful raid n-east of Moncby le Preux, on the Arras-Cambrai Road. Friday's prisoners j' 1 " 0 * been ascertained to have numbered 943. including 41 officers. A l *n air patrol on Saturday encountered a formation double its strength. fight ensued. Four of our machines did not return. Allied .ne_, arriving too late to participate, saw several enemy machines falling, of cottrol. pUv Fr '" ncii 'ommunique states:—Lively artillery activity has been dis- - on tne Aisn- lront. especially in the plateaux region and on the right Wk of tae Meu*e.-(A. and N.Z. and Reuter.)