THE PASSCHENDAELE VICTORY

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 297, 13 December 1917, Page 5

THE PASSCHENDAELE VICTORY

NEW ZEALAND CONTKIBtrTIOjr. "A DEVXt. OF A TIME." (From Onr Special Correspondent.)' l LONDON, Oototer 8. According !f» ifche war correspondenia at the iron* w> must reckon the ba*Ue for the Passchenda,ele ridges as one of the greatest British victories of .iihe- war oil the 'western front, and, if the weather will only lie aiiyways decent ior a epelt —a very great '" if " —at this season of the year—an. -achievement thiait "will prove of supreme strategic importance. Much 'has been ■written concerning tho contributions to victory made by the various units of ttibe Empire Araiy, and where all did co well it would be unfair to single -out any particular couny tries' soldiere for praise. It ie a fact, however, that most of the i correspondents give greater space to trhc doings of .the Australian and Sew Zealand troops which tok part tin ifche battle than to their comradee in arajs from other quaTtera of the Empire, til the course of a couple of columns written on 12» Sunday following: the victory, 3lr. Philip Gibbs, for example, gives much prominence to the New Zealaaders. From his article I quote a. few passages which. wiSl be of interest to your readers. He eavs;. AN ANXIOUS HALF HOUR. The .New Zealanders had many fights on their way up to the Gravenstafel and Abraham Heights, and one thing that surprised them was. the number of pillboxes and blockhouses inhabited by the enemy close to their own lines. They believed that the foremost ones had been deserted. But it must not be forgotten that running all through the narrative of this battle is the thwarted plan of the enemy to attack us in strength the same morning and at nearly the same hour. For that reason he had thrust little groups of men into advancedi posts, and into these most forward blockhouses,, with orders to hold them at all, costs until the attacking divisions should reach and pass them. And for that reason, as we know, the enemy's guns laid down, a heavy barrage over our lines half an hour before our attack started. The New Zealanders did not escape this shelling, and their brigadiers were under the strain of intense anxiety, not knowing in their dugouts, over which, the enemy's fire passed, whether their boys were so cut up that a successful assault would be impossible. As it happened, the New Zealanders were not serf, ously hurt, nor thrown into disorder. When the moment came they went away in waves with the spirit of a pack of hounds on a £ood hunting morning. Aβ fierce as that, and as wild as that. They had not gone more than a few yards before they had fifty prisoners. This was at -a blockhouse just outside the New Zealand assembly line. There was not fight there, but the garrison surrendered as soon ac our men were round their Bhelter. The Hannebeke stream flows this way, but it was no longer within its bounds. Our gunfire Jhad smashed up its track, and all about r waa a swamp made deeper by the rains. The Aew Zealand lads, had a devil of a-time in getting across and through. Some of them stuck up to the kneee, and others fell into shellooles deep in mud as far as their belt*. "Give us a hand, Jack" came a sr,out from one man, and> the answer w AS "Hang on to my rifle, Tom." Men wi; t h the solid ground under their 11 4 r'*V aed out.others in the slough, and all Uat was a great risk of time while m-iv b^ na S e was travelling slowly, ou Wxth its protecting screen of shells., ;WHEN THE DOWN" The only safety in these battles ia to keep close to the barrage, risking tho shorts, for, rf it once passes and foaves any enemy there with a machine gun, there is certain death for many men! The .New Zealand bo>s nearly lost that wall of shells because of the mud, but somehow or other managed to scramble on over 800 yards in time enough to catch it up. Many blockhouses yielded up their batches of prisoners, who were told to get back and give no trouble. The first fight for a blockhouse took place at Van MeulenFarm, just outside the New Zealanders' first objective. The barrage went ahead and sat down., as one of the officers puts it, though the sitting down ot a barrage is a queer simile for that monstrous eruption of explosive force— for a space, From Van Meulen Earm came the swish of machine-gun bullets and 2S T e\v Zealand boys began to drop! They were held up for half an hour until the -'leap-frog" battalions—that is to say the men. who were to pass through the first waves to the next objective, came up to help. It was a Xcw Zealand captan., beloved by all his men for his gallantry and generous-hearted ways, who led the rush of Lewis gunners -and bombers and riflemen. He fell dead with a machine-gun bullet in his heart, but with a cry of rage because of I;hie 8?| at lo ss 5 the other men ran on each side of the blockhouse and stormed it On the left of the Xew ZealandorsMJne one of their battalions could see Germans Tiring from concrete houses on the slopes of the Gravonstafel, and. although they had to lose the barrage, which was sweeping ahead again, they covered that ground and went straight for those places under sharp fire. Some of them worked round the concrete walls and hauled out more prisonere. "Get back there." they shouted, but there was hardly a New Zealander who would go back with them to act as escort. So it happened that a brigadier, getting out of his dugout to see what was happening to his men away there over the slopes, received the first, news of success from batches of Germans who came marching in company formation, under the command of their own officers, and without escort. THE TAKIXG OF '"BERLIN." \ From the Abraham Heights there "was a. steady stream of machine-gun firo until the New Zealanders had climbed them, and routed out the enemy from, their dug-outs, which were not screened by our barrage, so that they were able to fire. Only the great gallantry of high-spirited young men could have done that, and it is an episode which proved the quality of the New Zealand troops on the morning of the battle, so keen to do well, so reckless of the cost. .On. Abraham Heights a lot of prisoners wero taken, and joined the long trail that hurried back through miles of scattered shell-fire from their own jjuns. The next resistance was at Berlin, and the New Zoalanders are proud of having taken, that place, because of its name, which they will write on their scroll of honour. It is not an Imperial place; it is a row of dirty concrete pill-boxes above a deep cave, on the pattern of the old type or dug-outs: But it is a strong fortress for German, machine-gunners, and they defended it stubbornly. It was a five jmnutcs' job. Stokes mortars were , brought up, and fired thirty Tounds in two minutes, and then, with a veil, the Jfew Zealanders rushed the poeitio'n on both sides, and flung pea-bombs through, the back door until part of the garrison streamed out shouting their word of surrender. The other nj»n 'wore dead msiae. - .---?-.