NEW ZEALANDERS IN A HISTORIC CENTRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 303, 20 December 1917, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDERS IN A HISTORIC CENTRE.

• SNIPERS HAVE AN INTERESTING THREE DAYS.

LONDON, December 19. . A correspondent who visited the New Zealand troops says they are at a sector already historic. In years to come New Zealanders will make pilgrimages to tJie spot, where man}' brave men lie buried. To-day the New Zealanders are waging trench warfare as courageously as those who have gone before. There was considerable shelling in the sector to-day, but the Bide extent of the shelling rendered the casualties negligible. "When the New Zealanders went into this portion of the line after the battle of Passchendaele they found that the Germans had been left much to their own devices. The enemy straggled about carelessly in the open over adjoining positions. The New Zealand snipers had an extraordinarily exciting time for about three days, picking off the enemy until the latter lay low. The German artillery has been fairly active against the New Zealanders' communications, but there is no sign of an attack developing. The New Zealanders have had the advantage of exceptional aerial patrols directing the heaviest artillery. For hours daily guns have been steadily silencing enemy batteries. Every provision has been made to give the New Zealanders ample Christmas comforts. The officers are fortunate in being able to fill gaps with a continuous stream of fresh troops, and to keep the units at full strength.— [(A. and N.Z. Cable.)