BRITISHERS' WORK

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 185, 5 August 1918, Page 6

BRITISHERS' WORK

IN THE MARHE FIGHTING. NEW ZEALANDERS IN THE FIGHT. PARIS. August 4. (jeucrnl lierthelot, commiuiding the forces between tlie .Vlarne and Rheims, in an army order addressed to the British, Australian and New Zealand troops, says: Directly you arrived you throw your army corps ardently into the struggle, harassing the enemy in the Andre Valley, which has been so liberally sprinkled with German blood, thanks to the proverbial heroism and tenacity of Britons. You mauled four enemy divisions, took 1,300 German prisoners, and captured M 0 machine-guns and 40 cannon. All this has added a glorious page to your history. Marfaux, Chaumuzy, and Bligny, must be inscr.bed in I letters of gold in the annals of your regiments. France will remember with deep emotion your brilliant bravery and i perfect comradeship in battle. j Mr. C. H. Ferris, describing General ! Bertbelot's reception of the British, Australians and New Zealanders, who marched past the general along a. road within the area of the enemy's gunfire, says: What every Frenchman murmured was, "Just look at their stride. How sturdy they are. They must be fresh divisions." Mr. I'orris says the French were wrong. The British corps had been fighting for ten days ceaselessly, and had taken a brilliant part in defeating the Crown Prince, but they swung along to the sound of the bagpipes and brass bands in perfect order. Though some companies had been sadly thinned, all had been brushed clean of trench mud, their rifles were polished, their horses well groomed, and their wagons spotless. They fully deserved General Bcrthclot's praise.—(A. and N.Z.)