"LAST POST" (APRIL)

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 109, 10 May 1941, Page 5 (Supplement)

"LAST POST" (APRIL)

T. M. Malone, Imp.. 9/4/41 50926—A. A. Were, N.Z.F.A., 15/4/41 6/1224— W. T. Dobson, C.1.8., 13/4/41 17929— E. L. Lovett, N.Z.E.F., 15/4/41 23/2173 —Egbert Davies, 21/4/41 21208 M. T. Casey, 30/4/41 List supplied by courtesy of Mr. R. G. Mason, secretary Auckland R.S.A.

on. The pill boxes on Bellevue Spinwere alive with Huns, who potted anybody who showed his head. The wounded said it was heart-breaking work struggling in the mud and water, with rifles and machine-guns clogged with slime. The 2nd Brigade were also subjected to terrific fire from the outset, and they could not make any impression on the Hun pill boxes. Scores of our feliows threw away their lives wantonly by rushing these -strong points, only to die on the wire, riddled with bullets. The casualties were heavy, and Colonel Winter Evans, of the 3rd Dinks, has gone, and also Colonel G. A. King, of the Ist. Canterbury. They aTso had no recourse but to dig in, a hopeless business. In the afternoon our company was ordered up some distance in rear of the Gravenstafel, as we were in reserve and might be called upon any time to go over. Rumours were rife, but the most persistent was to the effect that the Corps had ordered the attack to be proceeded with in the afternoon, but that General Braithwaite had refused to allow his men to go over again, knowing full well what a useless sacrifice it would be. The soldiers of the New Zealand Division owe Bill Braithwaite a great debt of gratitude, for he had the sense to see what the people at Corps were apparently incapable of —that a set of conditions had arisen against which the efforts of even the efficient Silent Division were powerless. In comfortable headquarters, far removed from the shells and mud, how could they know how things were at Bellevue Spur, for it is six miles to Ypres along a duckboard track. Better counsels prevailed, and the attack was not taken any further. It rained all day on the 12th, and our assaulters lay out in the wet without food, not daring to lift their heads. It was a bad day for the division and their worst failure. Hundreds of our men lay piled in the wire, and many wounded suffered in the pelting rain. During the night, one of the worst I ever remember, the mud and rain made conditions frightfully unpleasant, and our company moved up to act as stretcher bearers. The wounded, in the forward areas, just behind our new lines, were lying out in the open everywhere, and even numbers of the 49th Division, wounded in Tuesday's attack, were still out. It was all a dreadful muddle. (To be continued.)