VISIT TO THE BATTLEFIELDS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16653, 14 October 1919, Page 8

VISIT TO THE BATTLEFIELDS.

A NEW ZEALANDEB'S

PILGRIMAGE

(SPECIALLY WHlTl'liN FOR "THE ntESS.")

(BY W. H. Tbiggs.)

HI-—ARRASj GAMRRAI, LE QUESNOY.

We made an early start from St. Pol, and learned that a great many Belgian officers and men had been recalled tc their posts, and troops were being moved up closer to the German boundary of the occupied territory. FioldMarshal Foch was making tils dispositions so as to be ready for an instant and overwhelming attack should the enemy fail to give the required undertaking to sign tin? Treaty. Wo stopped flt Arras for breakfast. The town, as everybody knows, was a good deal knocked about during the war. but to the writer its especial interest Jay in the wonderful work done there by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company. , There aiv adjoining the town huge ' quarries from which, for centuries, j building materials had been drawn for the needs of Arras, and the adjacent towns and villages. The New Zealand Tunnelling Corps connected up these quarries or subterranean vaults by subways which they excavated; tramways were laid down, electric light and water supply installed, and a veritable underground town was constructed, which proved of inestimable value for concealing and sheltering an attacking force. In four and a half months the Tunnelling Corps had driven six miles of galleries—some 1100 yards more in length than the Arthur's Pass Tunnel. On one side the huge caverns 'thus linked up are named after New Zealand towns —llussell, Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Bluff, and these arc all connected by Godley Avenue; on the other side we have British towns joined together by King street. This underground fortress sheltered some 20,000 troops, who, when the Engineers had blasted an opening close to the German lines, debouched and fell upon the enemy with an overpowering force. 1 Coming next to Cambrai, where the ravages of war were still very much in evidence, we continued our journey to Solesmes, following the line of advance of the New Zealand Division in the great offensive of last year. Tho New Zealanders, it will be remembered, pushed the Germans out of Solesmes, and reinained there for about ten days. They were then relieved by a British Division, but after about ten days resumed the offensive on the front line at Itomeries. They followed up the advance round Le Quesnoy, which town it will be remembered they took. Our admirallo chauffeur, Private Henry, who, in addition to being a good driver, is as skilful a motor mechanic as one could find in a day's march, was in the main attacking party who entered through one of the city gates, but he could not tell us, where the escalading party stormed the moat and climbed the city Vail—a spot we were particularly anxious to see. -On making inquiries in the town, a smart little French boy, about twelve or thirteen years of age, volunteered to show ub the place. He led us along side streets and through a tunnel in the walls' to

the exact spot where the ladder was placed. He had the whole story at his fingers' ends, and offered to show us a building not far away where the enemy made a stand and some severe fighting took place. By this lime the weather, which had been perfect throughout our trip, began to look threatening, and wo had to hurry on. The fine little fellow absolutely refused to take any money when it was offered to him—an experience sufficiently rare in France and Belgium to be worthy of record. The taking of Le Quesnoy was practically the last' action of importance fought by the New Zealanders, and proved a fitting finale to the magnifi- j cent record of gallant deeds and steadfast courage, and endurance, which began with the storming of the bulletswept cliffs of Gallipoli. They showed . at Le Quesnoy the same spirit of fear- i lessness and enterprise displayed by the ' British at Badajoz. The fortifications ' of Le Quesnoy were designed by Yau- j ban, the great French military engineer ! in the reign of Louis XIV., and they : are considered among the best examples of his work. The fortress has a double system of walls and moats, and is in a i very good state of preservation, though these fortifications would ■be of very little use against modern artillery, they are as strong as ever against a scaling party.

' i The spot chosen by th© New Zea- . landers for their attempt was one of i j the very few points of the inner wall ' i that could bo reached under cover, if 1 indeed it was not the only suitable spot for such an enterprise. I believe that some Belgians near the town told them about it, and guided them part of tue way. There is a sluice-gate on which the scaling ladder was placed; had it not been for this help the ladder would not have been nearly long enough to enable the storming party to reach the top. It was altogether a most daring exploit, and a brilliant success, for which Major H. E. Barrowclough, D.5.0., and the company of the Rifle Brigade, by whom it was carried out under his leadership, deserve great credit. I understand this locality is to be marked by a memorial tablet, > and I . would suggest that the assault should form the subject of one of the historic battle Sictures which it is to be hoped, the lew Zealand Government wili cennuission to be painted as soon as possible to commemorate some of the most notable exploits of our citizen army in this greatest of all wars. Before leaving this interesting spot, "we paid our tribute to two graves in the wood close by, where a secondlieutenant and a private of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade lie buried. One I Could not wish for a finer resting place than in this beautiful wood, so close to a spot destined to become historic. The writer copied the names and took a photograph of the -graves, hoping that he might be privileged to *hand a copy to the relatives of these gallant young fejlows. While it was the chief object of this pilgrimage to follow in the footsteps of the New Zealanders, yet,every place we passed through, and every name on_ a direction post called up a flood of interesting associations, even when they had no direct connexion, with our own brave soldiqrs. I shall riot soon forget I the thrill I felt when I found myself I close to Le Cateau, and thought of. the I

gallant Colonel Bridges in the great retreat from Mons, Ks men absolutely done up, and apparently unable to travel another step. Everybody knows how he went into a shop, bought a tin whistle and a toy drum, and played "The British Grenadiers," and so put fresh life into those tired soldiers and got them on the move again, actually with a smile upon their haggard faces. Moreover, it was not without emotion that I found myself in Mons itself, and thought not only great retreat in 1914, but of Uncle Toby, when "our army swore terribly in Flanders." And even before that we were carried back to the time of the great Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, because we actually traversed the field of Malplaquet, and saw there a monument erected by public subscription by tho i French only a few years before the present war. It is dedicated "To the Combatants," but bears thereon only two names— : those of Villars and Bouffles, both Fiench generals. And so we ei.tered presently into Belgium, and came through pleasant rolling country—looking not unlike the Chami pagne country about Epernay and Rhcims—to Brussels. Our -^U;. was ended, so far as the New Zealand battlefields were concerned. I had before me still a very interesting trip through Belgium to the Rhine, where I was to spend four or five never-to-be-forgotten days in the German territory occupied by British and the Allied troops. I may perhaps have something to say about this deeplv interesting ex- j perience in another article.

We had not been able to follow the New Zealanders through all their marchings and countermarchings, their attacks and counter-attacks. We had not time to visit the scene of the very .fine ! work they did upon the Somme, first I in 1916, soon after their arrival from Egypt, when they took Flers, and later, in the. very critical days of the great German offensive when they proved of the utmost value in helping to fill a dangerous gap in the Allied front a few miles to the N.W. of Albert. But we had seen and heard enough to fill us with pride and thankfulness on account of all that "Our Boys" have done. On all hands we heard them spoken of in the highest terms of praise, not only for their valour and endurance in the field, but also for their high character, good breeding, and gentle manners in the ordinary relations of life. A' French< gentleman, evidently a man of some standing, with whom I travelled from Paris to Boulogne, who had two sons in ! the French Army, told me he had heard j I the New Zealanders spoken of as the | ; best-mannered men at the front.! ' Wherever we went in England one heard J i the same story, and over and over again English people told me it was a pleasure not only to meet- the New Zealand soldiers, but to entertain them in an i English home. Mention has been made of the only important occasion on which they failed to attain their objective! When the full history of Passchendaele comes to be written it will be seen that this so-called failure of the New Zea- j landers brought out their soldierly ] qualities in a more striking manner than • some of the victories they achieved. There is a good deal of misapprehension on the subject of this battle or rather series of battles. It is altogetner w iao of the mark to suppose that it was a useless sacrifice of life, although it may have appeared so at the time. The Despatch of Marshal Haig shows that the position was a very critical one, that the operation was one to which the ~igh Command* attached the highest importanco, and although the New Zealanders were asked to do the impossible, what they did achieve was of very great value. Among the many glorious names which .the New Zealand Division will be able to emblazon on its banners; that of Passchendaele will shino with increasing lustre as the years roll on. We owe a lasting debt of gratitude to the men who went forth from their island homes to help to combat the greatest menace "with which civilisa T tion lias ever been threatened, and who took no mean part in achieving the victory which crowned the arms of the Allies.