CAPTURE OF MESSINES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3173, 25 August 1917, Page 9

CAPTURE OF MESSINES

GENERALS DESCRIBE OPERATIONS LETTERS TO DEFENCE MINISTER " EVERYTHING. WENT LIKE CLOCK- ' WORK" Letters from Major-General Sir. A. 11. Eussell /and Brigadier-General G. H. Johnston regarding the Battle of Me'ssiues were read by tho Minister of Defeneo (Sir' James Allen) ili tlio House of Representatives yesterday. Thoy throw some new light on the operations that reached their'climax in, the capturo.of llessincs -Ridge by thd-New'Zealandcr.s. "Tho-'Messines Khlgir-or that'part of it which the New Zealandtrs had to attack—is a'-' fairly • steep ridge on which-- , fho German Was very comfortably entrenched with" excellcut • observation -of everything that was going oil in our lilies ' below him;"' .wrote ''MajorGeneral ■ Sir. • A,- 11. Russell' to the Minister: -of. ;■-Defence on June - 19. "He was, in fact, on. the ; rim of the saucer,, while-we w.ero at the bottom. Consequently, all our preparations in the way of improving. our communications and. constructing assembly trenches had to be done at night. Naturally, the work 'at night is never expeditious or so easy as by day, and,for the,four or fivo ■weeks .prior to the attack,.. practically every. man in the division had to spend liis nights working, and. getting what sleep he could during the day. ..This, in itself, was a- severe , tax on tho men's endurance, and 1 was "very glad to find at the end that; there weivs a few days to spare in which to rest the men and give, them a chanpe to .pull themselves together for the effort.. ' . ' Won by Artillery. ''The whole scheme of attack had been a matter of very. ; careful thought, and involved a.vast amount of staff,work for-, those who were responsible for the plans. . . . The fact is that, with the enormous concentration of artillery, life on the slopes in front of, us had become practically impossible. The battle, in a few words.-was-woq throiigh tho weight of metal thrown on to the enemy p'osi-. tions, and the'mettle.of. the men who advanced to attack , tjiein, .Everything went like, clock-work. . The weather was in.our favour, as a thunderstorm cleared the air and cooled it'during the night o£ assembly,' while. f the clouds which still hung, about the .sky .prevented any observation, on the part of the enemy. Consequently the assembly of tlio troops was, carried- oiit.-witU. hardly, any loss, and you tan realise what, anxious moments, or-rather, hour?, one passes when,;hav-. ing assembled several thousand men within a few hundred.yards of tho position, one waits for.the actual moment to,ad; vance. Had the Germans been able to discover, our movements, and shelled 'our assembly trenches, no doubt we should' have gone through with the attack, but under very difficult conditions. As it was,' Ilia men got over tho parapet with hardly any losses, and, so excellent was the counter battery work/ thjit his barrage, when it foil, was too tlim to break up the attack; The actual positions were '•arried at very slight expense. Our losses began to mount up after wo had "reachoil our. different objectives. "We were withdrawn very shortly from .die' sector on which we attacked, bind' were put in rather.lower down the lino, where our friends from Australia made their start. We have since cunsidc.-ably extended our gains by small op.-irations without any very, great difficulty, and are now in process of consolidating and improving. the defence of what wo have gained. ' Troops ware Confident. "The men Were extraordinarily, confident of success. This no doubt helped them a lot.' The batllo'was half won before it was begun, and I cannot "speak' too highly of the spirit displayed by everyone. Every day 'when I sco what the inon have to put iip with in.-the_.way of danger arid hardships, it -astonishes me with what .cheerfulness and. fortitude th<CPiiOu> -With'Tfio vcry-'trying conditions tiiiij' haiio ;tiV meet, "Wo have "again rctjeived cohgra'tula-. t,ions on. all hands for the work dono'by tho division, aiidyl .honestly think they arg. well deserved.. I am glad'tosay that tho health of the.men and their spirits aro as go.od". as when I last wrote lo you, "Reinforcpiponts are as'good as ever, and (here is not a "division in. France. I>ut would welcome them into its ranks. I send you these few line's to assiiivo you that, so far as I-can -judge, all is well with the'division." ■ The Artillery Work, "Thedivision did well 'and maintained its high reputation. As far as the.artillery was concerned,!' -wrote BrigadiorGenqral G. H. Johnston, I. heed only quoto from a- memo, sent us tho day after, tho battle: 'The Army. Commander directs me to congratulate all ranks of the artillery, of: the.'2nd -Anzac on the success' gained to.-day. Tie. wishes _ to thank" them for,-llic excellent.-work, thoy have dono during-the-past-week, and 10, add that tho success:gained to-day, with comparatively: little-lass, is entirely duo to the hai'd work and good shooting, of | the artillery.'. In- addition, Sir.Douglas Kaij; came to see' us, patted 1110.011 tho back and' said. 'Tlmnk all four fellows , for tho splendid work they havo done.'

"Everything wenfc-off without a hitch. Tho ban-ago was good; tho wire was all cut away, presenting no difficulties io our-' infantry, and tho trenches and strong points word well smashed in. I v.cnt over, tho battlefield'next morning, and was much pleased to seo how we had done our work:for although for weeks ahead ono is busy locating and destroying seine wire points and any possible obstacle, slill you. cannot see tilings as >ou do nftei wards. On our front you couldn't detect tho German front • and svpport lines, they wero so smashed in, and oply hero and there could you find strands o't' wire, and I haven't been able to hc-ar of a single , place wliero thq infantry were held up. "Infantry and Artillery Woii tlio Fight." "You. Will read niiibh about mines and tanks, but we had only' one mine, and our tanks wero not much good. They couldn't easily'cross the-country on account of tho shell holes, and three of them were knocked out by gunfire. I am afraid they hardly-'justify their cost. Tlio infantry and artillery won tho fight, and nothing else had much lb do with it. These battles are a'great strain on one, as once the infantry gain their final objective and begin to consolidate, the Huii shells thcin severely, with the iesult ' that' all •' our counnnnicacations get 'cut up, and our forward observation officers who go up with the infantry cannot communicate with us. You can imagine one controlling some 200 guns from a central place. As soon as tho infantry , captured Messines and got beyond it- we couldn't see them. The. Hun counter-attacks, but it the-wires'aro out, as they nearly alwaysare by his. shelling, there is 110 quick means of communication by which our P.0.0.'s can. tell exactly where to shoot) result,, we have. to. shoot by map. Barrages : are sometimes most complicated, as: the. new- lino is very seldom straight, and yet you must, cover it all the way. One mistake, and you may wipe out a lot of your own men.

"When I walked over the battlefield shells were still falling. Of course you know-the artillery fire never ceases day or night for -days. The battle only means a-barrago .thrown. in as. an extra. The country was all ploughed up by shell; hardly a : .square yard intact. Dead- men wero lying all. over, the place, and Huns were being extracted from dug-outs; our tanks were lying about, where they had stuck or be6n shot out, and exhausted, soldiers were resting. In ono place 1 saw one of our men and a German lying side by side, having apparently, killed one another. Germans were being taken to the rear to be i-ut in cages; they mostly looked well fed and of good physique, notwithstanding what war correspondents say, ■ "Piussell, our G.0.C., is reckless to a degree. XJp by Hessines the day after, the battle, which means only the cessation of maxim fire, ' not rrtillery, an officer came running to me and said Brown, G.O.C. Ist Infantry Brigade, had been'killed.--This was true. He waswalking with Kussell, die latter's A.D.C., and Pridham, C;R.E., when a 6.he1l burst near theiri and killed Brown, wounding Beetham, A.D.C., at the same time. On Sunday last, when Russell was looking over the "parapet at enemy wire, distant about: 100 yards or less, a sniper had a. shot at him, putting a bullet through his steel helmet and bruising his head—a pretty close call. However, I think lie will 'bo better in'future. -I have had five officers killed, ono curiously enough by lightning, a very excellent fellowy who came away with the Main Body—-Prum> mer by name, a veterinary ifficer. Hie same flash paralysed seven men. Brown i ; a great loss—brave-as a lion. Ho never said much, but did a great deal."