NEW ZEALANDERS IN BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 78, 26 December 1917, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDERS IN BATTLE

THE ATTACK ON GRAVENSTAFEL AUCKLAND AND WELLINGTON SILENCING THE GERMAN ';;;.. MACHINE-GUN . ..(From Captain Malcolm iEoss, War Cor- ■'' ■. respondent with the N.Z. Forces in - . .'■ .the Field.) - , ■'■ . '_ Belgium, October 13. In the previous artiole I endeavoured ' to give some idea from actual experience of the night scene on tho battle- • field just before the attack by tho New Zealanders on the Gravehstafel Ridge, but no description that could be'written nor picture that could be painted, even by a master, could give anything like an adequate idea of the actuality. _ Before the attack, a front line consisting of posts had boon held by some of our troops who were not to be in tho ftttack, and excellent preliminary work ' tad been done by the/officers and men. 1 Day and night offieeis and men went forward ' with ammunition, . treneli stores, food; and water, often under Ji'eavy. shell-fire. Back; dumps had to • be reorganised and new forward dumps established. A Canterbury secoridJieutenant'did especially work in this direction, the divisional dump was under heavy fire, and after the artillery officer in ch'arge of another clump further back was killed, he also did excellently in , reorganising this dump. He had already distinguished himself at similar work in the battle of Messines. Tie men in charge of the ■ teams had to cover difficult ground tinder ehell-fire, and often to go through Jbarrago fire to deliver rations to the troops, so .that there was always the danger of a stampede. One driver had his water-cart blown by a shell into a . ditch' and turned upside down, but ho stuck bravely by his work, righted the cart, and pushed on through shelling to his destination. Ho was a Canterbury man. Otago men did similar Work. .',j ' ■' •■■ Out on tho irregular front there were nffairs with patrols, and several of tho enemy who attacked' were killed. Some Canterbury ■ men were heavily pelted with gas shells, and a sergeant, did brave work tending tho sufferers and .reorganising,. until'.-he himself was wounded.-One day a shell lobbed on to-a bit of trench hold by some Canj terbury nien,' wounding and burying .one-of'tho. meni A private, in spito of heavy fire, stood;on the parapet and dug the man out. Not content with that,,'he afterwards carried him in daylight back from the front line, and 60 saved his life. Some Otago men were holding a' Shell-hole''position ,at ■the front until the morning of the attack, and one of the captains made a 1 . special reconnaissance in broad day- '• light in order to report the actual ■position of the detached posts. He did this at great risk, but owing. to his action tho posts were all correctly ■located.. He was severely wounded during the reconnaissance. ■

Tho Attack at Dawn.f Our men wore all in position and ready-to'attack 'at dawn. The previous day had been fine, but rain set in about 3 a.m. There were Australian troops on the right, English troops on the left. The first waves were to consist of Canterbury, Auckland, Otago, and Wellington troops, and the succeeding waves of Wellington and Auckland. There had been a good deal of irregular shelling and some practice barrages by our artillery, so that the' enemy, at though he knew an attack was pending,; was probably not at all. sure, when he might expect it. At 6,o'clock (summer time) the eighteen-pounders and the howitzers now opened.with a.tremendous barrage in. front of our. waiting battalions, while the heavier guns further back commenced their destructive work on enemy.positions well behind his lines. In the misty halfdawn.the flashing , of the guns, the bursting shells, and the various rockets, with the occasional red glow of an exploding ammunition dump, made a most striking battle scene. The roar of the artillery was continuous, and made ordinary-toned conversation impossible. The men went over cloee be■hind the barrage, and immediately the enemy's counter-barrage broke loose as well, but it was not nearly so punishing as ours. ■ .

The first obstacle in the way wae the little Hanebeek stream, now scarcely a stream at. all, but simply'a maze-of waterlogged shell-holes into which many men floundered in the-uncertain light. But the men made light of . these troubles, and"Lend L us a ; hand, Tom, or Jack, or Bill," as .the case might be, invariably brought the'requisite assistance to-extricate the. fallen one from his unenviable plight, after which rescuer anc? rescued would trot on a little quicker to regaintheircompanions folr lowing- in the wake, of the barrage. ;For .some time nothing could be , seen of the infantry attack oven from positions close up, owing to the,haze-and drizzling rain, but later in the morning, . when' Passchendaele itself, with its big church on the horizon-line, loomed out of the mistj the leading waves of men could be seen going on through shell-fire to their,final objective behind Abraham and also down on the/low ridge, now one mass of shell-holes and scattered , Drown earth. Some Auckland troops on the .left met with severe casualties, bxit the gaps, were'filled up, and they went on.

Aucklanders In the Fight. At Aviatik Farm, Winzig, a' strong point on the extreme left, and Boetler, in front of Aviatik, opposition was met early in the day. At the first-named place there was severe fighting, but the German garrison was soon overcome, and , the attack went forward to the Boetler pill-boxes, from which came heavy machine-gun fire. This' was also silenced in due course. At Winzig there were several machineguns firing and inflicting casualties on our left flanL. One enemy crew holding took up their position on top of their dug-out, but an Aucklander, who was No. 1 of a machinegun team, by getting his machine quickly into action, accounted for them all, and thug enabled the left flank to proceed for a time without serious opposition: As this man moved forward with his gun again he encountered another enemy machine-gun. Once more he got quickly into action, and so enabled a bombing section to get up and deal with the obstructing Germans.. This same man, on arrivalof the line at our first objective, took up a post in front, and on the moving forward of the barrage, after a halt there, he pushed still further out and established a post that Commanded the ridge on the left of the first objective. ' He stayed there until the 6th, when he was relieved. His conductthroughout was a splendid example to all ■ about him, and he showed an absolute disregard for his own safety from first to last. When relieved there was only one man left with him on the gun. At another point of resistance, an Auckland private advanced with a Wellington man, whose name is not known, and. together these two succeeded in bombing the German garrison. ' They compelled eight of the enemy to Surrender, and captured their two machine-guns. By their and the promptness: of their action these two undoubtedly saved the lives of severalof their companions. Another Auckland private took charge of his section when his commander was owmded. and led tho men forward

with the greatest bravery and determination. On encountering ono strong point ho attacked it single-handed, and bayoneted the whole of tho occupante, seven or eight in number. Until tho battalion was relieved in the lino ho gavo valuable aid in consolidating tho position, and voluntarily undertook any work that involved risk to his section. This man already wears the ribbon of the Military Medal. At the commencement of. the attack, when a portion of our lines on the left was held up, a Lowis-gunner rushed his gun up, and under- intense lire brought it into action. Single-handed, ho rush-, ed to close quarters and compelled the surrender of a shell-holo strong point containing a German officer and twelve other ranks. This very prompt and daring act enabled the line to advance with the barrage, which otherwise it would not have been able to do. .A corporal, when the sergeant of his platoon was wounded, took over at onco and filled a gap on the left flank, capturing a machine-gun that was firing from a shell-holo position. His platoon suffered severely, but he held on and arrived at the objective with the survivors.

The conspicuous gallantry of anothor•Auckland Lewis-gunner enabled another strong point to be taken. Soon afterwards his gun was knocked out, but he immediately led his section forward as riflemen, and as they went "they bayoneted several of the enemy. A shell afterwards' burst beside him, and he wan badly shell-shocked. His company commander sent him back, but on the way down he searched for and found hie gun, which was subsequently brought" into action again. Yet s.r.other Lewis-gunner, whose section suffered severely at the commencement of the attack, with only two men who were left, accounted for the crew of an /enemy gun that was inflicting casualties on our advancing infantry. He then assisted in the capture of Aviatik Farm, and again, later, helped in reducing the garrison of another strong point.

Fine Work <by Lieutenants. During ■ this attack, an Auckland lieutenant, when Ms commanding officer and acting second in command were wounded shortly after the attack comr meiiced. took command of the battalion,' which reached the final objective. Although there was only one junior officer per company left, he succeeded in holding the line and in repelling three counter-attacks. A second lieutenant, when'hie company commander had been killed and the remainder of the officers wounded before reaching the first objective, reorganised his company, which had lost direction, in time to move off with the barrage to the (second objective. This latter gained, he established posts, which he held with -the assistance of two captured German, machine-guns; 'and assisted in off three counter-attacks. One r.c.0., who had to take command of a platoon, reorganised it after it had suffered severe casualties, and brought heavy. Lewis-gun fire to bear on the enemy, who were firing from a pill-box. Then signalling his section-to follow, he rushed the pill-box and forced the garrison of 30 Germans ;to surrender. He then led the platoon on to. its objective. Machine-guns in another .pillbox were firing on to the flanks of Wellington and Auckland troops, when a corporal led a party to fill a gap that had been shot out of the line. With his men ho rushed the position and took thirty prisoners, two machinepuns, and one light machine-gun. He then established a strong point which he handed over to the Wellingtons, and •rejoined his own company.

, Deeds by the.Wellingtons. While the Wellingtons were forming up for the attack the enemy put down a barrage. During this time one of the Wellington captains did fine work, and subsequently" led his company with ■ the utmost bravery and ability. During the advance some troops on his left drifted off their objective, so that when his copvpany arrived there thoy found themselves occupying the whole of the front allotted) to three companies. Ho worked his men gradually into the dangerous gap that existed, and under heavy shelf-fire he himself moved along the' whole front of one thousand yards and organised and consolidated tho position.

The commander of a Wellington company was wounded just before the attack started, and a. second lieutenant took charge and led it throughout the operations with conspicuous gallantry. Whilst moving up his support company he led a small party into a gap in the line where the enemy were bowling over some of our men with rifle and machine-gun fire. Boldly rushing forward he killed the crew and captured the gun. When his company had reached their objective, he saw there was a dangerous gap in the line, and without waiting for orders he at once led his company into it, .thus making the position secure against enemy attack. Having done this, he then withdrew portion of his command back to their own position in support. There were four concrete dug-juts that gave the Wellingtons a lot nf trouble, but these were in due course mopped up with coolness and daring in tho face of both shelling and machine-gun fire. Four machine-guns were captured as the result of that adventure. Other Wellington men, held up at one stage by machine-gun fire, were helped out of their difficulties by a sergeant, who, whil') his men engaged the enemy with rifle grenades, worked round their flank, and boldly rushing in layonetted the crew of four. ' By the time their objective had been gained this cerepany had lost all but one of its officers. A Wellington corporal, with a few men gathered from three units, attacked an: enemy stronghold m front of the main 'objective. Risking danger fiom' our own barrage, they b( mbed the position, killing and wounding no fewer than thirty of the enemy, and 'capturing"three 'machine-guns that had coiiroenced firing with serious effect. Machine-gun crew after machine-gun crew was dealt with, the Germans, in this battle, not putting up a very stubborn resistance once our men got to grips with them.

I heard of many cases of self-sacri-fice and devotion to duty during, this day's work. A Wellington lorporal, hfter capturing several shell-hole positions, was severely ■ wounded before reaching his final objective, yet, knowing the great demand for stretcherbearers, he" refused to be carried out, but struggled down alone to the regimental aidpost, where his wound was dressed. A Lewis-gunner, when his pjn was put out of action, rushed forward upon a German strong point armed only with his revolver. .Another of lis men, inspired by his Iravery, joined him, and together the two rußhed the position. Both were wounded, and the corporal's companion Ins sinco died. But their plucky action gave the rest of the section tho necessary respite to get up and to kill tl;e crew and capture the gun.

(To be Continued.)