THE AUSTRALIANS

Evening Post, Volume xciv, Issue 73, 24 September 1917, Page 8

THE AUSTRALIANS

ON THE TAIL OF THE BARRAGE

FRUITS OP GREAT DARING

ATTACK WONDERFUL IN PRECISION..

(CNITBD PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPTRIOHT.) (AUSIRAIJAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received September 24, 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, 23rd September.

Mr. Gibnour writes that the Australian i troops in the front lines followed the barrage more closely in some places than discretion would have prompted, with the result that many Germans were caught in their dugouts. The tenacity with which the attackers clung to the tail of the barrage also resulted in almost totally stifling the operation of the German machine-guns. A young lieutenant, leading his men on the fringe of a terrific barrage,: with shells- bursting around Km, dashed forward to a fortified post where the Germans were waiting to receive the infan-. try with a matonine-gun. The lieutenant stretched his arm in at a .lookout hole, and fired a few shots with his revolver., The Germans inside were killed or scuttled. He repeated the same performance with equal success at the next concreted blockhouse, i Mr. Gilmour mentions the excellent work of the artillery in smashing troops assembling for counter-attacks. The precision of the British attack surpassed anything that has previously been done.