CROSSING THE CANAL DU NORD

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1918, Page 7

CROSSING THE CANAL DU NORD

A REMARKABLE FEAT OF THE OFFENSIVE

FACING ALMOST CERTAIN DEATH

. (Receive^ September 30, 8.30 a.m.) • . v ■' .'.-O. ■,';■''■':■■■'■. '..■■:" ,/:. LdNDON^ SBth September. Mr. Percival Philips 'writes ":-"To-day the.attack on the Hindenburg line is more difficult and dangerous than it ,was, last: November.';/The;plan was to strike eastward across the'canal, and then northwards.* The front .layparallel to the canal, the crossing of which was' one of the most remarkable feats'of out offensive. The canal is sixteen feet deep and seventy feet /wide at the top, and the deep, mud rendered.it passable only at certain ■ points. Surface bridges w_ere impossible, and the sides' were too steep in many places for dropping or cTunbh.lg.' The ertemy had every yard under range, and the Bourlon Wood gave the most 1 complete observation of our movements^ Every-. /thing depended on our first rush. An-officer; said on Thursday night: 'Give ■us fifteen minutes and all will be alright.'. The'men had'to be assembled at night. Scaling-ladders #ere brought up and flung down : and over at the precise moment., The first handful Of intrepid, soldiers which descended the yawning chasm' bore more" ladders with'which to scale the face of.the canal, and also their heavy packs and loads of bomb* to face!the enemy's machinegunners. It seenied certain death to the men assembling on ,the. eve of the attack. Everything depended on those' fifteen minutes :in which the attackers must descend the, dark pit.and reach the other side after a breathless rush, and yet they must have breath enough to begin their fight for life Oft ih&.ath&r side. Here was an ordeal far more exacting and dangerous^ than merely going over the top/;but the meii'weut on to victory •■ without a mishap, and without a pause. The Canadians, after" the passage of the canal at Inchy, had two miles before them. v They strode in an almost leisurely way up the 'slopes in the direction of the Bourlon Wood. It Was Open country, with several, systems of. fragmentary trenches. ' These were emergency lines, inferior, to the Siegfried fortress line. The' Canadians weritN through them easily enough, and reached the.edge of the wood to schedule time. ' ! "Meanwhile the British battalions oh the Canadians' right, crossed the bottleneck of the canal hear Moeuvres with the greatest swiftness, and before the enemy was able to put down a barrage had passed the . Hindenburg' support rfne. Then some wheeled to the south behind it, r towards Graincourt, and had swept the area clear, before 10 o'clock, reaching' the Ba-paume-Cambrai road. • ■ , , •..>> ■ •.■'■• : ' V "Other British troops which' crossed the canal, between, .the Moeuvres and the Cambrai-Bapaume road met with considerable, resistance from the maehine-giln nests. ' These garrisons were not aware that they were already surrounded from the north, but they surrendered when they, found they ■ were between two ' fires.. . ■'.. ■• r ..; . ■ • . "Germans ■at Mesquieres Bidge had faced south, expecting, an. attack from the south, as'in November, but before we came to close quarters they found that the Bourlon Wood behind them was full of Canadians ■

, "The enemy artillery-was active until. 10 o'clock, but practically ceased .after that,- and had evidently withdrawn. The.enemy aeroplanes were unusual- ~ ly energetic, the lowfliers attempting to machine-gun the infantry.. Comparatively few. prisoners, were taken in .the morning. It. seems certain that the enemy had withdrawn some 'troops during the night'" ■