AN INCIDENT AT POZIERES

Evening Star, Issue 16263, 4 November 1916, Page 11

AN INCIDENT AT POZIERES

A New South Wales rifleman, in a letter to his mother at Lismore (written a i'ew days before he fell mortally wounded), thus describes an incident at the taking of Pozieres: '"You must have rend of our successful attack on Pozieres. Well, I was light in the very thick of it from the word"'Go.' Several of my chums were hit. I had a rather bad time. My own company (15) was chosen to lead "the charge on our section of front. Nothing could''have been more tedious; than the wait in our trench for the charge to begin. Our artillery gave them tits for a few minutes, and of course their machine guns retaliated, jiiid cut. our boys up a trifle. Taken on the whole, the charge, was rather a. walk-over for us. It was holding the captured positions that cost us so dearly. 'For two davs we suffered a terrific bombardment, equal to anything at Ga.llipoli of Verdun, and :n that time my battalion nad cios* on a hundred casualties. It was terribw to see one's dearest pals being buried alive or blown to atoms. All one could-do was to crouch close to what remained of the trench. There was little or no hand-to-hand fighting. While wo were charging in tho op-jn the Germans were in their trenches, and pelted us with bombs, but once we, reached their trenches down went their rilles and up went their hands for mercy. They received very little mercv, for our boys had Nurse Gavel 1 and a fewother of their outrages fresh in their minds. A few hours before tho charge I got four letters, mother, and I tell "you they were a good tonic."