THIRTEEN YEARS AGO

Evening Star, Issue 20613, 13 October 1930, Page 12

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO

THE TRAGEDY OF PASSCHENDAELE BLEAK HILLS THAT BROKE BATTALIONS [By W. McC.J Though it took place thirteen years ago yesterday, the attempt to take the Passchendaele Ridge, in Belgium, on October 12, 1917, is recalled as a horrible dream by the New Zealanders who are fortunate enough to be able to toll the tale. Not even on Gallipoli did New Zealand pour out her blood more generously than on the bleak hills of Passchendaele. Four New Zealand brigades were at full strength when they went in there. They fought till they wore exhausted, and until their ranks were depleted by about threequarters of their strength. A “ nation’s altar ” well describes the ridges _ about Ypres. To fight against terrible odds and suffer great losses was the experience there of practically the whole of the British Army, nearly every division of which took its turn time and again in this cockpit. Some, like the Canadians, suffered there more than half their casualties during the whole of the war. Brave battanons marched in and came out for a week or so mere remnants, stunned and shocked by utter weariness and the horrors of battle. But the German vision of possession of the Channel ports was never realised. It was on October 4 that New Zealanders had their first taste of battle in the Ypres area, the Ist and 4th Infantry Brigades being called upon to storm Gravenstafel and the Abraham heights (so called by the Canadians, who had occupied this part of the line). Under the British barrage which fell on the German lines a quarter of an hour before dawn the New Zealanders advanced to the attack with bayonet and bomb. There was a steady stream of machine gun bullets until they had climbed the heights and routed out the enemy from the dugouts, which were not screened by the barrage, and were able to fire. Crossing tho swamp to reach the top of the ridge was a terrible strain on the men, and the German shellfire played havoc on the narrow tracks. Only the gallantry of highsnirited young men could have taken them there. This episode again proved the quality of the New Zealand troops so keen to do well and so regardless of the_ cost. The newly-won ground was of immense tactical value, and opened up the way for a direct attack upon Passchendaele. The position being consolidated, preparations were at once made to resume the attack. But the weather broke. The battlefield in a few days became a morass. By almost superman efforts field guns were brought up sufficiently close; but it was not possible to get all the “ heavies ” near enough to bo of effective use in clearing the way for an attack. There were great .belts of wire to be cut, and a formidable “ pill-box ” system to be dealt with. The Higher Command insisted that the attack should go forward. It was delayed for some days, and eventually launched on October 12. Strategists have unsparingly condemned the Passchendaele battle. It has been referred to as the prime British mistake; it brought about changes in command and on Haig’s staff; but its worst effect was to shock the British Army, which suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and which was so worn hero that the German counter break-through in the south some months later should not have been surprising. The 2nd and 3rd New Zealand Infantry Brigades were placed in the line for the big attack on October 12. The attack commenced at dawn._ Once more the guns opened, but this time the thunder roll was absent. Many of them slipped from the small patch of firm ground on which they had been placed, and stuck fast in the mud. Though it had been reported early in the morning and the day before that the wire had not been cut by the preliminary bombardments, still it was decreed the attack must go on. Disaster was predicted by experienced men, and disaster came. The New Zealand infantry had many hundreds of yards of bog to cross before they reached the slope and their first objective. A mass of shell holes, with craters 6ft, Bft, and 12ft deep, full of water and mud, lay in front of them. Bat on they went. The artillery massed

on the German side brought such scourgings, such waves and torrents of shells, that death came at all parts of the field. Wounded men sank, and Avere droAvned in the mud.

, Crouched behind their undamaged works, the Germans waited for those who had got through the morass, and who were approaching the .ncut wire. Then the machine gun buhets filmed their victims by hundreds, yet the stubborn survivors kept on. With desperate valour, men crept forward to the wire and attempted to cut their way through. Some crawled through, but were shot down. A number actually got through and dealt ffectively with several pill boxes, but their isolation ultimately forced them to make a retirement. This was the hrst time in their history that New Zealand brigades had failed to take their objectives, and their attempt had cost them a greater price than even the barren victory on the slopes of Cunuk Bair in 1915. News came that the attack had to be resumed in the afternoon, hut fortunately for once the Higher Command stayed its hand. Our men’s grit, tenacity, and physique had been tried almost to the breaking point. But stiffening their musicles with an invincible resolution, they hung on in the mud among the splintering shells and the deadly machinegun bullets. Then cam© the task or removing the wounded who had sunk in the Sough. Never before had this job presented such difficulties. Never before had stretcher bearers worked so heroically. ‘Men of the New Zealand brigades out of the lino and other units were brought up to assist in getting the wounded ont, and not once did the troops slacken their efforts till all that was possible had been done for the poor fellows wounded in such terrible conditions. The 2nd and 3rd Brigades, or wliat was left of them, were withdrawn, and the Ist and 4th Brigades held the line for a week till the Canadians came up from the south. Then the New Zealand Division was withdrawn from the area. Between October 4 and October 12 the New Zealand Division had lost 7,500 men in killed, wounded, and missing. It had won a great victory and suffered a great defeat. Its ranks were terribly depleted. It had been a shattering time, and the' division had lost many men of great heart and resolute character. The New Zealanders were taken hack to the Lumbres area, some miles back from the line, reinforcements joined up, and once more they were ready for war. The division -was not destined, however, again to pour out its blood and strength in Flanders, for the _ flow of _ battle took it south to assist in stemming the tide of the German onrush early in 1918. That is did successfully, and then took a leading part in the last great attack which demoralised the German army and ultimately won the war.