A GALLANT ENGLISH DIVISION

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1918, Page 3

A GALLANT ENGLISH DIVISION

HOW THE 46THS CROSSED THE CANAL. (Rec. October 5, 4.5 p.m.) \ LONDON, October 4. Mr Philip Gibbs writes-: The achteveijieht of the For£y-sixth Division on Sunday last, in , flinging .themselves across the canal at' Bellehglise, where they captured 4,200 prisoners, a great number of guns, and over a thousand : machine-£uns,' .will rank in history as one of the most heroic episodes oi the war. They are Unromaritic fellows — bootmakers. lacem'a'kers^ and potters — but the spirit of England's old ht^oic .soul is-'ih them. One of their Brigadiers n Vir+oria Grosser, borrowed all the life-belts from a ' f reave^boat," put on one' Mmself; and led; his men across the Somrruv The wa din f find swimming in this 'rirer tauglit the men J?ow

to keep their rifles dry and their he&ds übo.ve- water. With these lifebelts, sealing ladders, and hand bridges, the Midlanders advanced in a tnick fog 011 Sun'iay, crossed tne canal, lined up on the other side, and went ahead in large numbers. 'ihe Germans, hid in ti nneJs, hoped tp blow up the British v/ith mines, and light again. When the hrst waves passed "by at. ten o'clock in the -morning, the key to the Hindenburg line above St. Quentin had been seized.