The Troops that took Messines

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 August 1917, Page 3

The Troops that took Messines

ADDRESSES BY THE CORPS GEN ERAL. MESSIXES BATTLE. (by Malcolm Ross). F ranee, Juno 15.

A few days allei some of our troops, tiled but victorious, came out of the line for a- -spell, the Corps Commander, Genera! Gorlley, took the opportunity, at informal parades of complimenting thorn upon the feat of arms they had accomplished. His first address was to the Itiflcs. Ho said that ho wanted that day' to thank the officers, non-commis-sioned officers and men for what they did in the Bailie of Messines. The part they had taken in that battle had contribute;! in no small degree to the greate t defev 1. tlic Germans had had in this war. The British troops had gained a most complete victory, and probably «ne that would 'have 'farreaching effects. /He wished to tell j them that the part they had! played ' in it was second to no others in the; corps. They had performed their task with the utmost gallantry, and the attack made by them went from start to finish without the slightest hitch. He had no hesitation in s'ay L ing that no body of troops could Have done better than tlio Rifles had dbne

tliat day. What they had done had led to the capture of further objectives later >in -the day: and, still later, to the pushing of outposts well to the south of .Messines. He wished to say how greatly indebted he was to them for the part they had played in the battle, and to say also how proud he was to have them under his command. It was his intention to w to His Excellency, the G'overnor of Now Zealand and tell him what the New Zealand Rifles had done. And lie could hardly pay them a greater compliment that to tell His Excellency that they had worthily upheld the traditions of the British ißifle Brigade, which as they knew, had been one of the most celebrated regiments of the British Army for centuries. Ho wished the New Zealanders the same degree of success in any operations in which they might take part in the future, and lie had every confidence that til icy would be successful.

On the following day General Godley addressed some two thousand officers and men of another unit. To them came the honor of capturing the key to the whole position attaoked by the Second Army. They captured and consolidated the foremost objective in front of Messines. A* they had been the original brigade to leave Now Zealand lie had 1 asked General Russell to givo them this to do, and t'heiyi had done it well. He was wire that no body of troops could have done the wo,'k better or more completely Their dash and the manner in which they had attaoked were abf-ohiteliyi all that could be desired, and he had no hesitation in saying that the Battle of Mes&ines had set the seal upon j wh'a.t they had already done on Gallipoli and the Somme. The eapual- - testified to the severity of the fighting they had to do. 'He greatly deplored the loss of their gallant brigadier. who was killed in the moment of victory at the head of the brigade he had' so gallantly led to the top of the hilll He was a great loss to the force and afco to New Zealand and the empire. There wa,s no finer man. Ho was sure they all felt how much they h!ad lost in his death and in the death's of . °. t,lor b ™vc officers and non-com-missioned officer* and men wflio had fallen that great victory. In. conclusion he would just like to tell them how proud lie wa.s to have had a hand in the raising of the first New Zealand troop,? and in bringing tlhem from New 'Zealand'. He wais 3ure, also, that everyone in New Zealand would he proud to hear what had been done once more by them. iPer-

sonally), he wished to thank them from his heart for what they done for the corps.

Following the general's address they marched pn6t to the music of one of their own bands. There were some gaps in the ranks which had' not yet been filled up. They, had! done their strenuous work for some time as a carrying party under fire. It is not all musfc with our bands when the guns begin to shoot.