BRITISH DARING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 28 May 1915, Page 2

BRITISH DARING.

'RUSH LIKE A FOOTBALL CROWD."

When, after:-?^nt_t^f-v:^eft^'^rw6h; warfare; ?the ii pon ? to;;: as^aulj; r : the:'-??? .^r^^^lines. under ?a murderous??firep;i^e]K;:^^rs sawV"-\vit_t'-:pfl^ British ?splrii;?-fia?d'losfe nttthlngf ofr its ardor j during? $he-i-ina^-^ Our ?troops? showed'??that??trenchywarfare, usually 'considered: had robbed them of ? hone;?? ??pf ,?;?-their dash, > and ?when the li-trar ?q£ siipYehie ordeal came theycovered theias-filves \yith glory. Un^er a rnurd^rous. n^a-chine-gun fire (says the Daily' Mail corr respondent) they?clambered out ••of their trenches, 'and, despite their heiavy packs, the hail of bullets from machine guns and shrapnel, yellow amid balls of white smoke^dashed. forward at a run, yelling like a football crowd. It is not the moment to mention by name the regiments taking part in the capture of the trenches end village 6f Neuve Chapelle—they vied with .one another' in gallantry— but I may cite the instance of one regiment Which on advancing at the double found that the British -artillery at this particular portion of the line had not completey demolished: the barbed wire entanglements in front of the German* positions,* ;Three times those gallant men went for the barbed wire armed only with their rifles, raked by a terrific fire from the German machine guns. At the" last attempt they got through. The aietion began at , seven in =■ the morning? of March 10," a fine, clear day. For an hour almost to the minute "the British guns of all kinds rcaintain-td a terrible _ bombardrr-ent qf ; the German t'osjtionsy "Carriage,ca^mag-e-^abEOr •liT-te*- carnagefA.- were the only words which one of tbe .German prisoners who spoke English could find" to .sum up his impressions. So hot was the practice of the British guns that not 20 yards of German trenches at a time escaped the convening, fire of-our batteries. The awful -shelling they received, followed by the irresitible

ONSLAUGHT OF OUR INFANTRY completely demoralised the Germans. Ax, 8.5 the British bombardment slowed flown, and by 8.30 the British had taken by assault the German trenches defending Neuve Chapelle and captured the first batch of prisoners. Ty difficult nature of the country in which we are fighting only accentuates our success. It is close country very flat, dotted all oyer with little miners' bouses, with here and there a lofty slag-heap tapering to a sharp point. The Germans had turned the houses into veritable strongholds, bristling with machine guns, and, therefore, the capture of Neuve Chapelle called for the display of all those qualities of sang-froid and disregard of danger by the aid of which the British volunteer soldier has established c^molete moral ascendancy over • the Kafser's conscripts The German losses were rngnttul. At one point over 2000 German dead still strew the sodden ground in front of our line. Invaluinl 6 +i!o W^ b -™ou? airme* during tbe fighting. The courage and the skiirthSy displayed in observation woik and in actual participation in the assault on the German "lines are heyond all praise.. The destruction of the railway junctions at Courtrai? a nd niece of won? W^™ 1™1? audacious for %hl ZZx- Thea'^an responsible vS^^lnn 01"^ 11,^0^ enin Ascended P + l rall?le^ df,rin^ to within .00ft of the station in order to make sure of his aim. The, Germans were befo?e S^W nerore they had recovered the British whohwL?\ S °£ agaiß- Th« S™ who went to Courtrai managed to