HOW AMIENS WAS SAVED.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 1221, 7 June 1919, Page 6

HOW AMIENS WAS SAVED.

TURNING-POINT OF THE WAR. in .in interview shortly after he reached Australia in September Inst, General I'au laid stress upon Ihe point that, had il not been for the brilliant performance of Ihe Australian troops, Amiens would have been |<ts|. an<l lhat Ihe whole course of the war would have been altered, in an interview al .Melbourne ,1 few days ago, the Australian official war correspondent. Mr K. W. Bean, referred briefly lo the later events of the French campaign, and continued General Pail's statement.

"II is not too much to say." Mr Bean related, "that if the Australians had not on more than one occasion slopped the Herman advance in front of Amiens, the course of the war would have been gravely changed, and lhat iT they, in company with Canadians and two British divisions, had not succeeded beyond all expectations in the great thrust made chiefly by liominion troops from in front of Amiens on August Slh, the war would no| have ended last year. II may be l iken sis an historical fact that il was the successful offensive, which was delivered by live Australian divisions, four Canadian divisions, two British infantry divisions, witti the tanks, and British and Australian aeroplanes on August sth, Ihe continued offensive which those live Australian divisions were mainly responsible for maintaining until October 5111, lhat was chiefly instrumental in linishing the war last year.

"The German. French and British opinions agreed lhat this offensive was on the Western front the turning-point of the war. i do not want to detract in any way from the great rredit which tnusl must be paid lo the oilier troops involved. The Canadians anil New Zenlanders for example, who were moved lo another area, had lighting just as hard, and every bit as successful in Ihe terrible struggles round Cambrai and Bapaume, and the British underwent a most appal I in.-' and overwhelming experience in the original German attack. The re-creation of Ihe British army, and its success on Hie llindenburg line near SI. Quentin. were the marvels of last year's lighting. But nothing can alter ihe fact that on this occasion Ihe Australian corps had the luck lo be, from Ihe end of March until the i-nd of the war, at the vital point. For Ihe first lime in Ihe history oT Ihe A. I. F.. our diiisions were engaged in a type of lighting for which they were eminently suited, and where every light weighed immensely in the decision of Ihe great conflict."

Asked whal, in his opinion, was the hardest light tin- Australians had b«-Ti engaged in, Mr Bean replied: "l should say Ili»? most impossible t-i.-k with which they wen* ev<-r faced was the .itlack on the Nek at Oallipjli. when the Bth and JOlli Light Horse wenl over the parapet. each man «'n the second, third, and fourth lines knowing full well that there was not the one-hundredth chance of nis reaching the Turkish trench alive. The bloodiest hand-to-hand in which our men were ever engaged was certainly at Lone Pine, although at times the lighting during the coun-ter-attacks at Bullecourt approached It, At Bullecoiirt the experience t»f the troops was more severe than rn the Pine, owing to their having to withstand a bombardment which it I limes rose to the intensity of Hie bombardment of Pozieres. But of all fights in which Australian troops were engaged, to my mind there was none which equalled the long drawn-out struggle around Pozieres and Moiuiuet Karm, Tor the strain which it placed on the endurance of Ihe troops. They had on certain occasions short spells of bombardment in other lights, especially at Bullecourt, which was perhaps even more intense than the bombardment of Pozieres, but for six weeks of continual bombardment night and day from concentrated batteries, liringr from the front on both Hanks of trenches which they could perfectly well observe, 1 know of no period of Ihe war which affords a parallel lo Pozieres. None of us ever saw a village or a summit which was destroyed so utterly and completely. The heaviest loss suffered by Australians in a short space of time was at Fromelles. Ypresiand Passendaele w?rc the heaviest experience in the latter part of the war, but the chief weigh* of that experience fell upon Ihe. artillery. which hail to light unrelieved for months on end in the areas upon which the bombardment chiefly fell. I should say that the heaviest rille and machine-gun lire to which our men were ever exposed during an attack in open order was al llelles on .May Xth. 1915. The lighting al Lihon.s last year very closely resembled it. In ail these observations it must be remembered that I do not refer lo the fighting of the Light Horse in Palestine. I have no doubt that the history of their actions will read as brilliantly as that of any part of the A.I.F. "As for the severest of conditions: whilst those on Hallipoli were tremendously trying, I have no doubt whatever that those at Flers, in the mud of the Somme winter, were the worst which our infantry have ever facod. The appalling trials of the dust, heat, and sickness of Ihe Jordan Valley, and the deprivations of all Ihe comforts which are sometimes obtainable in France, made the Palestine campaign I believe, one of the most trying that our troops have ever been engaged in."