THE SOMME BATTLE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17335, 25 November 1916, Page 11

THE SOMME BATTLE.

MORE BIG GUNS. \ SMASHING A WAY. (W. BEACH THOMAS, in the "Daily Mail.") With the British Army in tho Field, October 1. Persistent day and night- fighting in tangled redoubts and over vague trenches has given us daily a stronger and move regular lino all tho way from Lesbo*ufs to the north of Thiepval. Tho English troops who won Thiepval itself had some of the most desperate fighting of the war. From their whereabouts comes the story of tho three Australians —one wounded —who lived for nino days in various shellholes, quite cut off from their tho two halo members foraging among tho dead for food and water. Between Courcelotte and Martinpuicli, : where tho enemy held an intrusive wedge of trenches, some field guns were " pinched" in a second successful advance past many machine-guns. j Farther along, where the land is strangelv featureless, a considerable bodv of'our men who went forward at night to fill a gap lost, their way altogether. They were given up for lost, the whole number of them, like tho three Australian's. But they, too, | made, themselves at home in shell-; holes, some among the very haunts ot | the enemy, and. left as severely alone as 80-peep's sheep, came homo in the end. „. ~ , j „_ Brilliant deeds, individual and corporate, have been as frequent as tne flashes of tho guns and almost as similar. The' New Zealanders proved peculiarlv successful in breaking up old German'trenches: and they were officiallv complimented ten days ago on tho" quickness and smoothness of their chief advance. ACTS OF DARING. 1 could tell a score of stories of separate acts of daring by officers, X.C.O.'s and privates. One ot the best is told of a Canterbury (New Zealand) sergeant who snaked his way up to a machine-gun emplacement, ' bayoneted everv member of its crew, and then turned tho gun with great effect on the enemy. " Middlesex and Leicester regiments have recently done some of the toughest fighting. During our advance two officers, who had dug themselves a little crevice in a shell-hole, handed over one of their implements to two Midland miners housed in the next hole. Twelve hours later one of the officers paid a visit to tho miners in the dusk of dawn Then, as he told me the storv, "Blessed if I could find them. They wero yards out of sight. The Boche has no shell tha< could have found them. I tell you, there are no troops in the world who fight so hard when there's fighting forward, or savo so many lives between whiles, as these Midland fellows." Only maps of the biggest scaio and acquaintance with almost every battalion or even company engaged can give any clear outlino of theso bouts of day and night fighting. But the important thing is that each attack has finally made good its ground. We are just "outside that group, of monastic buildings—now chiefly machine-gun emplacements— -which was called Eaucourt I'Abbaye. We afe close agaiust the old trench and complicated labyrinth of Le Sars. Wo can look along the valley of the Ancre on the left a,n'l we dominate the open country on the extreme right towards Lo Transloy. All the time wc # are putting many Germans and many German batteries out of action. Never in the war have the enemy's gunr.ers so suffered. Though others are in an immensely strong position north of the Ancre, over the rest of the front battery after battery has been knocked out by direct hits. I have seen field guns, with much ammunition scattered round them, lying broken in the coppice under the twisted girders and trunks arranged to protect thom—and there is no morn convincing emblem of defeat. To-dny ; s advance and the capture "f Eaucourt I'Abbays wero made possible. by the skill and doggedness of these Intervals of obscure struggleGERMAN " NERVES-" The following rsnif-rkable German document has been found. Wo li«vo seen many signs of tho "fright" the general refers to—-in the sending up o'-' signals to tho artillery, in the needless throwing of bombs (even at an enemy cue hundred .raids away), and in wiiri rifle fire. Though such alarms are common in all trench warfare, they ha\o multiplied beyond measure among liie ; enemy in this battlerGerman Colonel's Order Found on the Somme. " I have occasion to draw attention to the following. —The demand for artillery barrage and tho nervous firing of the rifles because an unseen ho.nber throws a Few hard grenades reveah a state of great excit<uimnt. The result is nothing: on the contrary, it causes only damage. We waste an enormi us quantity of ammunition, and when wo want if. it is gone. Secondly, we damnee ourselves in the eyes of tho enemy, if Ims been constantly stated that, troops have thrown an enormous quan-t-'tv of hand grenades because they heard one enemy grenade explode somewhere 1 want this sort of thing stopped. It does us a lot of damage. The men must remain calm and keep their presence of mind. I count, on t't'o help of my officers and sergeant-majors. " I have got the. i?npression that a few Englishmen throwing grenades from their trenches can thoroughly frighten a croud of Bavarians. This must not go on like this. Whv always silently, acknowledge the of the enemy without any reason? " The artillery commander has assured me that this date of things canno* continue. Both lm ammunition, and guus aro done for. Only company com wanders, can order rapid lire or voile; ■ of hand grenades'. There are plenty ui

watchful company commanders with vl preseuce of mind. If troops open rapid fire on their own it only shows lack of discipline and despicable cowardice. " If we put an unnecessary barrago v , on the enemy's trenches he retaliates; and therefore wo suffer for it. Instead of demanding an unnecessary barage, .-■. or -wasting hand grenades, it is much better if we do something' useful;--strengthen our wire entanglements, deepen our trenches .and build strou^... shell-proof dug-outs for the garrison. ',".;': "This fright on the Somma.-front' must bo dispelled and calm, must take.,.,its place. ■ ' .;'■• "Von Haase, Lieutenant-Colonel.. ,