NEW ZEALAND BRIGADE.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 217, 23 September 1916, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND BRIGADE.

IN NEW PHASE OF SOMME

BATTLE

chroni6le of Their move-

MHNTS.

'(From Captain Malcolm Ross, Official Correspondent with the New Zealand .Forces.)

September 15. - I have returned to the Somme battlefield and for a week past have-i-beon privileged to witness the praparatioiK for the momentous battle which has just commenced. • . During tho preliminary bombardment our guns nvust have thrown au leant bwoh© million shells on the •enemy's lines and positions. Soon after dawn to-day the attack •commenced on a grand scale. Tho •cannonade was terrific, and the spectacle mejijiv wonderful even than the July bombardment. Every hollow imd slope held batteries of our flashing guns, and in a^iow minutes this iiotit for .miles was one continuous dine of clouds, in /which one saw thy •Hashing of innumerable shells. On the left the Germans fired shells thatiburst in a rain of red sparks, and sent long pillars of light grey smoke skyward. These bent serpentwise, and. gradually came .across our terrain in illiat locality. In half an hour the whole baltlcfront. of battered woods, •■tillages and rolling downs were en•■velopad in an-ever spreading-cloud of -ashen gvoy, out of which came our pianos." <rtili holding tho mastery -of the air and-dropping; TiW-ssagor.- a«. to "liow the- fcido of battle was going". With this dawn the Boche saw for ■'the first timo approaching across his. ■trenches our newest and most pon•drous'war invention, slowly creeping !like pome saurian across deep trendies .-and shell-craters as if they did not exist, j They were monsters that spai* lire and lead, yet turned thoenemy'^ lead froiv. their own hard skins. The sight of thorn must have been a "nightmare to the first Boche that .saw them. .

At tho time- of despatching this message from the battlefield all is going well.

September 16. The New Zealanders who have tho Humor of being' in the new phase of the Sommo advance fou.ght hard and successfully all yesterday, capturing several lines of German trenches and pushing mi right behind ' Flem village, which they assisted no English division in taking and holding during the nigh 4".

Leaving their' nssembly trench in the early ■jnorninpf stages of the fight tho Auckland Battalion went over the parapet and took the first weak-ly-held German trenches in their btride, then pushing, on behind a creeping barrage they went gallantly through ?!mu>^el, high . explosive shell, and machine-gun fire, and) captured the switch trench. Some Geemans came running towards them lidding ui> thotr hands, and* calling "Kamerad^' Others fled down hill. tSome used tho white flag, pretending

to surrender, and then shot their foes. Neorlless to s«.y that few of these had the luck to bo taken prison- . «r When this trench was taken tho _ ftifie Brigade passed over it, and they ! iitlvanccd close bbhiricl a- ' further | creeping barrage, tho leading waves of which they assailed and took a, trench 1000 yards beyond tho switch trench. Hero ono of tho armorec • land rlid good work. In ono place it charged through uncut German wire entanglements. . \ll this time tho Riflo Brigade was moving steadily onward, an. tho loading waves, found two lines, ot fcrenihes and a long communication French; Theso trenches they also' took: One armored car charged slcwlv lio-ht into the village in. front ot cheonnK infantry. It was a scene unparalleled in tho war. Wo got beyond this objective, but as there were some i^aps in the lino the men had to be'brought back a short distance. They dug in on the line threatened. A Gern?.n counter-attack was beaten bad' by our. artillery, others were prevented largely.by tho same moans. All night the Brigade bravely held on, and even occupied a bit of ground beyond their own rvroa.on tho right. At tho moment of writing our supports, which have come up, are taking part in a further advance. Ihe chance* of. further success seem satisfactory.