A STIRRING BATTLE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 230, 28 September 1917, Page 5

A STIRRING BATTLE.

DAY OF BFTTKR, SAVAOE

KFFOirr

fc?Be&ESS WASTE Of .GETfW.4N

TIJOOPS

<'t''a:li'«n ."nd N.Z. CjiMp Aasonia,ti«»a (Tlew-fecd Se])t. 2S. 11.^ *a.m.)

LONIX7N. B*st: 27. ;Jfi* .Percjival Phillips writes:' "Wednt^^y''7 a^-iacl; commencod jn a lieaVy mist semi-darknoss.-- /md invo?v*«S a nwnber of new Gem^an

divisions in tho fighting, which was of o. most determined character. Their efforts to hold the British in check caused severe losses. By eleven o'clock the British were engaged in clearing dug-outs in the western outskirts of Zonnebeke village, • and the Australians were lighting on the eastern slopes beyond Polygon Wood. This -success was followed by a day of almost continuous attacks by German storm troops o-n both sides of the -Menin road. They drove repeatedly against Tower Hamlets ridge and the Australian line at Polygon Wood. We shall remember Tuesday as a day of bitter-, savage effort by the Hun, in which he employed every man and gun he could scrape together in order to try to regain his footing on the scarred hills beyond Ypres.

"The troops from the Home Counties and Scotland at Tower Hamlets ridge bore the brunt of the storm, which ended in the defeat of the Germans. The coveted slopes are now covered with their dead. The 'fighting at Zonnebeke and Polygon Wood on Wednesday involved an advance of one thossatid yards. We already hold Anzac and Zonnebeke redoubts and the western half of Polygon AVood. The hardest work tell on the English and Scottish troops attacking below Polygon Wood, who had to retake the steep slopes at Tower Hamlets lost during the German counter-attacks. They advanced from the marshes, and Tower Hamlets ridge was the scene of close quarters fighting. By seven o'clock all our goals were reached, and the Prussian reinforcements brought up at night were evicted, though ordered to stick at all costs.

"AYe have an unobstructed view of Zandvoorde from Tower Hamlets ridge; elsewhere we overlook Beoelaere and Gheluvelt, reducing the opportunities for German counterattacks. Nevertheless, the Germans to-day wasted men freely. Wlien Zonnebeke was taken the 'Germans •could he seen -coming over the ridge from Passchendaele, until our guns swept them away."