A DASHING BELGIAN EXPLOIT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 112, 15 May 1918, Page 1

A DASHING BELGIAN EXPLOIT.

One of the most dashing of the niilior exploits that this front has sen fov some*, time was. performed by Belgian troops in the fighting of -Match;, 6th- about Reisrers-vliet, not far from Pervyse. Talcing advantage of the fact/ tliiit the recent dry weatherh ad reduced the flods there and made the going . practicable. the Germans early on \Vcdne3dav morning, while it 1 wfls still daisCj attacked the Belgian advanced positions on a fairly wide front with troops >recently brought up from the Cambrai area." The attack was not a raid, but a serious attempt to se;iC and hold thp Belgian positions, and it was preceded bv a nexceptioiialyl heavy of s ras » shrapnel, and high explosive shells. The southern portion of the attack was completely beaten oif byrino and ntachine-gun five. 'On the northern part, however, German "storm' troops, who belonged to three different regiments, succeeded in rushing a, series or seven advanced posts aranged in a eemi* circle about a bridge-head, and a savage fight went on for possession of the bridgehead. WiCli the utmost gallantry. Major Brenez, wit hnine men machine-gun, hel doiii for a whole hour, asainat repeated attacks by a narty - ot , 300 of the enemy with 12 machine-guns. At last, by chance, "a Belgian patrol, which was coming back from another operation, /heard the firing and daslieu to the relief of the heroic defenders m the bridgehead. Thus reinforced, the Title garrison now assumed the aggressive, atacked the first of the lost posi? tions, recaptured it, and took some pi'i- . isouers and a .machine-gun. By this time a large counter-attack had been ordered, and, under cover of artillery, dismounted Chasseurs came up .'1 hey had to • cross the flooded area by a single passerelle, or duckboard path, under heavy fire, and those who saw them do it f>ay thev did it eftperbly, as if on parade. By'gallant fighting the whole senos_ tt posts was then recovered, and by .. 30 in the afternoon the original Belgian line was re-establishted. • The. German losses dn the entire operation must have been very heavy,, because the prisoners left in Belgian hands ■numeved 116. including five officers,-and 40 bodies were counted on one section of barbed wire. On the Belgian sida the whole affair _ was eminently creditable to all concerned, and King Albert has telegraphed hi& i congratulations to the rtops engaged. ' •