THE STORY OF KEMMEL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 144, 17 June 1918, Page 3

THE STORY OF KEMMEL.

HEROISM OF DEFENDERS.

An outstanding feature of the Germans' .second, or~Lys, offensive, which opened on April 9 and reached dabihty on April 29, was the heroic defence by the French garrison of Mont Keinmel, on the 25th. A graphic story ot this phase of the battle U told by the spfeoial correspondent of the Times. He savs: — '"The French were exposed, with few trendies and little die Iter, and all the roads, scattered buildings, and positions of everv kind for a wide area in the rear of the front were swept by a hail of projectiles aU through the night of April 24-25. At half-pad three m the morning of the 25th a gas bombardment began, which laded for two hours, hundreds of thousands; of gas shells being thrown over, mixed with high explosives of all calibres. The French'had to wear gas ma-ks all night. They knew an attack was coming, and when it came at five o'clock they met it dill wearing their masks. Kemmel was surrounded and lost by nine o clock in the morning. . "An intense bombardment began between midnight and one o'clock, and continued till between three and four, when the attack was delivered on a wide front from near Wytschaete, where British troops were, along the front Kemmel to west of Dranoutre, which line was held by the French. Penetration seems to have been made at two points, approximately simultaneously—namely, at the juncture of the French and the British to the east of Kemmel and through the French on the wed—and .pouring through on both sides, the enemv had Kemmel surrounded and the garrison cut off ,as I said above, by nine o'clock.

THE HEROIC GARRISON. "Some clay we diall. perhaps, have a detailed account of the heroic resistance of the garrison after that. 'C-er-tainlv fighting went on on the hill for seven or eight hours, or till mid-after-noon. I understand that the French troops had sworn before that tliev would never leave Kemmel to the Germans while they lived, and they dfd not, but we can only roughly picture the scene of which the airmen caught a glimpse as the Germans from all sides swarmed up the. hill, and the Frenchmen, taken on both flanks and in the rear, fought on in lessening numbers and in a gradually reducing area until at lad only the hilltop was crowned with blue the defenders, facing all ways, made thenlast stand. When, all is known I believe that last fight of the Fren-h troops on Kemmel Hill will stand as one of the most stirring episodes l of the war. "Around "Kemmel itself the German losses were undoubtedly very heavy. The French on the hill were well sup; plied with machine-guns. and. as .the Germans came on in great numbers, the price exacted by the garrison for the possession of the hill must have bee« verv high in the course of the seven or eight hours during which the Germans were forcing their way up 'the dopes. Scottish' troops, some " Black Watch amon gthem, besides taking good numbers of prisoners, also inflicted extremely heavy casualties, especially at one point, where the Germans were for a long time exposed to machine-gun fire while struggling to find a way through the wire.

BRAVE RUNNERS AND BEARERS

"If, in the later stages, we had intelligence of the surrounded garrison on.y .from aeroplanes, it was because the French runners were nearly all killed, and, with the enemy all round', it was impossible to send message?. French ofli-ers speak in the highest possible terms of praise of their runners, some of whom got through with messages after hiding up to their necks in water while the German! infantry went by, and all behaved very fiiie.y. eager to take messages at whatever risk, and refusing rest. , "Equallv heroic were the stretcherbearers, who had to bring the wounded over two kilometres of exposed road. Manv were killed, and it is recorded of one "French ambulance crew that they worked for six days and nights without 1 rest, onlv finally ,to be killed. "The "Germans', attacking •behind a barrage, got through on both sides of Kemmel, and fighting of the fiercest- description went on between Dranoutre and Locre. The French, after the enemy once'got round them into Dranoutre, reformed "in a wood just behind and north-west of the village, reattacked, drove the Germans out of the village, a.nd held it through the day. One battalion along the railway Ime charged with the bayonet'five successive times, each time getting into the enemy and throwing them back until the Germans got a ma.\hine-gim round the flank to sweep the railway with enfilade fire. For two days it was a constant struggle against the'rasing tide; French units or small parties were again and' again surrounded, and fighting breathlecs.y, lacing in all directions, then somehow filled up the gaps, and held on again.'