ANZAC RAIDS

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13660, 31 August 1916, Page 4

ANZAC RAIDS

NEW ZEALANDERS . ATTACK GERMAN TRENCHES. PRISONERS-AN'I) MATERIAL CAPTURED. ENEMY BOMBED AND BAYONETED (rrom Malcolm Ross, Official War Corroßnomlont with New Zealand Forces). < Northern France, July 7, Wliili! great battles arc being fought with ut tierce "ami blood) - determination farther south along the line in Prance, the Anzaes have been harrying tlic enemy with their artillery and trench mortars, anil almost nightly raids are being made.' The Germans retaliate with their guns, and also try their hands at raiding, but so far the honours have been entirely with the colonial forces. These raids have undoubtedly been useful in deceiving the enemy as to the actual point of attack in connection with the great push, and apart from that they have also a deteriorating effect upon his morale. When in the silences of the night he suddenly finds his trenches swept with a storm of high explosive, and, a few minute's later, a band of sturdy men, with bayonets gleaming in the Hashes of the flares, come tumbling over the parapet into trench and dug-out. ■ the bravest Boscli'e is apt to quail and put up his hands. Added to all this is the bomb and the cogwheel knobkerry, which makes the situation still more disconcerting. A Night With the Raiders. Quite recently I spent a night in a, forward position observing one of these raids. We went in the darkuess along | the duck-board walks and through the fields, and eventually found ourselves in a deep trench. In a dug-out, more or less shell-proof, we found an Australian brigadier and other officers waiting. Presently, with wonderful and dramatic precision, the guns opened on the enemy's front trench. The crack of the guns, the tearing noise of the shells overhead and the bursting 0 f the shells ahead, made a terrific, noise. The preliminary bombardment might well be called intense. We went outside, and, crouching on a mound of earth behind the trench, viewed the scene. It was strikingly picturesque. A drizzle of rain and the smoke from the shells added to the effect. The sky was aglow with bursting shell and Hare. Clumps and lines of trees were silhouetted against the flashing-lights, now clearly, as there was a particularly bright illumination from a number of shells and flares bursting together at one point, and now ghost-like, as the intensity of the bombardment momentarily died down. German searchlights waving across the firmament added to the general'pyrotechnic effect of the display.

A Sample Prisoner. In' this raid there were several parties, and soon after midnight we learnt that they had got'in and.out of the German trench, A little later'came the message: "One prisoner just 'arrived, sir!" The prisoner was a man who talked English very well. He had beeji a clerk in London. "Don't kill me—--1 am a married man,", he said to'the big Anzac who captured hiin. His cap*tor gave him a little pat on the head and replied: "You're all right, sonny! Don't you worry!" The prisoner said he reckoned this raid was very cleverly carried out. It was - clever, he said, using an adjective with which the Anzacs are quite familiar, I saw the prisoner tifforwards. He was a go'odooking fellow, The searchers took (juiten lot 'of letters; off' him; and -phoV graphs of his wife and children, o He had a, pretty wife and pretty children. There was also a recent letter from his wife. It would be the last he would receive for some days—until he could get a letter to her through a neutral country. The prisoner was anxious to keep the pictures of his-family, and these were promptly handed back to him as soon as he was put in an adjoining dug-out umier guard, lie was given cigarettes, and some of the men gave him of their own food. Cue could not help thinking of the contrast in the treatment of our men in. the Khuleben Camp, Results Achieved,

For a considerable time there was no word of one party, and the artiller)' barrage Was kept going., It was an anxious time, but the commander remarked that he was not'worrying; Half an hour beyond midnight a report came that the enemy was dropping shells aroinul one of our batteries, but the ■guns continued firing. After some waiting we heard that men from all three parties were coming safely back over their 6wn parapet. There were also a few killed ami wounded-to be taken in. Presently,' in the small hours of the morning, the first of the returned raiders began to reach the dug-out where we were. They, brought with them three prisoners, Oni comparing notes afterwards it was found that, in all, they hail killed alioiit eighty Germans. On the way back through No Man's Land some of the raiders, when the Germans sent up flares, flattened themselves down into a ditch half-filled with dirty water ,and when the shrapnel begaii to come over in another place five of them crowded into a shell crater that forcibly reminded them of Bairnsfather's famous picture, "Well, if you knows of a better place you better'go t'q it." , Considering that the Anzae's had some 250 men out iii this triple raid their casualties were not heavy, and the enemy certainly suffered to an extent that made the' excursion well worth while.

Good* Work By Nfcw Zealaiiders. One of the most successful of all these Anzac raids was made by the New Zealandors, who assaulted a section of the enemy's trench'recently on a fine dark night. The preliminary bombardment by the artillery and 'trench mortars commented at 12.30 a.m. and after twenty minutes the guns lifted to form a semi-circular barrage, during which the party went forward, and, finding the German wire well cut by the high explosive from the trench mortars, got into the front German trench without great difficulty. Indeed, none of the parties met with 'the slightest resistance in their forward move. The raiders remained for some time in the trench and then withdrew. Thev brought back with them much booty and ten prisoners. They killed fifteen Germans in the trench, and a number were also undoubtedly killed bv our shell lire. Our artillery ceased firing, but the enemy continued, his bombardment of our positions. Captain A, B, McColl, the leader of the party, was mortally wounded while gallantly assisting his men. He had got safely' back to his own trench, but returned to help ourstretcher-bearers, who hail got into difficulties in a ditch not far from our parapet. When getting back over the parapet he was caught by machine-gun lire and severely wounded, lie died before reaching the dressing' station, Apart from this our casualties in this raid were only one man killed-and nine wounded.. Of the' nine only four were wounded during the course of the mid. Tho Enemy's Defences. The German wire entanglements were found io be thirty.fire yards through and four JVet six inches high, the wire having very heavy barbs placed dose lognther. Their parapet was twenty feet wide at the base and six feet at the lop. The trench sides were melted with* lattice work and there were, no sandbags. In the trenches there wer«

no dug-outs under the '.parapet, but there were shallow shelters', At one point there was a large bomb store with an iron door. Out of this door throe nion came, a fourth remaining inside'and shutting the door. The door was blown in by an engineer aftor the raiders had withdrawn from the trench.' A shaft was found leading from a deep well to a bombing station some distance in the rear. It was demolished by an engineer who followed, the pipe line for some yards, but could not find the pump. The. trench was six feet deep, narrow, strongly traversed, and floored with duck-boards. The,parades, which was not so high as the parapet, contained a number of roomy dug-outs. In several there were beds. They were all very strongly constructed, with a thick, solid rbof supported by heavy iron girders. They were sufficiently roomy to permit of a man's standing up in them. Amongst the booty taken by our men were a number of Prussian and Saxon helmets.

About this time a raid was also made by the Wellington Regiment. This raid, however, was not so successful is was anticipated, the artillery not having been able, as on other occasions, to cut all the wire and silence the enemy machine-guns. Thus the raiders got through only in twos and three and the enemy bombed them in detail. Apparently the raiders got into an outwork and not into the main trench. Some fifty or sixty of the enemy tried to follow the raiders, but were'kept back by a Wellington lieutenant and his mon. During the raid the enemy searched No Man's Land with their machine-guns. Lieutenant K, Munro was killed by shrapnel before the bombardment lifted, Lieutenant Sheldon was wounded. The enemy's barrage on this occasion was heavy. No men were found in the trench into which our men entered. '