GERMAN THRUST AGAINST BRITISH AT NIEUPORT.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13933, 16 July 1917, Page 5

GERMAN THRUST AGAINST BRITISH AT NIEUPORT.

.v.i'• ' ■ . -■ ' 'v..:.., , ' ■ _ " ' • , : : ■ HOME COUNTRY LAPS CAUGHT AT DISADVANTAGE. ' ' •; ' • '• '1 » 1 ' ' ; i ..: . . '■■_■■■' ' . 1 ■ ■ -J • ■ ■ ; RUSSIAN SMASH TOWARDS LEMBERG.

ROUTED AUSTRIANS FLEEING BEFORE VICTORIOUS CAVALRY. 1 BRITISH DREADNOUGHT VANGUARD BLOWN UP ONLY TWO OF SHIP'S COMPANY SURVIVE. in RESIGNATION OF. .GERMAN" IMPERIAL. 5"" citiiikEUjdiL"'7 r " " \ ' '■"*> (Ft* Oible—Press Association—Oopyrighf;,) 1 ■ . ; GERMAN SMASH AT NIEUPORT. tu 1 - aa MOST FURIOUS FIGHTING OF THE WAR,

• ■ BRITISH INFANTRY SURPRISED AND HEAVILY; 'a' - ... 1 MOVING STORY OF HEROIC STAND OF BRITISH ■;*' LADS. , x \ ' " ; / ; (Australian and Renter). r ' ; \'Reeeived July 15, at 5.5 p.m. _ . LONDON, July 14, y The United Press Headquarters correspondent says; Nothing ,y in the war lias surpassed the fury of the fighting in the sand dunes. ; The British were taken at a tremendous disadvantage, but fought to the last man, scarcely any survivors coining out unwounded. Tljese escaped by swimming the Yser. The German bombard-' ■ inent bega'ijj.at six o'clock in the morning upon the front lin;. : It deluging the support trenches and reserve positions all V bombardment readied its intensity at three o'clock ■ llHhe afternoon, Droves of German aeroplanes oamc over, Hying low, using their machine guns- and directing .the artillery. Already the British had suffered heavily. The remaiiulcr'of their .. troop^;vielc to their posts, awaiting' the attack. The battlefield became a maelstrom of smok'e, steel anc).%.i l iig sand, The Ger- • mans played their barrage on the front line in the evening, while the marines charged, Hardly one British machine gun was work- ■' able, being 4oked with sand. There ensued the bloodiest hand- .. tVhand battle, with revolvers, bayonets and clubbed rifles, until , practically none survived of the English lads. One heroic wounded • man swam the Yser, with a rope,.thus enabling the wounded^nonswimmers to pull themselves across. The reserves launched a counterattack southward of Lombartzyde re-taking a : section of the trenches. . . •« - Mr Philip Gibbs, writing to. The Daily Chronicle says: ' The heroic; battle of the Dunes of Nieuport where the King's Royal •' - Rjfl.es and .Northamptons made their last stand behind the /iYser Canal, can never be forgotten. The bombardment in the early ..morning of the 10th was unexpected by the British, who,only, a '. sEbit . time. before :had taken over tlie sector. • • The men were^

luxuriating tlio-position-on the seashore, bathing j. : wli()ii. 1 lII* t! «Hack iopened,d'rom:. trenches, tunnels, •concrete 'fin;!, '..placements and the bicashVoiks between the coast and Lombar-j tvdze. Xhc enemy began by putting a barrage down on the front line, > 'from many,-butteries aijd large howitzers,'' After an hour of' this, tlioro Wiisa pause, /.."Theii a wall of shells crossed the cana'L; 'and churned Hie nam! for another hour. This alternation of a ' toriuido.of steel between the support line/eoiitinued. Dur-i ing"'ah' interval of a quarter of an hour, oll ! icit'sj,wentulown the ' line telling the men'that they .must tight to the death as the bridges, were .broken behind and 'there was no way of 'escape.- It was possible;.to,get messages to the rear, and practically impossible to; ' leave the dug-outs, and reconnoitre the situation. Eight 'aeroplanes overhead, flying ,16w, poured down machine,gun fire. After twelve hours, all the German batteries poured shells for threequarters of an hour, without a pause. Then, the first three waves : ; of marines advanced witli bombing parties, and heavily outnum- . berert tho'few scattered groups of the King's Royal. Rifles and' ' the Nortliampton3. They eame in crescent formation, one party trying to work around the flankings of the Northamptons. A party of German machine gunners crept.along the, lines of the sand, ad-' vancing at low tide and enfiladed the support,lines. Mother party' attacked a tunnel', in which, were the headquarters of. the King's Royal Rifles. Two battalions of the King's' Royal Rifles-fought , almost to the last man, one little "group, of five behind a sand- ; bank,-, finally remaining. Meanwhile the fighting' Jug-desperately, sent a. message to the Britishers at Loni))krtzyde| - to fbrin a barrier to prevent'the enemy coming through". The - ' North'amptohs' liad no chance of escape. The machine guns were* piit out of action and buried in the sand. One gunner got his 1 .gI!P into, actjon, but it jammed. With a curse thegunner flung' - it into, the Yser, jumped, in himself and swam back to the British- • lines. "Another gunner was hit twice by shells, and was unable to "work his gun. His comrade came up and tried to drag him back to the i'anal, wp the hope of shimming back with him. "Don .me,". saidNthe -gunner. "Smash my, gun and get back.-"! ■There, was .110 timje to discuss matters, so the gun was Slid, the wounded jnau was left. A Sergeant, in the Northaniptons ' who swam back, aw the end of a little group of officers surrounded; by marine bombers. They fought to the last man with revolvers. Meanwhile 011 the'banks of the canal, some Britishers, too : weak to swim, and dripping witli blood, were trying to get back to til/ British lines. Some gallant fellow on the Nieuport side, swam ;1 with a rope under heavy fire, and fixed it. So the surviving Northaniptons were able to drag themselves across. There were few of them, but enough to reconstruct the tragic tale. The enemy did not reach the canal bank, but dug themselves in'three hundred" yards away.