TWO HEROIC BATTLES.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 30938, 23 July 1917, Page 1

TWO HEROIC BATTLES.

BULLECOUBT AND LAOrNIOOURT. taAVY LOSSES, GREAT RESULTS. (Sydney Sim's Special Representative,) .Three of our Australian Divisions have come through as heavy, fighting' as we have had anywhere in France* They have done woll, and taught the Germans once more to rospect Australian arms. North- of Queant is the shattered village of Bullccourt, merely a fow shells of houses on a narrow , road. Sir Douglas Haig asked us to attack there, offering us the assistance of twelve tanks, and the co-operation of "a British diyision holding the line on our left. 'The idea was that we should push, through the Hindcuburg line, 'turn north, and begin a developing movement. One assured result of success was the capture of another hundred guns "ill a northern sector,"

■ The difficulties and extreme dangers of.this enterprise were fully appreciated by all. Indeed, to those on the spot it seemed that tho plan was doomed to ecrlnin failure, partly because on so small a front the troops employed would necessarily be inadequate, and partly because it seemed impossible that the British division could cooperate as proposed. In fact, it seemed that the British division was no! accurately located, and that the cavalry was not.nearly so far forward as believed.

But our men went forward heroically, as they always do. The attack was-postponed, for one day, from the dawn of Tuesday to the dawn of Wednesday, owing to the tanks losing their way in a snowstorm whilst* travelling from their base to our lines. . When all was ready and our lines advanced it was with high hope. Our men are always confident that they are more than a match for any Germans. Their supreme valour makes them indifferent to all tho weapons of Fritz. Tho Battle of Btffleconrt. • This battle has been fully described by British correspondents. Its heroism ViH ever be outlined in golden letters in the story of the 1917 campaign. The men with invincible ardour broke through the Germans' line, and reached point? 2000 yards in German territory. The operation at that' 5 stage seemed a complete success, although, as expected, ■ tho British had not been able to get place. But the work of consolidation anywhere near the appointed meetingand occupation of the land eap.ured toon became impossible, The enemy rushed great reinforcements to the threatened positions. He rallied all his artillery until shells descended in torrents.. Worst of all, he drove in at each Hank, ami got us encircled. The rest of the story is one of retreat, The men had to come back. And 'they had to leave at least 1300 prisoners in German hands. Two tauks were captured, some were destroyed by our men to prevent capture, sonic were destroyed by artillery fire—only two returned. As our men came back across the open they suffered casualties, for they had to find a way through our own l,:;:b?d wire, and that means slow movements. Slo-.v movements in front of German machine guns and under shrapnel mean disaster. Many lay there across our wire until they could be rescued after many hours, 1. hear from an eye-witness a most moving story of how our men in these front trenches, unable longer to listen to the moans of their comrades, leapt' over our parapet and, waving white, flags or anything white they could-se-cure, tried to get our wounded in. Some cases,of great bravery are to be recorded. But the Germans showed no mercy, They never do, They hayo no respect for men dying in No Man's Land. They shot down our .rescuers pitilessly. Many brave men fell this way, going into the open to help a wounded comrade at the promptings of their own heroic'souls,

We have to confess to heavy casualties in this battle, They may be' more or less. Figures after such lighting arc difficult to secure, because men get back somehow when hope is despaired of; roll calls are deceptive. Our comfort is that the Germans, who came under our guns in masses at several points, and who throughout were heavily punished with bayonet, bomb, and bullet, lost far more than we. Tho Battle of Lagnlcourt. We got far more than our own back in an open battle on Sunday: It seemed at first to be a diroct German offensive, so massive were the forces employed. Our staff now regards it as only a gigantic raid, as. orders found • on prisoners and on dead indicate-that tho German plan was to drive into our lines on a wide front, destroy our artillery aud brigade headquarters, and return with what Booty and information they could discover, It was a costly operation, for wo got them in every way—our machino guiis; rifles, bayonets, and artillery, heavy and light, showered death upon them : in such slaughter as has seldom;.been seen in the war,'', No one doubts that the Germans lost fulh 1500 in dud, moie than 1500 in ViOitndcd, and 100 in pnsoneis. Tho) must bitteily tegtet then challenge

The) liied with the Piussian Guauls. Thiee diusions of this famous coips, to gethci with two of somo J less dis linguished Piussian nun) coips, came actoss to attack us on a six mile fiont H\eijwhcic the) wete silughterul One hesitates to "wate tin fads of this ■daughtci lest the} should seem untitle "The Geiman High Command/ wiot« the Panch publicist, Maicel Ilutin, ill i the fiasco, "seems to hue lost its he id" At one spot, Ihe Milage ot Ijignnouit the PiiHsiaus got into our line Along this HCetnp of the tiout the AiHi ilun Division under Mawi General Isimth,

y.C.,: had 'three; days 'previously been Installed. The Guards could diaye made no rasher venture than thus to tacklo the oldest and most famous of the Australian'divisions.

Prussians were'f Or thirty minutes half a mile within our line. And then our counter-attack, organised by zealous battalion commanders and a strong brigadier, on the spot; went out aud drove them away at the point of the bayonet. Many hundreds of Huns,-after a short resistance, fled from us, We cleared them out of the whole of our line, and as they scurried across tlic o,pcn our gunners got them, whilst riflemen-shot their rorfiids of (inrtriilgcs ami machine guns played upon them. It was a remarkable fight Hundreds' U our men .who were in supports stood out in the open and watched the shooting down of these Huns. We got them just as they had got us, but in greater -numbers—r running hither and thither'in front of their barbed wire, seeking gaps to get through, Those--gaps were '.filled with! dead.

The Germans used great forcesnearer fifty than forty thousand men—'in this huge raid. ,fhcy nijc seeking by every means to hurt the Australian army at present, and they .use some of the dirtiest describable means, such as the spreading of lying reports in order to affect the nicn's morale. These fail.