GLORIOUS BRITISH STAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15884, 3 April 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

GLORIOUS BRITISH STAND.

MEET SWARMING FOE.

WITH RIFLE AND BAYONET,

The stand made against swarms of Germans by the broken portions of the British 'line at Givenchy on January 25 was a glorious one, and though even now the details are all too meagre, EyeWitness's" story gives a thrilling glimpse of tho splendour of tho British soldier at bay on that day. When attacked in the rear they kept steady, faced about, and met the enemy with rifle and glittering bayonet. The humane act of a German officer is recorded by him. At this affair of Givenchy a British officer had been partially buried under debris, and the German officer, regardless of the fact that he ihimself was out in the open under a hail of bullets, stopped to dig him out and give him brandy from his flask. "To the great regret." says "Eyewitness," "of those of our men who witnessed this deed of gallantry and selfsacrifice and deeply appreciated it, the German was killed by a chance bullet." Man Who Faced "Port" of Eight. On the night of tho sth-6th we made a successful attack on two German sap-heads in the brickfields south of the La Bassee Canal. _ ' " From these vantage-points a further advance was carried out on February 6. At 2 p.m. our artillery and that of the French concentrated their fire upon the German defences among the brickstacks and tho area beyond. " Our heavy howitzers took part in this 'bombardment, their fire being directed on the, railway triangle. The boom of the latter pieces and the detonations of their shell were audible 20 miles away, above the roar of other artillery, while to those close at hand the shrieking of the great projectiles through the air was most impressive, as were the volumes of smoke and debris thrown up." At 2.15 p.m. an assault was launched against a strong position or "keep" amongst the stacks of bricks held by the Germans. Our storming columns rushed the work from three sides at once, and captured it with very little loss, for— prisoners afterwards stated—tho noise of bursting shells was so great and the clouds of dust with which the defenders were surrounded were so thick that they did not observe our men advancing until too late. " At the same time the trenches to the north of this point, between it and the canal, were stormed by another party. " By seizing these points we were enabled to occupy a continuous line southwards from our forward post on the canal, which formed an advantageous position in front of the brickfields. We captured 19 unwounded prisoners, in addition to many wounded, a trench mortar, and a machine-; gun. The Germans left 70 dead on the ground, while our casualties were insig-1 nificant. j " The Germans, however, showed no inclination to accept this reverse, for in iho early hours of the 7th a body of them j advanced along the canal bank, shouting out: 'Don't shoot! We are Engineers!'" This form of stratagem, unfortunately for the enemy, has now lost its novelty. Our men held their firo until tho sunposed Sappers were only a few yards away and then opened with a machinepun, with a result t'»*>t the "Engineers" fell back, leaving 30 dead' 'bodies in front of our line. A great featuro of the recent fighting has been the accuracy of our artillery fire. Littered With Corpses. The whole of the area, both behind and immediately in front of the trencbeß we now hold, was found to bo littered with the corpses of hundreds of Germans killed in the various fights since January 25. Our artillery has here obtained such an ascendancy that after the assault of that day our troops wero actually able to put up barbed-wire entanglements in front of their trenches in broad daylight without being fired at by the enemy's infantry. The prisoners captured here were despondent and much shaken." Accurate records of hand-to-hand fighting are difficult to obtain, but certain details of the action on January 25 have been established and are now given, since they convey an idea of the thrilling nature of much of the fighting. It will bo remembered that about 8 a.m. on January 25 the Germans broke through our line outside Givenchy, and entered the village itself, when they were counterattacked with the bayonet and driven out with great loss. " The fighting, however, continued to rage round the place for several hours, the Germans pressing on in swarms, being mowed down, but ret in places reaching our trenches and in others penetrating beyond them. " But even when our line was broken portions of it continued to resist, and our infantry holding them, when assailed from the. rear, remained steady, faced about, lined the parados or back parapet, and met the enemy with rifle and bayonet. " Somo of those in the village who had (been engaged in clearing the enemy out of the houses, had got somewhat scattered, until of one party only 15 remained together." When they saw that some of the enemy were established in one of our fire trenches just outside they at once charged down the communication trench, am* killed or captured all the Germans— in number.

In. the house-to-house fighting, also, our soldiers distinguished themselves greatly. "As an instance of the gallantry displayed, one man attacked a house held by eight Germans single-handed. " He fired at them and they returned his fire until, in order to get to close quarters, he enlisted the help of two other men. The three men dashed forward through a storm of bullets, broke into the house, and accounted for the eight occupants, four being killed and four led off in triumph as prisoners.