GALLANT CANADIANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15932, 1 June 1915, Page 10

GALLANT CANADIANS.

LOST GUNS RECAPTURED.

GERMAN'S ON' THE RUN".

How the Canadians recaptured lost 4.7 in guns and earned the admiration of Field-Marshal Sir John French for what the commander-in-chief describes as "most brilliant and valuable services" was told bv one of the Canadians who took part in the achievement and who returned to England wounded. This Canadian soldier said :— '•Last Thursday we received orders to proceed immediately to the north of Ypres, and we set off without any food or water, each man taking 400 rounds of ammunition. We arrived at our destination and waited from early in the day until nearly midnight, when two battalions of us were given the signal to break through and charge the enemy, who i 1 was about 500 yds away. "We were immediately mown clown ' like a lot of sheep by the enemy's artillery. Some 2500 of us attacked the wood, where there were, I suppose, some 7000 Germans. The place was full of Maxim guns. Before our attack some shells had been thrown into this wood, but not many. We drove the Germans from their trenches in front of the wood, and went right through to a point about 500 yds beyond. " Then we were surrounded and had to cut out way back to the. trenches we had taken, and here we dug ourselves in, remaining until the next morning. Then we had 10 file out on Saturday morning to make room fcr reinforcements. " I might say here that in our advance we were enfiladed by a. heavy lire on both sides, but in spit'? of this we moved them before us and recoveied three howitzers which the French had left behind in this wood. t These we bow up and then we succeeded in recapturing four of our own 4.7 in guns which the enemy had taken.

j "At this point we surrounded 60 Germans and bayoneted 45. One of them, lan officer, just in front of me, blew out I his brains. We couldn't estimate the [number of Germans slain, but we saw their searchlights work the whole night through, looking for their desd. " It was certainly a terrible time—the most awful tin.e we have ever known. 'j hey enfiladed us completely at the beginning, but we got them on the run. '• We had the Prussian Guard in front of us and they ran like cowards. | "The Germans didn't mind where they fired, and ware continually shelling the wound dressing stations which flew the Red Cross flag. They had certainly prepared for their attacks carefully. A Maxim gun pointed at the mouth of almost every one, of our trenches. •"In filing out there Saturday morning I was wounded in the arm by a piece of shrapnel. Soma of our men who were surrounded weie wiped out. Wejost most of our officers and the dressing stations were ful 1 of wounded, but it was fine to | sec, as I came down, the troops going np to hold the position we had won. Among them were Indian Lancers and French Lancers and 'heaps' of British troops." This Cinadian survivor spoke very bitterly of the gases used by the Germans. "You go black all over," he " or black and yellow. The gas makes your eyes swell, and if it gets into your stomach von arc done for. Two or three of our fellows were killed that way."