STAET OF OFFENSIVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16850, 15 May 1918, Page 7

STAET OF OFFENSIVE.

FIRST FOUR DAYS OF BATTLE

ORDERLY BRITISH RETREAT.

GERMAN MASSES MOWN DOWN. < Wetting on the fourth day of the German offensive in France, the correspondent of the Morning Post stated that the British armies withstood the greatest shocks ever experienced by troops in battle. About sixty divisions of picked infantry—fiftvtwo of them already identified by contact —massed closely on a front of fifty miles, supported by the heaviest artillery fire this war-ridden world has yet seen, and driven mercilessly to the last ounce of strength under the eyes of the Emperor himself, have failed to break their chief enemy in the West and end Armageddon in a colossal victory. Four days of fiercest fighting, covering a battlefield in places more than 14 miles in depth, has yielded as its chief prize a portion of devastated country abandoned by the enemy a yea* ago. He has paid dearly for the reoccnpation of this dead land, stripped clean of Mores and habitations. Damaged guns and a number of prisoners—many of the latter wounded men, who could not retreat-are the only spoils that remain in ills hands.

His troops were flung into the battle with two days' iron rations. Hungry thirsty in the wilderness they have "reconquered," these carefully-trained shock" troops have already reached the limit of their endurance. Fresh divisions must be thrown forward' to keep up the pressure. Prisoners were captured who describe the weariness and depression of the ' victorious" regiments pushing against the steady fire of our steady rearguard detachments through a desert towards the old battlefield of the Somme. It is a fact worth noting and considering that the spirit of triumph is not apparent in these men. Their attitude bears out the declaration of an, aviator captain captured yesterday that Germany has launched this colossal attack in desperation because she must have peace.

No Attempt at Concealment.

Describing the fighting round Bullecourt the correspondent stated :—The air by this time was full of smoke and acrid fumes, and the battlefield was becoming obscured as the sun dropped lower, but fresh masses of Germans could be seen marching into Croiselles and Fontaine and forming up two thousand yards in front ot Fontaine Wood and an old quarry beside it, preparing a fresh drive due west to Henm. By -past six they filled the entire western bank of the Sensee Valley, between Croiselles and Fontaine, a distance of.over two miles. "There are crowds of Germans," reported one observer; " crowds of them." They marched into • position, as earlier in the'day, with ntter disregard of, our artillery and no attempt at concealment. Wherever possible they used the ordinary roads, which are still fairly whole. Lagnicourt was another distributing point for storm troops. They came along the road towards vaux-Vraucpurt and through that pile of smoking ruins when we had left it still keeping to the highway that leads to Beugnatre. , One could not help being impressed by the celerity with which troops followed troops with rapid "blows at our fluctuating line throughout the day. They came with their trench mortars, the field guns pressing up- behind into the villages just evacuated. Heavy mountain machine-guns from the Balkans were sent, forward slung on horses. We know of eight of these in Bullecourt that were on the Balkan front at the end of January. By half-past seven there was intense fighting all along the front north and north-east of Bapaume, and an hour later the enemy got a footing in Mory from the east, but was held up further north* i I heard of some English troops, cut off but refusing to give up. Their, comrades counter-attacked repeatedly through the steady rain of shell and rising * fumes of gas. ' They killed the Germans with Bayonets, and plucked the prisoners ..out of the night. At seven o'clock on Saturday morning we still hung on the flanks of Mory village, having released the pentup defenders with comparatively few casualties. At nine our line at the edge of Mory was a sharp salient, and to straighten the new front we fell back. No troops had a harder time than these weary men at Mory. Spirit of Our Men. All day long to-day I have been on the left of our battle front between Bapamne and the Scarpe, where on every side there was abundant evidence that the spirit of our men has in no wise been shaken by the shock of this defensive battle or the necessity, to give ground. Everywhere one could find the greatest activity, but it was orderly activity, and the work suddenly imposed by this crisis on organisations in the rear as well as on those bearing the brunt of the .battle was being performed coolly and smartly. Such a vast readjustment of our front involves the shifting of much of the intricate machinery of our armies. Stores, equipment, hospitals, ammunition dumps, ail kinds of supplies in the old forward areas were heing safely transferred to other places. Transport columns driven ;by weary, dust-covered men, rolled along 1 the roads in perfect order. ■I -, came upon troops halted in fields on the way to the front breakfasting, even reading yesterday's papers, and others, brought out of the battle covered with grime and pallid from lack of sleep, stretched on the grass smoking,' quietly chatting, even joking with passers-by. I Withdrawal of Guns. The manner in which guns, tanks, and transport were withdrawn behind the obstinately retiring line was a marvellous feat. After falling back across the Somme we blew up all the bridges save one, which was so commanded by our gun-fire that it was more advantageous to leave it standing. The enemy casualties in his efforts to get across this narrow etrip of water have been prodigious. Massed parties would embark on rafts and pontoons, "only to be swept away by our shell-fire. The passage was made by the famous Brandenburg " Iron " Corps, near I/icourt. and were I telling the German version I should not fail to dwell upon the manner in which these troops pressed on again and again under a hailstorm of fire until they had pained a footing on the western bank in sufficient numbers to move against our infantry. Many stirring little adventures which would stand out with clear-cut brilliance in other times now pass as mere incidents. At one spot the enemy in large force had thrust a way through our position and gained what pre mired to develop into a distinct tactical fid vantage. Whilst they paused to reorganise before advancing, i--n tanks tame snorting towards them. As i is frequently happening in these times. the j German infantry had '.ret away from the I cover of their guns, wii.li the consequence J that the fire-~!>ittipe pv.nsters played havoc amongst the (iciniaivs, and finally ; drove them we'! hack.

The German infantry is being pressed on without reference to artillery support, the German Command (niPliiiji to overwhelming weieht to break down :iH rosista !!<-*•. Probab'y no other civl.iivr] Power wnu'd hold th-it any results could j'.vtify the *••:•- rible cost of such a method. For examine. in the Somme rc-iion our field cuns v, ere making terrible )ilay mmn tiie distant human swarms, from wheon virtually no response came, for the simple reason that they had nothing *. :ep'v '.vi?.\ Asrnin. in the Germa:' penetration of Kisrh Wood and Polvi'ile Wood, the machine-gunners eirnply Carpeted the earth with corpses before withdrawing. These are the things which the German wireless does not hint at in its jubilant record.