STORMING A HEIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16881, 20 June 1918, Page 6

STORMING A HEIGHT.

USEFUL AUSTRALIAN GAIN.

SURPRISE FOII THE ENEMY.

1 Commonwealth Official —Copyright.)

LONDON. June 7. For. some time the Australians opposite the German positions at Merris have constantly harried the enemy by raids day and night, killing or capturing the occupants of German posts, who must constantly have lived in terror of what the .Australians would do to them next. It is 110 exaggeration to say that our men asserted such superiority over the enemy that they felt the)' could go over when they pleased.

1 lie climax of these minor operations was reached early on Monday morning, 'when some West Australian troops made a surprise attack at one o'clock, and took two lines of German trenches, besides several fortified farms, on a front of threequarters of a mile. The ground gained •was extremely valuable, being a slightrise, which formerly denied us observation of the defences in front, of Merris. It. is mainly hoptields and wheat fields, which these same Australians watched being sown earlier this year while in rest in billets. The houses around which they fought in the dark 011 Monday morning are the same farmhouses whore thev knew the inhabitants well, and enjoyed their last rest, before the beginning of the German offensive. Apart from the incentive of these reminiscences, the Australians who made the attack have long been eager for a closer fight with the enemy, who, they considered, as over-conscious of his growing superiority. Guns and Foodstuffs Captured. Tliev opened the attack with a two niiuutes whirlwind trench mortar- rifle, and grenade fire on the German front line. Svhile the artillery dropped a curtain of fire behind the same line. The instant the fire was lifted the infantry went with bayonet and bomb in the wildest enthusiasm. In the tiist line there was some fighting, but not- much. The enemy was too utterly surprised to offer much resistance. Besides, our attack caught him in the middle of his regimental relief. Owing to this lucky chance, there were many more machine-guns than ' usual in the front lino system, mostly unmounted, jor the outgoing people were about to "take out thpir guns, while the incomers similarly were bringing in theirs. o' le German officer first escaped our men. i hen he took refuge in a dugout, ifroni which he was hauled by an Australian. He said that they were all completely surprised by the attack, which at Tn. WaS su PP osed to be merely a raid. The enemy fought bettor in the second' line, especially near the sunken road, and 111 several farms adjacent. In one of these farms he- mounted a gun which we captured intact. In this farm, which apparently was the German headquarters, we also captured a considerable quantity of German mail, including parcels, and butter and eggs. This probably was mostly collected in the French country over which they recently advanced. The Australians made a great feast with this after they had dug in. Youths Among the Prisoners. The enemy machine-gun fire was not serious chiefly owing to the splendid dash of the Australians, who did not give the Germans a chance to use the weapons in most cases. Once when a machine-gun attempted to open fire on the attackers an Australian machine-gun crew, who were specially posted to check enemy action on the flanks, rushed forward with a gun within 50yds of the German gun, and engaged in a straightout duel. They knocked out several gunners by direct fire, and then rushed and captured the remainder and also the gun. , Both the West Australians, who made tile advance, and the South Australians who advanced slightly 011 each flank, rounding off the position, are in the highest spirits over their brilliant success, which, with trifling losses to ourselves' 1 esuited in the killing of 100 or 150 Germans and the capture of valuable ground, er 250 prisoners, about machineguns, 20 mine-throwers, and one field gun. Some Germans were exceedingly youthful, and several of them, as an Australian colonel said, could be knocked down with a. stick. Their iron helmets hid their little heads almost to their chins. Many Germans, on the. contrary, were big men, and fought well. One of them spoke English well, and said that large numbers besides himself were specially instructed in English ready for the time when they invade England.