SKIRMISHING IN WOODS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16904, 17 July 1918, Page 8

SKIRMISHING IN WOODS

FIERCE ENCOUNTERS.

AUSTRALIANS IN ACTION. Commonwealth Official—Copyright.

, April 18. 0 The events of the past fortnight have . been mostly fierce skirmishing fights ~ among the spring woods and fields be--1 tween the advance guards of the opposing 9 armies south of the Somme, between the river and the little stream of the Luce, i Two splendid Now South Wales brigades have been principally concerned in this. Since his repulse by the Australians in front of VUler3 Bretonneux on April 4 ' the enemy has made no further infantry • attacks on that town, though it hits been constantly shelled by bis artillery with 1 high explosives and gas. We do not know 9 the enemy losses at Dernancourt mi Villers Bretonneux, but we do know that r the German slaughter was ghastly. The fighting never ceases abo.it these f woods and copses and the furrowed fields s —skirmish fighting between the main e battle lines—and it is a, particularly deadly form of skirmishing. At places it is so close and confused that the artillery 3 can take no part in it for fear of 3 hitting friend instead of foe. It is skirmish- . ing not in the old style of little rushes * of riflemen, but in the newer fashion of machine-guns, which, turned on to > stand. ing men for a couple of seconds, will cut them in two like a circular saw. At dawn on April 7 a considerable ) force from two New South Wales battab lions attacked and took the German half • of Hangard Wood. The gaining of the 1 wood, under the support of artillery fire, 1 was, os usual, not difficult; the stiff time 3 in all these little local attacks comes with . the effort to hold on to the gains. The Germans were thick in among the trees i with machine-guns, but they made no i stand; except for a few minutes at. one i place. Hares, birds, and Germans fled to- , gether for the fields on the eastern side i before the deafening crackle of machinei guns and rifles. Some German machine- ) gunners surrendered—and machine-gunners i nave to surrender early— the Austraf liana sent in over sixty prisoners including i several officers, and two guns. In the field i and 200 yds oast of tho wood they dug in, ; but the grass there was too high, and the i men could get no field of fire. They fought > off several attacks at close quarters, and i then, rather than sacrifice men in the vul- • nerable position, they gradually withdrew , through the day into the woods, and at . night to their original line. ! Desperata Fights for Hangard. .is the line ran it was dangerous for 1 either side to take possession of the whole ' of the wood, and the German attacks had ; been for some days slipping more and 1 more south. Since the early days of April ' the enemy has-been trying to establish himself in Hangard and to turn the flank of the Villera Bretonneux position by pushing down the stream of tho Lace. Hangard has been taken aid retr.ken i several times. On April 12 the Germans took it for the second time. Prior to this ' attack another New South Wales battdion , was holding a small copse on the hillside just north of Hangard. At dawn that day • the Germans smothered the village with , ehell fire and masked the view of our men , in the, copse with a screen of smoke— , trick they have learned from us. As this , Bmoke gradually cleared the Australians , saw at about seven o'clock, what they describe as a sort of divisional parade of ' Germans marching obliquely across their , front on to Hangard. "It was a fairly close column of thick bodies of men," said one of our company ' officers. "They were only about 300 yds away from us at one point, and either the Germans were mad, or it was colossal cheek on their part. They wero bo close that, owing to the lie of the ground, many in the line could not fire on them. But the artillery played hell with them, and we tore into them with machine-guns wherever we could get a view." The French were compelled to fall back from the village, and for a time were hard pressed; to one of their officers who came to the Australians for assistance the Australians shouted : " Box on with us and dig in behind the village. We will get , them in the flank." They whipped machine-guns to the southern edge of the copse, and, with a cheer of "Vivent les Francaises," which put new heart into those men down tho hill, the lino staved. That night the French took the village back again and pushed out beyond it to the cemetery, and thero each line dug in amongst the tombstones. Germans Caught Asleep. •There is another copse just north of the cemetery, called Cemetery Copse, and after the second recapture of Hangard another New South Wales battalion came into the line and planned a furthor attack to push out beyond Cemetery Copse. The rising ground above Hangard falls off north-east of the village, and turns back towards the large Hangard Wood, from the German part of which a longish narrow dip separates it. Tho Australian scheme was to push out to the edge of this dip and to Cemetery Copse, beyond the edge on the _ south-eastern side, in order to establish some machine-guns which should harry the enemy in the daytime. On the higher ground beyond our lino were two cross-roads, or liross-tracks, with some banks at the side of them— the main vantage points in tho whole rolling, open field. Two snail parties went for the croos-roadfi, and a third and larger party for Cemetery Copse. All three parties moved out at 3 a.m. on the niehfc of April 14-15. Previous reconnaissance had shown that there were few of the enemy in the vicinity of any of these points, and it was understood that we even had a post, estnl'ished earlier that evening, at the nearer of the cross-roads. The situation in reality was very different, though our men did not know it; during that night at least a battalion of Germans had come up and occupied all three points, and it is believed now that tho Australians stumbled upon tho preparations for a further heavy attack on Hangard. _ The party for the nearer cross-roads jumoed over a little bank upon a garrison of tho enemy, all asleep, under waterproof sheets and tarpaulins. They were i.i creatly superior strength to the Australians, whose only chance was fo dash into them wih bayonet while they were still starring up from the encumbering sheets. They threw themselves on the Germans with a will, and those of the enemy who could get away fled while ♦hey still had a chance, pursued by rifle fire and bombs. The Australian 'officer leading was killed, but, a sergeant carried on in his pla-e. Shortly after 4 a.m. the enemy came in preat force from Hangard Wood, on the other side of the dip- the littlo post held on till daylieht, when its casualties became heavy, "and it withdrew in good order, brinein? in its wounded. The Australians hid exacted heavy toll of the Germans, and thev counted 78 dead Germans on the level ground. There were many othe: they could not see in the sunken road.

Flight of Startled Enemy. The heaviest fighting was at Cemetery Upse. The party advancing on this place moved up another sunken road, and at a hedge 150 yds in front of the copse came upon nearly 200 Germans lying asleep along the hedge under waterproof sheets. The number of the enemy found and their attitude seems clear evidence of an attacking force moved un shortly before With bomb and bayonet he New South Welshmen killed or can. Mired the whole lot here. Moving on to the copse the force split into three-one officer with a party went round each side of the copse, and a sergeant took 11 men straight through the middle of it. He found hundreds of Permans among those trees; they also had just been aroused from sleep, and most of them were still lying under tarpaulins, As the Germans struggled to get their arms the Australians shot them down with rifles and machine-guns or ran into them with the bayonet. They threw bombs under the tarpaulins. (W Anstraban alone bayoneted 12. Thirty-three prisoners and two machine-guns were sent back. Many of the etnrtled enemy fled out of the wood-what proportion of their original number is not known. The Ana I trahans emerged from the copse joined J up beyond it, and dug in. F' J i