BRITISH ATTACK ON LE GATEAU ASTOUNDS THE ENEMY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16980, 14 October 1918, Page 6

BRITISH ATTACK ON LE GATEAU ASTOUNDS THE ENEMY

GERMAN DIVISIONS FLEEjUBANDONING THEIR GUNS.

j 'Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.

LONDON. Oct. 11.

Mr. Percival Phillips writes: The Sixty-sixth Division, including " Corinaughts, Dublids, Inniskillens, Manchester, and Lancashire Fusif. ■• : Hera, were prominent in Thursday's advance. The enemy was .astounded by the attack. One enemy battalion commanded says he heard that peace would be signed on Thursday night, *and the troops " had been told,that an armistice was certain, as Germany's offer 'covered all the allied demands. ,i The Sixty-sixth Division made a wonderful journey towards Le v .Catea,uj- A great wave of enthusiasm-carried them forward, though J. . ..footsore .and dazed from want of-sleep, and the only resistance came from dispirited enemy rearguards. The British swept over the hills ■ with sucH force that-five German divisions simply fled, abandoning their guns. The Connaughts captured three, howitzers near Serain. , ,The Germans tried to-recapture the guns; The Inhabitants' hiding in Serain celletra heard them rushing machine-guns forward, officers cura- „; a ing arid ur,ging haste. The Connaughts fell back While, and then • ■"■ cake again irresistibly,' driving the enemy back in disorder. v British cavalry, piishing forward,' reached the outskirts of Le Cateau, where they met strong machine-gun 'opposition. They did ■hot attempt to enter the town. •'./'• The Sixty-sixth Battalion, astride the main road, reached outlying *i ' buildings on Thursday morning. The German Second Army seemed "~\. ' toje;s ( ;iahdipg high ground east of Le Gateau, and poured in" heavy ,:, - artillery fire, apparently in the hope of preventing us from entering. *> : It came as a shock to see villagers going about their daily tasks, women • ■■ washing clothes and children playing 'with dogs; The villagers seemed -if content to remain, though fields near by. were dotted with dead and ■i ,v littered with battle wreckage. One of the foulest German deeds was the deliberate destruction of the lace/making and embroidery ' 'machinery, by which the villagers lived. The villagers state that some British prisoners who escaped after the German advance, in March and hid in villages were shot when found. A villager in Selvigny saw a group f'oiced to dig shallow graves and made to kneel oh the edge, where they were, all shot.