AT THE FRONT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue 12998, 10 November 1916, Page 8

AT THE FRONT.

NEW ZEALAN'DERS AKRIVK ON THE SO.M.MK. PREPARATIONS FOR A r;HKAT BATTLE. (From Maliollu Ross. Oflicial \\ar Correspondent with N.Z. Forces.) Divisional I lcadi|:iartrr-.. 12th September. Wo arrived at our ne.v Divisional Headquarter- on Friday. Lite ■mli .Sej>teniber. That flay and night. ami tlio following flay, tin 1 gu"- were very htt.-.v. The Briti-'n '.> ere attacking High Wood. S'iiu.- 1 had witnessed the advance at the l»f*j£inninil <>> -Inly a urea l change in ihe position and in tile landscape liatl In en eft'ciled. Rail" tvayj. ami numerous road*, along which the traffic poured in streams. had been made. From the forward ohs.rvationnost where. sitting in t!:«• green meadow amidst tin- |P>pp'es and cornflowers. I had wat'hed the taking ol Friconrt. the splemlidy heroic atlvaiice upon l.a Boi-elle. ami l In* Oerman barrage on our advancing troops between Mametz and the Fricnun Wood, one no*v witnessed unite a cheerful scene. Flie rolling do*, us foi miles ahead were now in our hamis, and om' walked in comparative >:.fciy along the roads or across the shell-pitted "I'alk-aiul-lliiit fields keenly interested in the shelling ami the bewildering !ltter of the Somine battlefield. on could ride in a motor-car to where the Rltle Brigade hail established its headquarters in a German dug-out that went tlov.ii into the howcK nl t.ie earth. Tin* villages had been Mown to hits and the slopes of the valley V.vre pitted with thousands ol .-lie!ls 01 varving size. Broken ritles, nclinets. bayonets, barbed " ire. smashed j German railwav - trucks. and broken limbers littered the ground and the roadside. Stagnant water tilled -erne of the gnat craters made by the shell-. A broken ambulance wagon, tilted oil «nd. a;:d a (lead horse, indicated clearly tir.it even the evacuation of the wounded and the transport of food and ammunition were attended with danger. And there were still grimmer sights that one does not care To write about. Some ol our men digging down to improve a dug-out came upoTi five dead Germans. Our soldiers were evervwhere walking about in the open: and" the tran.sport passed along the roads in clouds ol dust. Ine limbers ivere bringing ammunition right up to the forward pun 4' i" broad daylight ! At Montauban, only a few hundred yards from where we stood, the Boche <>.!' shells were bursting and sending up clouds of earth and smoke. One shell fell on a brick heap thai was once a building, and a cloud of red dust mingled with the black smoke ot high explosive. 1 A little farther on flame-shells were hitting the edge ol the broken wood. With each one a great bjujst of red flames leaped sky-

ward through the cloud smoke. The men working on the road gathered up their picks and shovel- and went slov.lv and quietly some little way into the tield beside thc.froad. The traffic hurried past that spot a liiile quicker, but it did not stop. The marvellous sang lroiii with wlii'h everyone welH about hi* business was tin!y amazing. A young officer with two g;)ld stripes on his sleeve, indicating that lie had been twice wounded, was directing the traflie with n-> more, or perhaps less, eor.'-ern than he have done it in Piccadilly or the Strand. Our own shells were whistling anil tearing overhead from howitzers and field-guns, and we watched them with great satisfaction bursting on the German position in High Wood and on towards Delville Wood. Tin: Germans were shelling our Uel"*h»s in return, but they seemed to lie often just missing the treiieh. i hey also shelled tin l corner of High Wood that was in our possession. Their i> ig guns were not speaking, and one wondered whether they weri' taking them away. 'I hey had eight observation balloons up—the largest number for a lo:ig time past. There were nineteen of ours observing the German line. Our planes llyiug low went across m the German lines, and the enemy balloons or the greater number of them were quickly hauled down. There was not a single German plane in As we came down a slope below Hinli Wood later in the afternoon our eves smarted with the 2as from tear shells borne down upon Us on the wind. The smell "'as rather a pleasant one—somewhat like a combination oi violet and lilac. There were other smells that one tel t inclined to hurry past. Over the whole binds(;ipe u :is the haze thai crimes from tlie smoke and duM of battle. It was like a painting scumbled with a light bluish grey, such as artists sometimes use to get the hsr/.e 111 distanre.

XICW ZKALANDERS IX TH K FRONT LINK. The Ist and -Ith Battalions of our Rifle Brigade were the first to go into the front line. They manned a section of Lhe trendies between High Wood and Delville \\ood. known as the Trench Wood Lane. The Ist Battalion 011 the way up got into sonic shelling. They made light of initial losses, and that nighl they wen- sending patrols out for -tO<' yards towards the Boche line. Our men thought the German line was thinly held at this point. They were eager to got to •41-ips with the enemy, but saw very few. The enemy shelled our trench in enfilade, apparently from Courcclette, hut the shells fell mainly 011 one side ir the other, and did little damage. In front of us was the well-known German switch trench. 011 which the British bad made one or two attacks. In front of his line the enemy had a shallow guide trench only lift deep, possibly as an indication to his night patrols as to how far they should venture. 1 walked up the .slopes for some distance toward Delville Wood and came upon our two communication trenches diig »v the Maoris and the Engineers, who had come on some time in advance of the main body. They had done splendid work. The communication trench dug by the Maoris was finer than anything to be seen 111 the neighborhood." The Pioneers ■ and the Engineers had not done all this Vvork without casualties. ■ WONDERFUL PREPARATIONS. Bv this time even a novice unused to war must have surmised that we were on tlie eve of important events that, with ordinary luck, might lead to results of importance, 'lhe presage oi" impending battle 011 a large scale was in the air. It was beginning to infect the whole force, and the men were keyed tip to a liigli expectancy. Their morale was at the top of the curve. They might—probably would— I suffer in large numbers. But it was I an inestimable privilege and a high • honor to he taking part with the gallant British anil the brilliant French in a momentous undertaking. At Armcntiercs liad «tll looked into tho eyes of Death, but the operations there were minor operations. Here was tlie real thing combat last. Day and night ,

the rumble of the trairiu past our ciimp seemed ever on the increase. Guns and limbers were all heading one ivav—towards the front. And then more guns. and still more nuns. One wondered when the procession would icase. Day and night the .ammunitiun columns slaved with the shells. Files of thousands of empty boxes ill the ",'reat dumps and stacks ot shells of varied calilire from the thin, graceful 1 to the big fat howitzer lay naked in the sunlight waiting to he vent 011 towards the front. Away ! bevond the valley I saw the limbers ' 11' broad daylight taking the shells | right 110 to the gun emplacements, some signallers and several of our ;unners near by were knocked out by j i German shell. A man working in a Hiarrv beside the road was struck by mother shell. The greater crater of a ~).o had thrown the raw earth over the road, but micli shelling on the part of the enemy was treated with absolute contempt. The traffic did not stop for a single moment. In places where the shells tell more quickly it simply hurried past a little quicker. Infected with the microbe of general unconcern, one walked calmly about in the open, scorning even the shelter of the excellent communication trench beside which one walked. At tunes the tear gas made one's eve.- smart, and one saw to it that one's helmet, with its rtiblier-padded eves, was handy in case the poison uas came :>l;>ng. Hut one had to walk warily, for there were hidden dangers. . Our own bombs and the enemy's, littered ■ibont the fields after the great advance, were still dangerous. One false step and you might be sent to Kingdom Come. The day before a gunner, who had trodden 011 one in the grass, was already keeping in his shallow grave.