GLORIOUS SEVENTH OF JUNE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17069, 30 July 1917, Page 7

GLORIOUS SEVENTH OF JUNE

BOW IMESSENES VMS CAPTURED. SASHING NEW ZEALAND WORK. THE HUGE EXPLOSION. (FBOM 0«B OWH COBEESPONI>B*IT ) „ . .' LONDON, Juno 12. Messmea, carried by the New Zealanders on June I. a one of the historic battle placesi on the western front. It was here ***** .?f vA M'Nab (London Scottish) vraa KUed in the first battle of Ypres, when ™? .Germans mado their great dash for Calais. The Wytschaoto-Messines Ridge vnm the most important point on the Belgian front, and its possession give 3 the British domination orer the plains of Flanders, and wipes out the salient from which the Germans have always commanded Ypres. Iho Now Zealand infantry played their part m toe push, and the Tunnelling Company in the days to come will receive their share of praise for the arduous operations necessary for the laying of the great mines. lne British war correspondents unite m •colaiming the flno work accomplished by our men. A SWEEPING SUCCESS Mr EL Perry Robinson writes: "Next to the ridgo itself, the most important pomts caincd are the Tillages of Wytschaete ana Messincs. In the centre, due east from Messines, the advance attained its greatest depth. In any event, rt is so far a success of the most sweeping tand. It a to the New Zealanders that the honour of wnming the village of Messines fell, and they did their work always cleanly and well, yrtth very light casualties, where clumsier troops might have suffered heavily; and after the success they consolidated and fortified their ground with a thoroughness and provision which deserve the highest praise. In the capturo of the P° *®s ■J o ™, north and south, Irishmen have had their share. Northerners and Southerners, Protestant and Catholic troops fought alongside of one another. Between New Zealand, Australian, and Irish troops wore the staunch English regiments, which have done, as always, magnificently. They have carried everything before them, and, so far as we know at present, there is no flaw in our success. n

EASILY UP THE SLOPE. Attacking at dawn on a front of mora than ten miles, British divisions, including some of the finest fighting men of the United Kingdom and the dominions overseas, swept the slopes of this heavily fortified barrier between Ypres and Armentieres, and firmly established themselves beyond its crest," says Mr Percival Phillips. "They took many hundreds of prisoners, and a far greater nnmber of Germans were killed by oar guns. The victory is a triumph equally for the Irish troopsCatholics and Protestants, Home Rulers and Qangemen went np the ridge together, s*o i mstorio *"** regiments of England and Scotland, and for the staunch battalions of the Australian and New Zealand men. It was a triumph for the fleet of tanks; for the innumerable airmen who blackened the sky at dawn and ruled it thereafter; for tho plodding sappers and miners, who laboured, for months on one of the most destructive networks of mines ever exploded on this front—over a million pounds of ammonal were used to alter the geography of tbi3 mutilated fringe of Belgium, sent aloft at the .moment of attack in great blinding sheets of golden flame, —and for the gunners, whose true and deadly barrage paved the way to victory. Our men might well have had to fight every foot of tie way, but they went easily up the slope, and the stiffest resistance they had to meet was not equalte the dogged stand made by certain German units in the Arras battte. In and around Messhras there were isolated combats, while the garrison of Wytschaete only dung to its timbered fairs until the British flank crept around them and enveloped the cellars and the few remaining walls that represent the village. In was a wonderfully scientific barrage that dropped in front of tho advancing English battalions, the Irishmen, who had sunk their differences in order to meet the common foe, and the New Zealanders and Australians who kept their end of the advancing fine. It curtained the ground we were sweeping over, and it countered the wafting German batteries beyond tho ridge."

COMPLETE SATISFACTION. Router*B Special Service cables: "Wherever I go a find complete satisfaction at the progress of the fighting. The devastation wrought by_ our fire was appalling. Men of the 35th Division who were in the battle of Vimy say that the shelling in that fighting was ' child's play' m comparison with what they have experienced in the present conflict Our men are getting striking proof of the truth of this. They found Ravine Wood full of concreted dug-outs, in which they killed a large number of the enemy who refused to surrender. The Anzacs fought magnificently, the New Zealandors carrvmg the ruins of Messines in a very dashing manner." TAKING OF MESSINES.

"The New Zealanders seem to have had perhaps, as formidable a part of the lino as any, with the village of Messines itself «»_*he chief objective,* 3 writes The Times. The German guns against them wero apparently quicker in getting to work, and less helpless than on some parts of the front of attack, and the New Zealanders had to go. through heavy shelling. The chief repistance of the German infantry was in Messines itself, in certain strongly fortified positions near where the church had been and m the main square. Here there was some stiff fighting, but the New Zealanders not only took the village and everything they were set to take within the time appointed, but then dug a trench, and would have liked to'go on and do some more, i a T*?,-"" 0111 t}lls P o ™*. however, that the Australians came up in support, and, according to plan, went through the Now /.ealanders and carried on tho victorious » d 7a nc ofpfward to the line which we now hold. This, as has been said, is a total advance of about 5000 yards. The Australians Had some heavy shelling and scattered maebme-gun fire opposition, but nowhere aid tho t*ermans really stand up to them having 1 doubtless learned wisdom when they met the Australians before at Pozieres and elsewhere. Officers of the Australians speak with immense enthusiasm of the behaviour °* their men, who were simply not to bo restrained.

The trench referred to above was finished by the evening of June 7. It was a firstclass bit trench along the whole of their new front, and the New Zealanders that night slept at the bottom of it.