IMPETUOUS NEW ZEALANDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17104, 8 September 1917, Page 5

IMPETUOUS NEW ZEALANDERS

A NEW KIND OF CAKE WALK,

An employee of this office, who resigned his position to go to tho front, and by sheer pertinacity managed to pass the medical test, writes cheerfully from Franco under date Juno 12 of tho battle of Messines: —

"I was fortunate as usual, and came through the piece with a whole skin and scathless, except for a slight concussion from a Hun shell—and a near thing it was too —just before we wore relieved. It was a cakewalk for us. There was no opposition except for ono or two machine guns, which were very quickly put out of action. I was detailed to bomb a trench, and when I arrived on the spot with tho onlj; men of my party who had not got lost in the I unutterable confusion or wounded the trench j had been destroyed, and the garrison was i already making its way through our artil J lery barrage to our lines. Most of them ! (they were mer of tho 17th Bavarian In- ! fantry Regiment) had wounds. We lot them I all go, poor devils! I and some machine gunners of my platoon arrived fully 20 minutes before any others of the company at our objective, and we must have then been actually in front of our barrage, and of course it would have been our own fault if wo had been killed by it, as many of our chaps were. Our company took the second objective that day (3.10 a.m. on i July 6), and up to tho time we wero rei Jieverl Fritz had counter-attacked twice unsuccessfully. Poor old Pilling went West very shortly after we. went over. The officers of our battalion generally had very stiff luck, but the casualties generally wero light by comparison. Enclosed yon will find my flag. The colours (which are really j yellow and blue) were the first New Zealand colours to be hoisted for artillery and aeroplane observation and direction outside Mossines. Amongst chaps I have_ met recently are some old friends and neighbours: Georjro Drydon (Bert's elder brother), Bill (or Jim?) Warren, A.S.C.. Joo Meldmm, Wally Woodrow. Dntj M'Lennan 'Buck Buchanan (at 0.8.H.5. with me and now i second lieutenant), and also little Billy Hutchison. It appears sometimes as if New Zealand had been dumped down en tout ! in Flanders."

The flag spoken of in tho lotter is about ISin eoparo. It is divided diagonally, ono half bwnp yellow and tho other blue (it ie now black).