TRESCAULT RIDGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17426, 21 September 1918, Page 8

TRESCAULT RIDGE

WHERE THE NEW ZEALANDERS FOUGHT. A HIMDENBDIMi IJNE FORTRESS. JTERCSE RESISTANCE ENCOUNTERED. WELLINGTON, September 20. (Special from the Official War Correspondent.) September 15. fho long spell of strenuous lighting in which tile Now Ze&landers have takon such a conspicuous and continuous part reached its culminating point in the assault on Trescault Ridge, east of Havrincourt Wood. Dunn# tile past few days this fighting became somowiiat oonfuaed and more determined than ever. The ridge constitutes one of tiie buttresses in tho lront deloncos of the Hindenburg line. A certain well-known trench was THE KEY TO THE POSITION. The main defenoe - lmo of the enemy in '- 11 S3ctor. It was defended by stout divisions, who were ordered to hold it to the last. Prisoners said that all attacks ux c»u this trench were to be resisted, in order to enable the Hindenburg lirts to be further strengthened; but that the final witlidrawal would be to that line, whicn would bo held at all costs. At dawn on September 12 the New Zealanders _ attacked, in conjunction with troops on their fia.nk. Following a splendid barrage, the Niw Zealand Kifies iiad no difficulty in attaining their first objective. Further progress, however, was difficult, owing to the intense rifle and machine-gun fire that cajne from the trench held by the ei.emy in considerable fores. Except for a tew posts which we pushed out, our line remained for the whole day on the first objective. Frequent bombing attempts by the enemy to win back the positiona we had gained achieved no result. To the south the battle fluctuated, owing to strong enemy counter-attacks. One of these was delivered at 6 a.m., and the enemy drove our thin line back for some . distance. A second attack was delivered at 2 p.m. along the sunken roads, with covering machine-gun fire from an adjacent trench. Heavy fighting ensued for the possession of the captured trench. As the enemy 1 SUCCEEDED IN OUTFLANKING US from the eoutli we had to withdraw from almost all of the trenches captured, except one portion that we continued to hold in strength. At 7 p.m. a further attack under a barrage was made by us to endeavour to attain our final objective. At first our men met with stubborn resistance, but by 7.30 pjn. their line was well advanced. The determined Jaeger assault troops counter-attacked again at 10.30 p.m.-, advancing down the trenches, and we had to make a further slight withdrawal. After stiff fighting we captured 43 unwounded and 57 wounded prisoners, and our line wag still left in advance of our original position. English troops, who were gallantly fighting on our left, captured tba villages ot Trescault and Havrincourt; but on our right no progress could be made. The enemy had fought stubbornly along the whole front, and his machine-gun fire had been intense and well aimed. ; _ The following day local fighting continued for two sectors of trench by both sides, the enemy showing dogged determination to hold the remainder of the ridge still in their possession. At 2 p.m. we again attacked, and drove the enemy out of a part of a trench they were holding. Tlie remnants of_ one German company, realising the position, fled across the open, and the New Zealanders went at them as they ran. Eleven unwounded prisoners of the Jaeger maohine-gun companies remained with. us. It is noteworthy that these. Jaegers have more machine guns than most ot the other divisions, and that they use them with determination and skill. During the afternoon and evening the enemy renewed their counter-attacks, and forced us to withdraw a little. At 1.45 a.m. they came at the New Zealanders with BOMBS AND LIQUID FIRE, forcing one of our posts to withdraw. The enemy shelled us with guns of various calibres throughout; and also used much gas. In addition to a large number of prisoners oaptured, we inflicted very heavy casualties on the enemy. One of their companies was reduced m a day from 60 to 23, but was lucky in getting reinforcements up a : communication. trench during a rainstorm. The men of the Rifles were the principal aictors in this strenuous fighting; but at tliG finish Wellington troops also had a hind in it. Most extraordinary were some of tlie daring adventures upon which small parties, and even individuals, embarked. The men themselves say little about these; and often one only hears of them by chance. One of the finest traits in the character of the , "Diggers" is this modesty, in regard to their often most gallant deeds. About the last day of this fighting a sergeant of the Rifle Brigade, with 10 men, went forward to exploit a success already gained, and in a sunken road came unexpectedly upon a whole company of the , enemy. Our small "band might have been pardoned had they taken to flight, but . they STOOD THEIR GROUND AND ' . FOUGHT. Any of the Germans who did not put up ' their hands jvere killed. A Jaeger officer, who rushed out of a dug-out to rally his men, was promptly shot, and others in the immediate vicinity then surrendered. By this time there were only some six New Zealanders left unwounded, but they proi eeeded to collect other Germans from shell . holes, till eventually the half-dozen marched back to our line with 40 prisoners. So much for events on land. Almost , every night now we witness thrilling scenes in the air. The other evening we watched • a German plane being held in beams of ' over a dozen searchlights, while the i "Archies" and machine guns were firing 1 eontimicraaly _at him. Presently the bright r silver of his wings in the searchlights . turned to flame, and he began to make an . awful descent for thousands of feet in one streak of yellow flame, the red and blue ' of his signalling flaxes shooting out from the column and addhnr to the pyrotechnic display. Finally the tree-fringed crest of a low 1 ridge _ behind which he fell was sil- . houtted against the glow of his burning petrol tank, as it crashed to earth. Later, another plane was brought, down in the same manner, and a third was shot in a vital part, and landed in our linos. Two of its oooupants, however, got away in a strong wind in their parachutes. The pilot, who was a fine, strapping young follow, was captured by the New Zealanders. He vras very crestfallen over his bad luck. Tonight the clear moonlit vault is A BUZZING HIVE OF PLANES, j and at intervals oomes the uneven droning buzz of a German machine, the dull crash of his exploding bombs, the rattle of machine guns, and the staccato banging of "Archies" all bent on'his destruction. ' While 'writing this message loud cheering outside my filmsy hut announced the flam" ing fall of another enemy machine. The "Diggers," scorning cover, were all on the watch, and nothing pleased them more than j to -see the Boche bomber descending in £ flames.