AN ATTACK FROM THE SOUTH

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 29

AN ATTACK FROM THE SOUTH

Ton clay. Tho weather for the Ea«ter manoeuvres had improved oa Saturday, and a still further and more decided improvement took

Kvon with this impro\c-

place on Sunday.

nKiit the inon are. however, having a -*cry "colJ time of it on the hills, particularly at light time. On Sunday a true* w.i^; called to hostilities, tho partit<« engaged having no de«ire to disregard tho day or the feelings of ■settler* 'ooated in

Ihr district in which the manoeuvre* arc i being held. The defenders' camp, \vh.cii is under the- command of T.'eutenantcok-iiel ' Smith, and is situated in Mr Ew ing's farm at Mount Royal, about two nvlos v.-i-sr from I Abbotsford. was therefore very quiet on Sun- ' day, and but for the presence of a few men in khaki alon^ the .vlai'i South read no one would have known anything unusual was happening. On Friday afternoon the d-efence wa* established :n all its various details, and commun ication maintained under r tceptional difficulties. The weather becamo lucre, severe as the day advanced, and the pickets posted about the hills had a hard experience during the night. It turned very cold, and frequent heavy showers of hail fell, making the position most trying, but the men exposed to the biting wind that blew all nighr bore themselves bravely. It- would have beeai thought that some of those -engaged on picket duty, and even some of those in oamp, would have beicn placed on the sick list as a consequence cf what they ei-dured,

but nothing of the kind appears to have occurred, the men being in excellent health and spirits. The signal lamps suffered in one or two cases through the pelting of the hail upon them, and the glass was broken. Th? breaking is put down to the violence of the bail, but

the reason is more probably that the glass became heated and the sudden cooling action of the hail caused it to break. Luckily the weather cleared on Saturday morning, and as it cleared the enthusiasm of the men returned with renewed vigour.

and the work went on with greater vim than ever.

The business of making the defence as impregnable as possible wa-s proc-e-ecisd- with, entanglements being placed in various positions and min^s laid in order that bridg-es might be destroyed should necessity tor their demolition arise. These mines, it may be mentioned, were laid in the vicinity of the bridges, and so placed that the exploding of them would, do no damage to property. They were of such a nature as would be sufficient to destroy a pier or two of a bridge and co make it impassable by an enemy. It was quite an exciting time in camp when ther field post arrived with letters, which, though not numerous, were povnoed upon and read with a great deal of eagerness. This field post has never been instituted at previous encampments, and, as often happens upon active service, com© of the men did not settle down to their work until the contents of the mailbag had beein delivered and read. It had" bee-rr intended to instal an electric field searohlight. and .irrangements for this had been made, but owing to the.- state of the roads the power could not be got to the camp, and the idea had to be abandoned. A powerful acetylene searchlight was, however, erected in it's etead, and proved quite an acquisition to the general arrangements. All that was possible wus> done to strengthen i all points of defence, and mounted forces i were k&pt patrolling and scouting in search of information and to endeavour to ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy's batteries, these mounted forces being 1 a few miles in advance of the defence line.

At 3.30 p.m. on the Saturday one of the Harbour Board's tugs, representing an enemy's armed cruiser, appeared on the left of the enemy's defence, flying a signal denoting what she was. and announced what afterwards proved to^ be a general advance of the attackers. A"rter demonstrating for some time, this ve=Eel steamed to within a range of about two miles of the Central Battery, and kept the guns in the battery actively engaged. She then steamed right on with covered lights, to show that she represe-nted a ship-of-war, and attempted to force an entrance at the Heads, causing what was supposed to b& havoc among the s lipping at Port Chalmers. Two or threeother vessels co-operated, with her, and must have given the defenders the most active, watchful, and interesting fchn-e they have ever had. The whole powers of the electric light at the battery at the Heads v/ero brought frlly into piay, and wore thoroughly tested in connection with this demonstration of the enemy's cruisers.

The arrangements of the Blue, or attacking, force must have been very well timed, as while this was going on the very active movements of the Red, or defending! forcein increasing its reconnaissance towards

eve-ning; and the manner in which its advance patrols were having to retire upon their defences, showed that the object Blue had in view was being carried out. iTust be-fore dark the attackers established themselves on the northerly side of Saddle Hill, from which point they pivoted- to the junction at the Chain Hills, their camp of the previous day and their supplies being moved to a new camping ground. Some time before midnigbt — probably about 11

cVock — small patrols of the enemy pushed eairiously forward, evidently with the object of coming in contact with and obtaining information concerning the night dispositions of the defenders. The information gained must have been satisfactory to the enemy, for during the rest of the night there was no further di?-Dlav of hostilities. The enemy evidently kept wide awake during- the night, because soon after daylight on the Sunday morning- it could be seen that a reconnaissance in force was delivering an attack on the defenders along the higher ground of the Chain Hill-.. A. sl'orr artillery duel took place, the result of which evidently sotisfied the enemy as to the position of die gruns of the defence, a=i lie steadily withdrew- his l-econnai's-anw and remained content with occupying the various position 1 ; important to him. Aetintr und*»r the rules of Hie manoeuvres that no attack should take place on Sunday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.. no further movement was made up to dusk last evening. Tt may be mentioned as an incidental to the forward movement of the enemy that the tmdge ne-ar Brighton has for m'litarv --purposes, been b'own up. T K e nositi'in la^t evening shortly was tliat

ihe enemy hfrl oceumed tho outlving — or.

to the defendei'p. valueless — portion they I once occupied, and the defenders haye fallen

back on the main line, which lias boon &hen«thened. The defenders have now committed thcni^-lvcs to meet any coming engagement at their main line ot defence-, &nd with it thcie will most piobably be combined a count-er-attaok.

The enemy ha^ gamed some important point*, and 'his efforts are worthy of all praise. The defenders are p-t ill unshaken in their position, and the feeling among offkei-* and men i, that they arc quite safe and will be übl© to maintain that position. I/3?t evening they were out of range of each other. . The Premier has wired to the force his appreciation of the very good turnout, and his regret at the weather being so bad. He feit confident- the manoeuvres would bo tarried out successfully, and he was looking forward -with great interest to reading the reports of the proceedings. He a!=o regretted he was unable to be present to witnos' the manoeuvres. The stiength of the opposing forces is as follows : — Blue (or attacking) Force: 30 officers, dbi men, and 113 horse,; total men, 297. Red (or defending) Force: 66 officer.*, 4SO men, and 122 hcrs.s: total men. 546. There- are also concerned in tlie manoeuvre* two men and two officers directing the manoeuvres and E eveu umpires, five of whom are mounted. The grand total of men engaged is therefore 854. and the number of horses employed 244.