BATTLE STORIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 65

BATTLE STORIES

INSIDE THE "TANK." CFnon Oun Own Coheespondent.l LONDON, October 20 The daily work of a " tank" on the western front has been graphically described by a young Australian soldier, who was wounded while serving in one of these new engines of war. His diary appears in the Manchester Guardian. Tho experience, he marks, was not altogether pleasant at first, " tank"-sickness being as bad as sea-sickness until you get used to it. His initial trip was on a 'Monday, and he wrote : " Out for the first time. Strange sensation. Worse than being in a submarine. At first unable to see anything, but imagined a lot. Bullets began to rain like hailstones on a galvanised roof at first, then like a scries of hammer blows. We passed through it all unscathed. Suddenly we gave a terrible lurch. I thought we were booked through. Look-out said wo were astride an enemy trench. 'Give them hell,' was the order. We gave them it. Our guns raked and swept trenches right and left. Got a peep at frightened Huns. It was grimly humorous. They tried to bolt like" scared rabbits, but were shot down in bunches before getting to their burrows. Machine guns brought forward. Started vicious rattle on our ' hide.' Not the least impression was made. Shells began to burst. We moved and overtook some more frightened Huns. Cut their ranks to ribbons with our fire. They ran like men possessed. Officer tried to rally them. They awaited our coming for awhile, as soon as our guns began to spit at them they were off once more. " Infantry rounded them up, and survivors surrendered. Very curious about us. Stood upen-mouthed and wide-eyed watching, but weren't much the wiser." Tho following day ho refers to the Germans thus: "Silly blighters thought they could rush the ' tank' like a fort. Dashed up from all sides. We fired at them pointblank: Devilish p.ucky chaps some of them for all their madness. The survivors had another try. We spat at them venomously. More of them went down." On tho Wednesday cho soldier found ample cause for amusement. He writes: " Party of Huns came to meet us outside the village. Very stout old gentleman in front. Thought it was the Mayor and village big-pots to give us a ciyic welcome. Mistaken. They meant to give a warm reception, but not as we understood the word. Let fly with machine guns. They tried silly boarding tactics. We laughed. Our guns answered theirs. ' Tank' Reception Committee dispersed in_ a cloud of smoke and flame; no trailing clouds of glory. Fat old gentleman only visible member of deputation. Stood openmouthed. Purple with rage. ' Tank' bore down. Old gent, started to run. Funnier than a sack race. Old gent, flung himself to earth with many signs of surrender." "TANK" HUMOUR,

Another humorous incident attending- the tour of this "tank" occurred when more of the enemy were being routed and batches of them surrendered. " One cheeky chap/' remarks the writer, " said he did not think it was fair to fight with such things. We said that was our affair, and we could stand all the racket Germany cared to make over it. Asked one chap if he thought we should have got permission from the Kaiser before using them. Didn't sec the joke." Later, the Australian, speaking of an intended German surprise, sayG, "We tried a surprise too, and outs came off first. Huns weren't pleased. Didn't think it was playing the game according to Potsdam rules. We waddled into their ambush for the attacking troops. Never saw men so frightened. Fled panic-stricken in all directions. Only a few chaps stay-ad behind and tried to stop us by machine gun fire. Smashed them to bits, and left their machine guns to bo picked up by the Yorkshircmen they hoped to surprise."

HOW THE BRITISH TOOK EAUCOURT An extremely vivid story of the storming of Eaucourt is related by a corporal who took part in the battle : * " The troops advanced through a barrage of shell arid machine gun fire to boot, singing " Sons of the Sea " and laughing at their own joke. Eaucourt l'Abbaye was their objective, and they took it in duelling style, with bombs and cold steel. Some hours before they went over our guns were pounding the German lines to a pulp, and the old Abbey almost disappeared from the landscape. Masses of metal fell Inoessantly upon that pile of heaped-up mud and stones. After a while our barrage of flying steel was lifted about throo or four hundred yards, and tho points of flamo flashed out of the fog of rain beyond the Abbey. At a given signal our men jumped over the parapet Into what looked like certain death, while the German gunners threw hundreds of shells of ell calibres at their advancing lines, and peppered them with machine guns. The mud "was thick and sticky, and it olung round their ankles all too affectionately, making their progress extremely difficult.

" The German barrage, though thick enough," eald tho corporal, " was nothing like the ewful curtain of concentrated shellfire In which we enveloped their attacking waves, and it did ua good to hear the protecting ro&r of our guns in the rear.

They pushed on through this fire-blast from Hell to within 50 yards of tho Abbey, and then had orders to lie- down whilo a

' tank ' got astride the position. ' I led my bombing party through the maze of intricate trenches that twisted and turned bewilderingly around the outskirts of the abbey," continued the corporal, "and when we had cleared these to our satisfaction we bombed our way down into tho huge vaults which served as luxurious dug-outs and dining halls for the officers. One of the saddest sights I saw down there —a sight that prompted our fellows to take off their caps even in thoso strenuous moments —was the body of a woman who had apparently been killed by shell fire, and that of a little fair-haired boy about five years old. They were lying in a corner of one of the outer vaults, with their arms clasped tightly round each other, and the expressions of agonised terror on their dead faces was terrible to sec."

Our troops then fought the Germans from cellar to cellar. These subterranean funkholes sheltered nearly a whole battalion of Bavarians, who hid in dark corner*: nv] crevices waiting, for the intruder- :v'> , h

bombs and rifles It must have >■ .hj. : - H men of no mean courage to explore ill?, winding underground passages when desperate enemies lurked in every shadow. But they were equal to the task, and the party that was left behind for tho purpose cleared the place in a few hours. THE FIGHT FOR SAILLY.

The capture on Sunday of the southwestern half of the joint village of SaillySaillisel was a considerable battle in itself. The place had been subjected for 40 hours to a shattering concentration of French heavy gunfire, under which no fixed works could stand. And, in fact, the infantry part of one of General Fayolle's army corps, consisting mainly of men from Auvergne, got comparatively easily over the intermediate 200 yards of trenches, including two concrete redoubts which were completely smashed in. In one large dug-out 200 Ger mans were found to have been suffocated by the fumes of exploding shells. " When the French reached the broken houses of the village," writes Mr G. H. Perris. in the Daily Chronicle, "they found that the greater part of the garrison had been able to find shelter against the cannonade, and for several hours the most desperate hand-to-hand fighting took place."

"The village forms a rough cross, of which the head, consisting of the chateau and a ruined chapel, lies at the west side of the Bethune high road, while the tail, consisting of the single street of Saillisel, stretches eastward. The head and arms of the cross were attacked by three converging columns, the northernmost of which was chiefly intended to prevent reinforcements from coming up from La Transloy. "Rarolv have the Germans put up a better fight. The chateau, a large country house, which once had 26 windows in its two-stcrey front, was the centre of the struggle. Machine guns pointed their deadly little mouths from every heap of bricks and rubble. Tho poilus had to bear several reverses ere they carried this place, and then they had to penetrate a series of deep trenches connecting the chateau with the middle of the village. "Hardly less severe was the combat further northward amid the ruins of the old church. These also passed from hand to hand several times, before the enemy gavo_ up, and it was the same dreadful story with every block of houses on the west side of the Bapaume road, where the conflict reached its limit."

The Germans delivered determined counter-attacks, but all failed. The superior speed, accuracy, and mobility of the French 3in field guns have something to say for the failure of these attempts, but principally, without a doubt, it was due to the* superior will, the swift, steely daring of the French infantry. In such a feat as this the world has never seen their like.