THE MESSINES BATTLE

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 22

THE MESSINES BATTLE

MAORI HTLL SOLDIER'S EXPERIENCES. GERMANS SURPRISED AND ROUTED. A Maori Hill soldier thus relates some of the incidents of the Messines battle — " You will know by this time that in their last attack the Mew Zealand boys did well, and fully upheld their previous good reputation as lighters. Wo had a great victory last week (early in June), and drove the Iluns back several miles. The attack took place in the sector that we have held for the past couple of months, and you will remember that I told you, the Germans had much the better posit:on, being perched on the top of a ridge looking straight down into our trenches. Well, we opened the battle at 3 a.m. on June 7 by exploding several big mines containing many tons of high explosives. All the mines went off successfully, and blew up a vast amount of ground and many of the enemy's troops with it. Then our iield guns opened up a splendid creeping barrage to cover up and protect the advance of the infantry, whilst the big guns pounded the German batteries with gas shells and high explosive shells, putting out many of the enemy's guns. The Huns were taken by surprise, as our plans were splendidly carried out in every detail. They replied very feebly in comparison with other battles. The aeroplanes prevented the German planes from taking any important part in the. battle, whilst the tanks also lent assistance. "in an hour and a-half wo had driven the Germans out of their three lines of trenches and dug ourselves in and consolidated the ground we had taken. Our losses in killed were exceedingly small, and most of the wounded were only slight hurts. The lightness of our losses was due, first, to the explosion of the mines, which caused great havoc, and, second, to the brilliant work of the artillery. It was a treat to hear our guns going. They opened up as if by magic, all starting at the exact second and they made a fearful noise. I am sure the Huns must have been demoralised, for they offered no resistance whatever to our infantry, but fled in disorder or surrendered without striking a blow. A few of their machine guns offered some resistance, but even in this department they put up a feeble show to what has generally been experienced from them. The whole truth is that our plans were so carefully laid and so well carried out that the Huns were caught on the hop, and we were into them before they realised that we were attacking. The whole battle was over in 90 minutes.

" After their surprise they delivered several counter-attacks, which we easily repulsed, and we are now fairly well established in our new positions, but of course we have a lot of work to do to make ourselves properly secure. The Australians also did well and fought with their usual dash and vigour, whilst the Irishmen also kept up their end of the stick. The troops engaged in this battle belong to the 2nd Army Corps, of which the New Zealand Division is a part. I did not take part in the actual advance, but went up later after the ground had been won and assisted to hang on to it, so my share in the victory was very slight. However, it was quite bad enough holding the trenches, as the Germans began to shell our new lines very violently, and we were often exposed to shell fire in the open.' I had many narrow escapes without being hit. As far as I can learn all the Maori Hill boys are safe. "We are now enjoying a rest after the hard work, and I do not know yet when we will have another smack at them, but am sure we will again give them all they want. The weather has been awfully hot lately, quite as bad as the troD'fs. but we had a, shower last night, which cooled the air a little."