THE EARLIER ATTACKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3347, 8 May 1918, Page 16

THE EARLIER ATTACKS.

SOME GALLANT DEEDS. The lull in the fighting enables correspondents to describe stirring incidents of April’s battles. • Mr Philip Gibbs reveals the fact that the Australians relieved tho Guards on April 14. After the Gormans had penetrated the Portuguese line and widened the gap between Armentiercs and Mcrvillo. gaining the crossings over the Lys River, the Grenadier, Irish, and Coldstream Guards advanced along the Hazobrouck-Estaircs road. When the situation was at its worst, when our Fifteenth Division had out-fought themselves by continuous rearguard actions until they were hardly able to walk or stand, the Guards had to hold the enemy at all costs for 48 hours until the Australians arrived. They did it. although greatly outnumbered. fighting in separate bodies, tho energy pressing on both flanks. They beat back attack after attack and gained vital hours by the noblest self-sacrifice. A Grenadier officer son't back a massage; “The men are standing back-to-back and shooting on all sides.” The Germans swung round them, circling thorn with machine guns and rifles, pouring in a fire until only 18 wove left. These, standing among the wounded, fixed their bayonets and drove thronj-’h the enemy. A wounded corporal report'd th.it when last ho saw his company there v-mc only 14 fighting among a swaim cf Germans.

The Coldstream? fought similarly, eking out the hours with their lives. A private remained at an outpost until every one of hia comrades was killed or wounded, and for 20 minutes kept back the Germans with his rifle until a bomb killed him. The Irish also bought time at a high price, and were still fighting hard w;hen the Australians arrived according to timetable. ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. Mr Percival Phillips writes; The three days’ lull preceding the attack on the 29th was obviously due to an interchange of German divisions, the rearrangement of their artillery, and the necessity for carefully planning the next step in the offensive against the Channel coast. It is apparent that the enemy cannot afford to hold the line on the village of Kemmel while we hold the neighbouring heights. They must have those heights without delay. Locre was the first of their to-day’s objectives. The enemy gained ground on the plain, but were unable to push beyond the village- of Locre. The French counter-attacked in the morning, and restored the original line. The Belgians (on the Yser Canal north of Ypres), though hard pressed, gave no ground. The enemy are here confronted by a marsh, making movement difficult and costly. During the early fighting around the Yprcs-Comincs Canal, eastward of Voorme?eclo, the enemy tried to drive northward, but completely failed. The Scottish Borderers repelled four attacks here before 11 a.m., not giving a foot of ground. The Germans made an effort to drive a wedge between Scherpenberg and Mont Rouge They reached the cross roads northward of Locre, but the French drove them back. The enemy artillery fire is more intense than in any previous attacks, and evidently their new heavy batteries have come into position. NOT THE KAISER’S BATTLE. ' It is noteworthy that with a lull in the fighting, and since the German defeat, all German talk of “the Kaiser’s battle” has vanished. German experts and newspapers are now instructed to warn the people that no new Sedan’ is possible, that Ypres is very strong, the British stubborn, and, after all, Ypres is of no importance for the Germans, consequently the German command may decide not to take Ypres.