PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 60

PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

“TURN OF THE, TIDE.” Last week I gave Lieutenant A. E. Byrne, M.C.’s, account of the horrors of Passchendaele, and this week I am giving the end of the book, ‘'Turning of the Tide,” when preparations were being made by our men to launch a great offensive movement. Get a map on which you can see Bapauine showing it to he on the east and Havrincourt Wood on the extreme east. South of Havrincourt is Metz-en-Couture. North of Ha'Tincourt Wood is Heriiues, connected with Bapaume by a railway, and continuing through the ITindenoevg Lins which we heard so much about. Through the llindenberg Line, crossing it at right angles, is the Canal de fit. Quentin : and further to the west is the Canal du Xord. Now, take your slab.- and draw a sketch map about twice as long as it is broad, and pint in the names, drawing with arrow-heads an approximate centre line of the Advance of the New Zealand Division. Better, perhaps, to draw it on paper, making it 17in long by 6in wide, and add on an inch to the depth, in which you may put in, Line of the Great Advance, 1918. August 24-Sep-tember 30, when the worst was over, though there was furious lighting still at times. “The Third Army launched its attackon August 21. The moraine looked wet and misty. The general line reached by the Third Army approximated to that of the Arras-Albert railway, and over 2000 prisoners were sent to the- rear.” I he front to be effected extended over a distance of 33 miles from the junction with the French. With the launching of the great sweep immediate and important successes were achieved ; and on the succeeding days the pressure was maintained and the battle continued, and soon the line occupied was in advance of the AlbertArras railway. “The way was now clear for the launching oil August 23 of what was regarded as the main attack by the Third Army and the Divisions of the Fourth Army north of the Somme.” When one reads of German hold-ups one wonders what was the end in view. What was the good of them? It only meant a merciless holocaust. “Otago moved forward in artillery formation. . . . At that point the battalion extended, its right flank resting on the northern edge of the village; but the foremost troops had barely cleared the village when machinegun fire assailed them from the front and from either flank, . . . but the growing intensity of the machine-gun fire and the heavy nature of the shelling threatened the progress of the main advance.” “On the morning of August 25 it was decided that the attack should be renewed by other units of the Second Brigade—namely, the First Battalion of Otago and the First Battalion of Canterbury. At this stage all roads forward were choked with the movement of troops, of artillery, tanks, armoured cars, ammunition and supply limbers, and the varied machinery and accessories of war, presenting at once an extraordinary panorama, of all the elements and phases incident to the launching of a- great offensive, and at the same time reflecting the stupendous nature of the organisation entailed. Already long rows of 18 pounders, almost wheel to wheel, with 4.5 howitzers and the heavy artillery in rear, conscious of their might, and with a. splendid contempt for the necessity of concealment, periodically burst into- violent fire, ns if to emphasise to the enemy how close at hand were defeat and disaster.” And now I’ll bring my quotations to an end with another. “The successful operations of the regiment on the 25th (August) were largely instrumental in determining the ultimate fate of Bapaume. On the 26th General Sir Andrew Russell, G-.0.C. New Zealand Division, visited the headquarters of the- First Battalion of Otago, and personally offered his congratulations on the success achieved.” “During the night, 28th-29th, Bapaume was violently bombarded by our heavy artillery ; and on the morning of the 29th fighting patrols went through the town and found that the enemy had abandoned it. Battered and crumbling from the repeated blows of two armies, its streets choked with debris and enemy dead lying in its main thoroughfares, .this once prosperous town presented a. grim and pathetic spectacle of almost entire destruction.” At 5 li.m. on the last day of the month of August Bapaume became ours. Page 336 has facing it a picture of what remained of Bapaume. The end of this chapter—not the end of the lighting, though—gives a. German Intelligence summary containing an appreciation of the New Zealand Division : “A particularly good assault division. Its characteristic is a very strongly developed individual self-confidence or enterprise typical of the colonial Englishman, and a specially pronounced hatred of the Germans.” THE FALL OF LE QUEBNOY. I find that to round off rny remarks I must add another bit or two to ray narrative, for it will serve to make it clearer, and also give a name or two, making the reading more definite, for as 1 have been wandering on and giving what I thought to bo a clear account, often a paragraph to cover details, I find that at times T am tending to make my matter more like the original without adding *o the clearness. “A British assault launched on November 1 culminated in the capture of Valenciennes, to the north, and withdrawals along the r.e Quesuoy-Valenciennes front.” Then followed the finale, a- combined attack over a front of 30 miles, extending from the Sambre River to Valenciennes in the north. “The curtain was about to he rung down on the closing scenes of the great drama.” “The great double moat and rampart which surrounded the town was a serious

obstacle to assaulting infantry, but afforded the enemy small protection against modern artillery.' . . . The decision arrived at . was that the artillery barrage should search ihe ramparts only for 15 minutes and then cease. At 5.30 a.m. on November 4 the artillery of the three armies, massed in ponderating weight over a front of 30 miles, broke cutin thunderous barrage; behind this avalanche of destructive force advanced the thousands of indomitable infantry. The vast complicated machinery of attack was m full motion. The assaulting troops of the New Zealand Division met with almost instant success. ... In the early afternoon a German prisoner was sent into the town to ink nil the garrison that they were surrounded, and calling upon them to surrender. r t was then that the. c.iemv fire practicallv cea-cd. Half an hour later parties of New Zealand troops entered Le Que-moy. . . . and ihe capture of the town and the drama lie surrender of the garrison of over 709 of the enemy, officers and men. followed. Get the volume and read chapter xx. fn it will be found For.-tor's House. Morma-l Forest, showing graves of the last soldiers of the regiment to fall in action. Following this is a continuation of the “Line of the Great Advance, 1918,” in the left centre of which is Le Quesnoy, and to the right- of it is Foret de Mormal. I here two- landmarks represent where the Great War ended, November 11, 1318 — r.earlv four years ago. I find that I must give another Chat to finish the ending of the Great War.