KILLED IN THE CRATERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14074, 18 August 1916, Page 5

KILLED IN THE CRATERS.

ANZAC :i)ASH AT POZIERES,

HEAVr GUN.S 7AT WOEK,

(Common-wealth Official— Copyright.) ' BRmSH/HEiDQUARTERS, 1 . '■■ FRANCE^ 5.; Last; night,-- immediately: after,, dark, the Austrn 1 ians broke 'the .'mam German second lino on irorit of a mile' arid a-half north-ensfc. of'PdVieriea. 'TJife-'G^r-' man troops SS'ere cut .off m cratei's ; and trenches ami killed or .captured,;. B^fore daylight the Gentians Coiihtei'-at-taeked and broke into a, short' , section of the captured lino,'; ; but' were at'oiicq' turned oiit. A " second}- CQuhter-afyick' was" made about ' daybreak/ the enemy attempting-' to bomb" tirs way "m ''rioVtneast, of Pozieres, and. also to 'bomb down the captured 'trenches frbm the' nor them end. Both - attacks;- failed 1 , an'd a, numV ber of the cbunttsr-attackjng trobpi suiH' rendered. At the present mortmP the fighting is still " fierce; Th^ "eViemv ' is' bombarding Pozierfesy ■ but 'the Australians this mbl-ntng still held tlje whole' of the captured position. It' is notable 1 that many of the Germans who are now prisoners do not think- that either side will win the war, and expect a fairly early peace. August 6. As dawn broke, after the capture by Australians of the German second lino behind Pozieres, the inevitable shellfire began to descend upon the whole of the Pozieres, district. This increased during the morning. During th l^ whole day the' Pozieres ridge became once more the main spectacle m this part of the battlefield. The; smoke flung up by shellbursts rolled away through' the': sky as if from a bumirtg town. All: day long the blackened tree stumps, which mark the place, were half hidden from view by this. slowly drifting mist of pink and brown and* black. The bombardment rolled on into the night.. Through all this our troops held on m a manner which sur&assos all praise. The necessary operations were carried . out as on th« occasion of the first attack, despite the enemy's fire. When tho history of the war conies to be written, this battle of Pozieres Ridge wilL certainly rank with the battle of Pozieres village, and with the landing and » the battle of August, 1915, as the four hardest battles ever fought by ''■Australian troops — indeed, nmongst the hardest ever fought by any army.