THROUGH THE LINK AT FLERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14126, 19 October 1916, Page 8

THROUGH THE LINK AT FLERS.

STORY OF CAFITRK' OF IMPOR- . TANT FRENCH VILLAGE ■.*•?*■ -J^f— , ■ * . B-RITISH LEAPED FORWARD IX i SOLID WAVES. ! LONDON, Sept. 22. Philip Gibbs, telegraphing an account of the "moVfc nob'.e fighting qualities" shown* in the battle on Friday around Fle^ and to the right of that village, says: — ..,..■■ "Those who'hail the.ta.sk of assaulting- ■ Piers' itsslf were' mostly recruited from the London area. They had not seen much fighting before going into the great fire of the SominiS' battle. Their general, who raised and trained them, wfe sure of them. He had taught thjem what was expected of them, and was confident that, whatever .befell their officers, the men should not be mere sheep without direction. When they formed up in the line north of Delville Wood, with an awkward bit of German trench thrust down upon their right iiank, they tod three lines in front of them over a distance of about 2500 yards barring their -way to Flers. It was a long way and a hard way to go, but they te&ped forward in solid waveg c,f eager men, following a short and violent -barrage from the heavy guns. . "In a- few minutes from the start, the first two waves dropped into the German trench line running diagonally from ,the real Flers line. Thej' foand it» choked. with German dead, killed by • gunfire, fcnd among them only a remnant of living men. "The first two waves were stationed in the trench to hold it. The others swept on and smashed through the Flers line, and forced their way over the shell craters under machine gun and shrapnel fire to the outskirts of Flers, which they reached between 9 an'd 10 o'clock in tho j , morning. j /'Some of the London men were held ' up bv barbed wire protecting a. hidden trenon which had not been previously observed; and a call was made for one of the tanks, which had come rolling up behind. It rolled forward, walking the • shell craters, and smashed the whole length of- barbed wire in front, tiring rapidly" upon the Gei-triatr bombers in" the '•'■trench anc3'"puttiiig(tlieni out of action. ,:".■■jThis enabled the whole line to advance in Flers village at f the tail of another' tank, now famous for its adven-. tu'res there. . ;T;.~<. .'■.,■",. '•The victorious troops found; little opposition in' the village 1. Curiously .enough, <it not strongly defended or. f<*fyitietf.'. TfieW were few.'of the tun-. rriels' aha. dugouts which make many of these places hard" to capture, and the "Germans were utterly demoralised by the motor monster which appeared before them as a> bad dream. They flung ar-heavy barrage, but the British had: few casualties." /_ / .#