MUD AND HARDSHIPS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14445, 3 November 1917, Page 9

MUD AND HARDSHIPS.

THE AUSTRALIAN^ ARDOR

(By the Special Correspondent 'of- the Australian and. New Zealand Press Association.) THE WEST FRONT, Otot. 10. j Tlie Australian units are still enduring cheerfully the\ urad and hardships.: Their pnly, thought is to bdat.the Boche. Whatever. the weather vagaries and xvari weariness, lack of, ardor won't hinder ithfeir. progress.- Here is: an instance of the .dpggedness shown, % When an officer, [ with a signaller met a West Australian ! carrying, a Lewis gun the gunner was .scarcely able to. drag his - feet. The officer suggested that the signaller ; should relieve the West Australian of -his ! burden, but; the gunner declined, saying | that he -lad carried the blinking' thing Im, and he could carry the' blighter out again, T^he Australians had, tough work at* Dairy Wood and .Daisy Wood, southeast of Zpnn,ebeke, of wliich only tree [stumps, remain. ' Each wood was. de- ; fended by pill-boxes. - [ XQyvras a ticklish job stalking 1 the pill-boxes through the mud. It could not be done quickly, as the earlier attacks required patience, but the work vraa done nicely. Officers unstintedly praise- 'the men's discipline and endurla"ce. _No finer work, was - possible than that done , by carrying parties running the gauntlet of; the, barrages. in , order to supply their comrades. The guns were fairly quiet, on - Tuesday afternoon, but thley suddenly ., re-awoke furiously m the evening m response to signals from our men out m the sea of mud. Tlie guns lit up the darkness lurid! v, revealing ghostly figures swinging along the^faeksTJ rhe guns became as suddenly silent after, •an Itour,, telling the men holding the perilous positions that their menace had been, crumpled upland that they could make comfortable for the night. * <' j The Germans heavily counter-attacked early on Wednesday morning. One attack "directed at the new Australian; line by theija. freshest troops could only move sluggishly,, m;. the miid. The counter-at-tacks ? scarcely altered thrf situation^ Rain which has set m is calculated to'iftinimise the .danger of -further enemy efforts. „ NE9T. Op MACHINE GUNS. In Tuesday's attack the Australians ad-vanced-on thle^ YpresJßoxilers railway, whicli i the Germans ; commanded by machine guns m on the butting near the crest of the ridge/ There were many ..casualties- before, .a nest of machine guns was cleared -up on the copse on the south side of the railway. There were also fortified* machine grins m. a : maze of trenches which were not part of the objective, but the occupants showed a disposition to surrender. ./;

were aiso torwnea* maomne guns m. a j : maze of trenches which were not part of j ( the objective, but the occupants showed a disposition to surrender. ./; A Sydney sergeant of Scottish parents 3 ' advanced with two others and bombed a , couple of thle machine guns out of action! 3 ' ' f Both of his comrades ; were sniped and wounded m- a shell hole.. A German advanced with a bayonet against the , sergeant, who caught "the' bayonet with t one hand and knocked the JBoche down j with his fist. The Boche did not show • si^gns of surrender, and the sergeant shot him. ; "KAMERAD." t In this forward area there was much ( lively shooting, : Tlie New South Welsh- ; men, at a 500-yards rahge"j caught the ( enemy escaping rearwards- on the sky- , line. Some of the Germans -were fat \ and clumsy, and scarcely , any escaped 1 untouched. It was. as easy as shooting rabbits, as the Austealians were then not suffering from enemy artillery fire. As an illustration of the ■'- lowered morale, an officer mentioned, a, case' whei'e one Australian with only a shovel on his shoulder approached a pill-Dbx.-I Fifteen dazed Germans emerged with j their hands up crying "Kamerad."^ \ ( One of the most remarkable incidents m this section occurred m Decoy Woo<|, L which was part of the Australian objee- ; . tive south of the railway. An unknown - t number of Germans were.' sheltering I there. tCalling upon a corporal to folb low 'him, an officer, arm,ed with a revolver and bombs, entered tho wood a6d, I clearing up the trenches, put^fie enemy j on the -i*un: .-Tlie corporal was kept H3y handling' the officer clips of cartridges, . and soon there were no Germans m the . entire wood. T'n the early phases of the t attack at another' point a; party of ;A^s- * I tralians -under an .officer, formerly of tfie Age staff (Melbourne), raided a trench, \ killing 30 and taking 16 -prisoners, ahd . also a machine gun. The Germans < c offered 'little resistance. |