A PRUSSIAN TOMB.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14448, 7 November 1917, Page 8

A PRUSSIAN TOMB.

MOS-T , DESPERATE FIGHTING IN

' CANADIAN HISTORY.

(Received by mail. — By Philip Gibbs.) War Correspondents' Headquarters, France, August 24. — To the south of Lens there is a, slag-heap \ overgrown with weeds,, called the Gjjggn.. Grassier. It is clearly. visible* across; "the • Souchez, River beyond a broken bridge, and' I have often seen it from the lower slopes of Vimy. It was the scene of great fighting yesterday, for m the morning the Canadians, who are snowing an indomitable spirit after ten days of most fiu'ious, attacks and counter-attacks, launched an assault, upon it. ; and seized the. position.; Later m the day the enemy came back m strength, and after violent efforts-sue-qeeded,in thrusting \he /Canadians off the dre^t.'.of this^pld ,mbi,indV ,of cinders/ though" they"' still cliing ;i&vthe western side. It is another incident m the long series of -fierce ... and bloody ..encounters which since the battle o| Vimy. on April' 9 .have surrounded the city of- Lens ancl given to its streets- and suburbs a . sinister but historic fame. CANADIANS' GREAT FEATS. The' Canadians have fought here with astounding resolution. They have hurled' themselves' against- fortress positions -hid by sheer:: courage 1 have; smashed their way through streets .entangled with quickest hedges, of steel, through houses alive ..with machine gun fire-, through/ trenches dug . between concrete forts, through .tuiiitels finder red, brick ru_iris sometimes too strong to be 'touched by shell fire, and through, walls loop-holed for rifle fire and hiding machine gun emplacements designed ..to eVnfilad^he pan-' adikn:.*way. of ;ad£a.nceV V 7/ /'; f ;•;" Thi'ough'the cities of St. Laurent, St. Theodore, and St.., Emile, to the. north and .west of Lens, they have fought past high slag heaps and pit headsi along railway embankments and down sunken roads /until they, have broken a waythrough frightful defences to the west-' erri /streets of the inner city. Every day, and sometimes many times a^, day, :they '""-have been counter-attacked by swarms of Germans coming out of their tunnels, and between these attacks they have been under- terrific gunfire .from s k j wide, .semi-circle of. heavy batteries. s.l V f Six /German divisions have. ..attacked?! them m turn and have been shattered against them. These are the 7th and Bth \ the 4th Cuards Division^ the llth Reserye, tlie ,220^1 and ? th,e '/First Guard*: Reserve division. JH' addilion to thes^ six divisions some portions at any rat^* of the 185 th foivison and of the 36t| Reserve Division ha.ye been engaged, fij The total' Germaii strength used at' Lens must well exceed 60 "battalions', and the German .losses may perhaps beVesti/ mated at between . 12,000 and 15,(300; m"eri; -* The .i Canadians themselves havpbe,en.hard,,pressed at times, but have endured the exhaustion of a. g^eat struggle with, amazing. strength of spirit, grimly", and fiercely- resolved to hold .Wipi gains unless" overwhelmed by ««mDer*"' m their. , advanced, positions/ as it hassonietimes happened to* them. ,V; , ; CITY OF -BLOOD AND- DEATH. "■-

-■But it is no; wonder' that some of ithe men whom .1 met yesterday coining -ioU6* of that city of 'blood and death looked' like men who. had /suffered to the last' limit .of mental and bodily/ resistance. Their* faces .-were haggard "and drawn. Their eyes were heavy. ..Their skiri was. as grey as burnt ash., Some of Vthem walked' like drunken men, drunk* with sheer fatigue,, and as soon as they, had reached their journey's end some of. them sat under the : .*^al.ls of a mining village with .their .chalky, helmets tilted .back* drugged' 'by the need' of sleep but too tired even for that. , 0 They: were men< 'Of tl|e battalion! /who three days *agp J^^e.face.tb Vface^with the enemy m No Man's '-Landjli a stretch of barren cratered earth between St. Emile, and; the northern streets of Lens, arid fought him there,Vuntil ■ many, dead lay Istrewn On both sides, and their animunition was exhausted. An officer of one of these, battalions came out of a miners cottage "to '-talk^ to ime.; He, was a very young mahjYvith a" thin, clean-shaven face, which gave him a boyish .100k... He was., top w.eary to. stand straight, and too weaiy to talk more

than. a. few .jerky words, .He leaned up against the" 'wall of the miner's cottage and passed a hand over his face and eyes, and said: 'Tm^darned-. tired. -...It. was the lieU/pf a/^glit." V;W© fou.ght to a finish,"* 'arid when we. pad jno more bombs of dui ; .r;dwn, we picked vp ''£|ei'iie's,V. j bomhs s ,an used thSse." ;/ {r'THET .CALL, "ffiEHNE/' ' Heine— the Canadiatis 'call v their enemy Heine and net Friti "was.at. least three, times as strong as us, and we gave him hell. It was hand to hand fighting — rifles, "bombs ? 'bayonets'," 'butt " "ends— -any' old way of killing a man — and we killed a lot. But he broke our left flank, and things "were blopdy m the* - centre. He had one of his streng points there; and j swept us with machine guns. ' | "M^jr fellows, went straight; for/ it,, r.nd a* lot of them got wiped out. But we get on .t9p,of it/,and ihrbughjtlie ; .wire, and Jieldj the ; vtifench; beyond until/ Heine came down with swarms of bombers."

This Young Canadian officer was stricken by the loss of , many.of Vhis men — "the best crowd thai/inty fellodpv cculd command"— Vahd' he" had been through indescribable things; under enormous shell fire.. and he .had had.. pp.. sleep for days and nights, ahcl could' riot sleei- riow for thinking of thing's.'; But'heJshiiled grimly once or twice when he reckoned up the enemy". ldsses*' YY YY: 7/7' The remembrance of the German dead he h*d.,^een seemed Ij[ke strong, wine, to his soul. ''We 'made' ,'eni pay* 'was his sumirilnfi*-up of the" battle, Y The nightmare ..of . it all was still 4. heavy on.s.hlai, and he spoke with a" quiet fierceness abou*uJthe enemy's losses and the things he -had endured m a way which wpuid scare poor >i simph3.,spuls ( vvho think', - . .<~hat war is a foe^ pic'tufifes . V A senior officer pf a battalion" on Vi he ißank of his -wajs. a i different -type of man — like an English squire 'of t-he old style, with a fine- smiling, light jh vhis' eyesjj m spit^ of all he had been through,' '''grid with ia vivid way of speech that vvqiild riot cbirie 'fast enough: to . say . splendi fl things about hiis men ; to describe ..the marvellous way m which they had fought m frightful conditions .;'- to - praise \ne and then another, for the things **i?ty had done, when things were at their worst. ' ' . , ' ■< ■' '!■ He had been., addressing r.spinep of the survivors of. this battle when' l came: ori him, and I saw them straighten themselves up before this officer of theirs, and proud because, he was. pleased. with them. He thanked them for one thiag above all, and that was., for the gallant way m which, after al£ their figl^ti<usj,'they had gone out to fetch ill their dead and wounded, so that pot one jvounded man lay but there to die cr' be taken prisoner, and the dead were brought back for „busal.; ;> "E-"fe/said a ; word, too, for ''Heine,'' as :'?they call him. The Germans had not sniped' or machine gunned the stretcher-bearers, but had sent their own men out. on the same mission, too. That was after the battle.^nd there, wa^; no surrenderincr while tlie fighting was pp. V The officer's story of that was ;\as wonderful as anything I. have. heard , m this war. And the man himself was wonderful, for he had had no sleep for six days and nights, and had suffered

The most valuable assets of a- country are its industries. Tliey play an important part m Its development, they -contribute to its .wealth and give employment to its people. New Zealand is fortu'^a.^ m the possession of many flourishingYrfclustries. A comparatively recent addition: to the list is Gold Pouch tobacco for plpie and - Three Diamonds for cigarette, two hrands which apparently are destinqd/tj) make Hawke's 'Bay industrially famou*}-, This is the first New Zealand grown, otftv cd. . and manufactured tobacco to cdiitmand a wide sale all over the Dominion. Its leading points are: Purity, distinctive flavor ' and distinctive •- aroma, ,■. .mildness and small percentage of nicotirie, wh,ioh makes it a healthy smoke, and last 'but not least, the : perfect combustibility arid absence of '"Jjlte."'" No wonder -.thi-.t Gold Pouch would appeal to the .smoker Who has been longing for a change. Andljhe. price is another consideration— you , • get 30 per- cent, better value for your, money :;. Is not that alone sufficient inducement to patronise your country's industries?

the fearful strain of his responsibilifv-for * many men's lives, yet now when f'inet him straight from all that, he was bright-eyed, and his mind was as clear as a bell, and- the emotion that 'surged through him - was well controlled. YvWhile the battalion on the left "was h&avj.y engaged, fighting with i-ifjes and bombs until their ammunition gave out,, and then witli bayonets and- butt en,<As,c. the battalion .on tlWight - ' whs working southward and' eastward- toVthe northern outskirts.of Lens." They came up at once against the fortress 'houses, irom which machine guns and rifleV fire poured out. :.-.■_ '-'-'-'.. ,-:-,. DO-UR FIGHTING. . /"' V / ' ; The, Canadians m small parties' tried to .surround these, places, hu<Y many >W 7 ep A d(W, Y, Some of *m rush&l close to the walls of one house -^hioli was a bastion, of the northern defence .o.t Lens, and .were so .close that the ma--I&&3T* t^f j ?Hts m th e/ wa'li S tfould ft Vat-them. They even^established a post behind it and beyond it, quite isolated from thq rest of their men, but chriffing, to. theii* post.'all ( d*ay. Ihe^nemy dropped bombs upon them through the loopholes 'ahd ."sandbagged ■-nndw-v ,-Bred>;rifle- grenades^ at them, and tried to get maohine guns-at'them. fut there ."Ave^ahvays^fewV men 'left Kwi^&f f :P ost i' VUntil at^lafit^; vrheWthe line .Withdrew else^iere,., they were^recalled. - . V .."-.- . ■■'.'.•• •-v;: c -, B^or6 tlmt^iiigl^- came: ; there were gi eat German counter-attacks. - Masses oi iwhich. they haa siring 'around them ,'ad'^ed dowri^ommtini@[tidhf trenphfes gS *#* CanadiSis ot the left battalion. , who,- were fighting m?n;!Tn t * he hd^" ; another C9 mTith the right b*tPIL7ED GERMAN CORPSES/ . enemy VUvalked over the piled corpses of dead before he could S^-feS # c but by repejitm '" g P^ ,es ** m **> last force t «£i , gl ™ w & arid/retreat down 4he J 1 ;«> *«»n the,:support of their cdmlades pf the oiher batalion who had' not been so .hard pressed. ' These cameVtp th^r^Z' a^ "-M> a lon S th m, Ge^ n gi:efladiers at bay. The fighting- Wif fierce andYavage^on A. Canadian major, wl& a I'eyover^ bne,handarid anaked bayo ,the,other,flii n g. himself a'mongX within"?e|ch burt^fS ■ outt-end pf a- rifle and YcMb'bed - ttffem * d *> -^W^C^X rmd there Veil^any. YOU ng m&fr"Pmifr-tifi -:* b #a)?pps;:^ere give^j thi qrSto m?m&M V& ;*^BtMll%t^ction ri Radian lustcp wisl|^t«§ht. -ramiic^ticn-tyenclies "doW&ISS fhe n|(^m*K;^s .bpmbing, so thatlWey cohld >a^*pass those, ppints to the line upon ■4*W,. he re... Oil th'e north of Lens ithe -Pan^diaris .had -fallen back. A') A% \ 7 7-^.:-. : -/, D-EA33t . /# . .- "'Southward thfe^-ha^d'^een^ia willif d J ??^» >°d ."otfief^atettlVoWMU forced 1 ti^ up-that^^^ getting 'do.wh i; intb the deep tiirinelst&er .- >r * - v £ h « here h £ w , led , the. . unceasing^lre ... pf. - the Germaii • heavies. Qdi> guns-^re .hal-d |t! worked' Thave 4l_l a dV -^ld how the Prussians were destroyed inifhe square of ? tens ; by. X_tf nbh shells $nd shrapnel. v v-. ■;«':. --Xy -V •,.,//.{! I cbiild, write more, but.i have : -written i ? nou ? h -: .fh^CApftdwns :never^had. v _tohting so hard as this, Vbht^theVlesses^thev have inflicted ritioh the 'enemy have m|de t??? s *«■& RBm»P- tomb, so that its Mnnels. areTdeathr vaults. . . AfA '■" ' The heart of the city is still a. fortress, and the new garrison is stilllst'Mhg 4here,^o/that,^like Thiep^l,*;-WhiaiivHßld # fc M m »rivtjweeks after it was encMaed t o*n std(|gfVLens will hot fall*' s_ a ' : night. But' as a dwelling-place for' Set 1 -' ma^?^s,&& 1* fHkf* a*bemma**2bn , -and •drea4TO^e„s.s>; \pl<. ' ' V-- %.