BRAVE AND DEVOTED.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14647, 3 July 1918, Page 9

BRAVE AND DEVOTED.

SPLENDID AUSTRALIANS. FINE STORD2S.PRQM FRANCE. (Commonwealth Official Correspondent.) LONDON, June 19. Many stories are told of -individual bravery and devqjbjon.of Australian* officer a and men during the last advance of the Australians along the ridge between tlie Ancre and the Somme. To under-; stand the particular dangers through! which the company and platoon leaders were called ...to guide the men m that twilight yjotf must^ -visualise \ft heavy ;'acobmjianying shrapnel barragethrough which men, accustomed to patrol; work at night, ah, Net- Man's Land were; liable to rush forward too hastily, arid I also the heavy cover of grain crops hiding enemy machine-guns, which were most difficult to scotch without severe j losses. Th.c; W^st Australians pn the left: attack, Jtell of a one-armed captain who! went f out to ihe attack carrying only a; walking-stick at the. head of the advancing wave. In order tokeep his men well j up -to. the barrage, and at the same time to prevent them from running into it, he walked ahead, often with ~t\is. back to' the enemy, , regulating the line with his, stick like the conductor of an orchestra. He brought through the company on the i smallest of casualties, and was himself imscratched till the following day, when he was wounded by a sniper. RUSHED -THE 1 GUN; During the same company's advance a machine, gun, untouched by the barrage, resumed firing. Three ! men— a sergeant, a corporal, and a... private — rushed the gtui from j&he flajiks, , and „ ,bx this prompt manoeuvre saved many lives. To the. right were the Queepslanders, ; on wh<»se,;.|ypnt%fthe ..German, > maohiiie-•gunhers-fought "tollthe last. One ci-eiw of desperate^men. brought up a machine, gun'in the fl|Jep.-a^id. v fired ( . t on the Australians through the barrage, "plainly seen through^the. shrapnel .curtain. A, company leader 'turned itp his sergeants. "Queenslanders,"'he'said;' ''are you game?" They understood and nodded, and. without further words threey., rushed* through., the barrage direct on the 'gun. ' AU w*er'e wounded with the flying shrapnel, but they destroyed the gun.iand/crewy One of the sergeants later died, of his wounds. An officer v wijh,, a v .badu gash m his shoulder continued to lgad his men. He could not leave them through the next day's heavy enemy bombarament, and. only went to \hospital 36 hours later, when the- wound, not properly attended, was growing dangerous. FEATS BEYOND PRAISE. A South Australian battalion on the right of the .attack\tells how a private, often m trouble for petty delinquencies) led the attack up a strong German trench when the platoon officer was: a casualty and the platoon non-coms, fell. This man hbnself . led- the -way up the trench, where the einemy stoutly resisted with bomb and bayonet, sometimes firing his rifle from Jihe lu'p. ■ He drove back the German *' defence: over a hundred^ yards of the_ stiffest hand-to-hand fighting, killing himself >at .least > 25 ' of the enemy befoi'e they were routed. He led the platoon *■&# the "objective line, organised it, and stuck to- it for the two following days.' r > ■ * There are no words fit to praise men like these. The -vtfiole battalion rings with, it.. , These actions show' inr, against a . background* of . th'e ektrabrdmary devotion, and , enthusiasm °.f every man . engaged.' "'Beyond sight of vtheso i diviaions^Jfind,', it. .-harfl tp f believe, per- , haps, that after lonjr experience of t-haj war these men are still eager 'and almost exultant, at,. the prospect of njaking an attack. The only explanation is the! high moral ,. built . up on. the; t confidence and affection for' the ■commanding ofli-j cers, and the xmiversal pride; among thel men irutbeix ..cpjintry, .ihek. vepMation, i and iheirf individual'' battah'ons. -• . '• ' BOLTED FRC>M SOFT" JOB. -I A Qiieensland 1 > private', was and held>a soft job at' the baths. He heard that liis • battalion;- was going -'.m to ; the atfeck, and; % absented hhnself without.', le^ve, " jpjii^C- h.is. ; b.atta)f m,.\ «i».d j JLook part m" the , assault with?, his comrades ■■'„-■■ : . •.■.?■!■: *->;.*. ? -> v. , '■■ A corporal of -the same battalion who was »w_^y at . a; training , school y weot avray. vpithout :leave ; ; and reached his baitalion, ' to findv'to his ift^so.. disappointment', that,- the '. attack, was, ; pi-&\\ , A^i^jpf^cervsoF^ne (foyjfc Jjefopa^tli^ battle was hit on the head with a piece of gas shell, and was sent to the base hospital. Ho heard that his battalion had gone

over the top", and begged to bo allowed to return, as his wound had healed. Tlie hospital refused. Thereupon, knowing that an Australian airman was flying to an aerodrome near the front j lie escaped from hospital, joined the airman, and flew with him to the ..Australian area, where he rejoined his battalion.