GALLANT EXPLOIT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14900, 2 May 1919, Page 3

GALLANT EXPLOIT.

_ Though Lieutenant Devery, D.C.M., who returned with the Tainui's dr^ft which reached here " yesterday, is loth to speak" of his adventures in the field, especially that, which won ;him the Dis- . tinguisHed Conduct Medal, the. following . extract from Colonel Weston's book "Three Years with the New Zealanders," will give some idea of the good work he has done. In describing the operations at La Bassevilln. Colonel Weston stales:— At 1.30 a.m. nn the morning of the 27th, Hawke's Bay company (threo officers and 136 other' ranks) was in position waiting for zero hour. Lieutenant Hanna, with No. 7 Platoon, was on the right in Cabaret road ready to seize the sugar refinery. Sergeant Devery, with No. 8 Platoon, in the centre in Unnamed Sap to attack the heart of the village, and Lieutenant Gibbs, with No, 6 Platoon, on the left, lay in Unchained Avenue, his objective being the Tissage. Captain McLean held No. 5 Platoon in reserve, and made his headquarters in a trench parallel to the failway running from Unchained Avenue to the Cabaret road. At 2 a.m. our barrage came down like a thunderclap, and under its cover the three platoons stormed the village. Lieutenant Hanna had but little difficulty in taking the sugar rer finery, probably owing to the fact that its garrison, so we learned from a prisoner, was concentrated . in a large cellar underneath the building. Sergeant Deverv cleared the centre part of the hamlet, and met with considerable opposition, that was overcome with severe- loss to the enemy, thirty bodies being counted in the street alone, apart from any killed in the buildings. To capture the Tissage,. Lieutenant Gibbs had to fight hard, but nothing could stop the men, and they swept the* place clear of its defenders, of whom a number were killed by our Lewis guns, as they fled towards Warneton. Cellars and dug-outs were bombed; Ten bodies lay near the Tissage alone. Four posts of a section each (forty-four other ranks under Lieutenant Hanna) were left behind, two on. the banks of the Lys and two facing towards Warneton, and the remainder of the company withdrew from the village as ordered. I So far the affair was a wonderful success, and our losses were insignificant. But, in a very short time, the position was reversed. Fifty minutes after zero the German gunners put down a box barrage along, the*railway that completer ly cut off the village from the rest of the company, and drove Captain McLean and his reserves out of the~position they had taken up. Two small counter-at-tacks were then made from Warneton, which were beaten^off by the two northern posts, to be followed,- nowever,,. by one in the> strength of about 250 rifles from the same direction. No appeal for artillery help came from the posts by means of the Very pistols that they carried, and the Germans, by sheer weight of numbers, overwhelmed them. They attacked and drove bade tp the railway the left of the two northern posts, and i then concentrated on Sergeant Devery's posts, one on the right of the northern* [ end, and the other on the river bank. Some of the attackers climbed on to tho roofs of the. houses in the High street and kept up a. galling fire on our men, who retaliated ae best they could, but the latter's chief efforts, were directed to stemming the main tide of attack. These two posts foupht to the bitter end. one man. besides Devery, surviving. Lieutenant Hanna made an effort to assist Devery on the railway side of the main street,' and only when, he saw the posts had gone and the numbers were against him did he withdraw across the line to face a further advance of No. 1 post, if such wero attempted* Commumcat'ons went a short, time after the. Hun barrage came ' dowti, and the first news of the events in the village was brought to Captain McLean by. one of Devery's wounded. McLean promptly led two platoons forward, and a platoon Of Ruahine company followed him. but by the time he reached the railway the enemy was in fulV occupation, and he wisely decided to accept the position and withdraw. 'Time was jriven to the enemy to remove Tiis. and also^ we hoped our, wounded, and the heavies were then turned on to the ill-fated village. Our losses were four killed, fduriteen, missing, and thirtyone wounde^.,ahd.: under the circumstances, can-only be regarded as extraordinarily lights > ... .