PUSHING THEM BACK.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 829, 6 October 1916, Page 11

PUSHING THEM BACK.

DIGGING THE ENEMY OUT.

EPISODES OF THE BRITISH ADVANCE.

The battle goes on, with success to our arms (writes Philip Gibbs, the special correspondent of the London "Chronicle," in describing the British onslaught of July). Fricourt, partly surrounded yesterday, was taken by assault to-day, and a German counter-attack upon Montauban was repulsed with losses that tore gaps into the enemy's ranks. Prisoners come tramping down in batches, weary, worn men, who have the gallantry to praise our own infantry and remember with a shudder the violence of our gunfire. Wounded men who are coming out of the fighting lines ask one (pieslion, "How are we doing?" Men suffering great pain have a smile in their eyes when the answer comes, "We are doing well." The spirit of our men is so high that it is certain we shall gain further ground, however great the cost. Fought to Win.

The ground we have already gained was won by men who fought to win, and who went "all out," as they say, with a fierce enthusiasm to carry their objective, quickly and utterly and cleanly. This wonderful spirit of the men is praised by all their officers as a kind of new revelation, though they saw them in trench life and in hard times.

"They went across toppingly," said a wounded boy of the West Yorkshires, who was in the first attack on Fricourt. "The fellows were glorious," said another young officer who could hardly speak for the pain in his left shoulder, where a piece of shell struck him down in Mametz Wood. "Wonderful chaps 1" said a lieutenant of the Manchesters. "They went cheering through machine gun fire as though it were just ..\c splashing of rain. . . . They ueat everything for real pluck." They beat everything for pluck except their own officers, who, as usual, led their men forward without a thought of their own risks. The attack, on Montauban was one of our best successes yesterday. The men .were mainly Lancashire troops, supported by men of the Home Counties, including those of Surrey, .Kent, Fssex, Bedford, and Norfolk; They advanced in splendid order straight for their objective, swept over the German trenches, and captured large numbers of prisoners, without 1 great loss to themselves.

British Guns' Havoc.

Their, commanding officers were anxious about a German strong point called the Briqueterie, or brickfield, which had been full of machine guns and minenwerfers, and the original intention was to pass this without a direct attempt to take it. But the position was found to be utterly destroyed by our bombardment, and a party of men were detached to seize it, which they did with comparative ease. The remainder of the men in those battalions went on to the ruined village of Monlauban, and in spite of spasmodic machine gun fire from some of the broken houses, carried it in one great flood of invasion. Large numbers of Germans were taking cover in dug-outs and cellars, but as soon as our men entered they came up into the open and surrendered. Many of iiiem were so cowed by the great bombardment they had suffered and by the waves of men that swept into their stronghold that they fell upon their knees and begged most piteously for mercy, which was granted to them.

The loss of Montauban was serious to the enemy, and they prepared a counter-attack, which was launched this morning, at 3 o'clock, at a strength of two regiments. Our men were expecting I his, and had organised their defence. The Germans came on in close order, very bravely, rank after rank advancing over the dead and wounded bodies of their comrades, who were caught hy our machine gun lire and rifle fire and mown down. Only a few men were able to enter our trenches, and these died. Montauban remains in our hands, and so far the enemy has not attempted another attack. Scots' Great Charge.

Our line winds round the village in a sharp salient which drops southeastwards to Mametz, which is full of German dead and of wounded, who are being found in the collars and taken back to our hospitals. It was in the taking of Mametz that some of the Gordons suffered heavily. With English troops they advanced across the open with sloped arms.

"Suddenly," says one of their offi-; cers, "a machine gun opened fire I upon us point blank, and caught us in the face. I shouted to my men to advance at the double, and we ran forward through a perfect stream of shattering bullets. Many of my poor boys dropped, and then I Celt and knew nothing more for awhile. But afterwards 1 heard that we had taken Mamelz, and hold it slid. . . . | My Gordons were fine, but we had bad luck." II was the fire of German machine guns which was most trying to our! men. Again and again soldiers have told me to-day that the hard lime came when these bullets began toj play upon them. In spile of our; enormous bombardment there re-j mained here and there, even in a front line trench, a machine gun em-! placement so strongly built with steel! girders and concrete cover that it had defied our high explosives. Wonderful Men. A young officer of the Northumberland fusiliers paid a high tribute to! them. "They are wonderful men,"; he said, "and work their machines until they are bombed to death. In; the trenches by Fricourt (hey stayed on when all the other men had either been killed or wounded, ami would neither surrender nor escape. It was the same at Loos, and it would not be sporting of us if we did not I say so, though they, have knocked! out so many of our best." While the attacks were being made ! on Montauban and Mamelz very hard fighting was in progress on the left, or western, side of our line from ; Gommecourt downwards. So far I ! have heard very little of the action ' at Gommecourt, where the German

salient \v;is most difficult to assault owing to formidable defences. In that direction our progress has not been great. Further south at Authuile and Ovj tilers and La Boisselle our attacks were rather more fortunate, and some ground was gained with great j loss in life to the enemy, though not without many casualties to ourselves. j Fortunately, as in all this lighting. the proportion of lightly wounded j men is wonderfully high. One of the [officers of the Sufl'oiks who fought ; on the way to Contalmaison tells me I that he was on the battlefield for : two and a-half hours until he was I wounded and carried away, and in that time, in spite of very heavy lighting, he saw only one dead man ' among the British troops engaged. The advance past Fa Boisselle to l Contalmaison was a splendid and | memorable thing. The men who took i part in it were hard, tough fellows | who fear neither man nor devil, nor I engines of war. Thev went forward I cheering, an 1 the Tyneside pipers ! played on their men. The German I guns were flinging Jack Johnsons over, but they did not inflict much 'damage, and the men jeered at them. "Silly old five-point-nine crumps!" j said a young oflicer to-day who had I been among them. "They only made ia beastly stink and the devil of a | noise. It was the machine guns i which did all the work."

The machine guns were enfilading our men from La Boisselle, and from the high ground above their bullets came pattering down in showers, so that when they hit men in the shoulder they came out at the wrist. They swept No Man's Land like a scythe. No Gratuities! But our troops passed on steadily with fixed bayonets at parade step, not turning their heads when comrades dropped to right and left of them. They took the first line of German trenches, which were blown to dust heaps, with the bodies of the men who had held them. In the second line 'here were men still living, and still resolute enough to defend themselves. They were bombed out of this position, and our men went on to the third line still under machine-gun fire. "It seemed to me," said a Lincolnshire lad, "as if there was a machine gun to every five men." Without exaggeration there were many of these machines and they were served skilfully and terribly bv their gunners. Beyond La Boisselle, which was pressed on one side, the fire became very intense. High explosives, shrapnel, and trench mortars plo""hed up the ground. "Thev threw everything at us except half-croons," said a man of Royal Scots. It was the Royal Scots who charged with the bayonet into a body of German troops, and the other battalions advanced at the double and captured batches of men who had no more stomach for the fight. A sergeant-major of the Manchester who took part in one of the attacks which followed each other in waves upon the Thiepval positions, says that.he and his comrades forced their way across the front trenches, and had lo walk over the bodies of large numbers of German dead, who had fallen in the bombardment. With his regiment he went forward into a wood known to the men as "Blighty," and then fell wounded. Dug-outs De Luxe.

Machine-gun bullets and shrapnel were slashing through it with a storm of lead lopping off branches and ricochetting from the tree trunks. The men stood this ordeal superbly, and those who were not wounded'fought Hum- way through towards the village. Some battalions working on the left of Thiepval had a very severe ordeal. One of them, wounded, told me that they seized the first system of trenches' in the face of machine-gun fire and captured the men who remained alive in the dug-outs. They were deep dug-outs, going 30ft below ground, and in some cases, even a I that denth, had trapdoors leading to still lower chambers, so that our bombardment had not touched them. Many of them were elaborately fitted and furnished, and were well stocked with wine and beer. A great deal of corres-

pondence was found ami sent back to our liiu-s in sand-bags. II was when our men advanced upon the Thiepval Woods that they had their hardest hours, for the enemy's fire was heavy, and they had to pass through an intense barrage. Meanwhile big fighting was in progress at l-'ricourl, and some of the North-countrymen had a great ordeal of lire. They have done magnificently, and Fricourt is ours. Heroic Acts. I Heroic acts were done by our men. las I know from the comrades who were with them. One hoy of IS. to give only one instance, was so good la captain, although a private soldier, that when the ollicers of his platoon had fallen, he rallied the men. and led them forward. "Come on, mv lads," he cried, "we'll gel them out!" A pipe-major of the Royal Scots led I this battalion forward to an old ! Scottish tune, and during the attack ; stood out alone in "No Man's Land," playing still, until he fell wounded. Here, then are some scraps of fact about a great battle still in progress, and covering a wide stretch of ground, in which many separate actions are taking place. It is impossible for an eye-witness to see more than a corner of these battlefields, and at this hour for one man to write a clear, straight chronicle of so great an adventure. But what I have written is only the odds and ends of a long, heroic story, which must be written later, with fuller knowledge of men and deeds. Only one thing is really very clear and shining in all this turmoil of two days of battle—it is the unconquerable spirit of our men.