NEW ZEALANDER IN BATTLE.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14875, 25 September 1918, Page 2

NEW ZEALANDER IN BATTLE.

'„' . FIGHTING, JLTvTEESCAULT. -:

;; HARD BifeiE FOR THE

"(Special -from .the'^Official War ;Corres-' pondont, Captain Malcolm Ross.) By Cablegram, Sept. 15. The long spell of strenuous nghting, in »which the New Zealandera have .taken such a conspicuous and continuous part, reached its culminating point in the assault on the Trescault R-iugo, east of1 Ha;7rincourt Wood. During the past few days', this/ fighting became somewhat confused,' and more determined than ever. ! The ridge conhtitutos one of the but.tresses in the , front defences of the Hindenburg line, and a certain wellknown trench was the key to the position—the main defence line of the enemy in this .sector. It was defended 'by stout divisions, who were ordered to hold it to the last. Prisoners said that nil attacks <> upon it were to be re- ' sisted to enable the Hindenburg line' to 'be further strengthened, and that the final withdrawal would bo to that line, which would be held at all cost-s. At dawn on tho 12th the New Zea- ' landers attacked in conjunction with tho troops on the flank of the division, and, following a splendid barrage, the Rifles had no difficulty in attaining their first objective. Further progress, however, was difficult, owing to the intense rifle and machine-gun fire that came' from a trench held by the enc\my 111 considerable force. Except for a few posts we pushed out, our line remained for the whole' day on the first objective. Frequent bombing attempts by tho enemy to win back the positions we had gained achieved no result.

j STRONG COUNTER-ATTACKS.

ToHhe souEn the battle fluctuated i' owing to strong enemy counter-attacks^ One which was delivered at 6, a.m. drove our thin line back for some distance',; and a second was delivered at 2 p.m. along sunkenroads with covering ma-chine-gun fire from an adjacent trench. Heavy fighting ensued'for the possession of the captured trench, and as the enemy succeeded in outflanking us from the south, we had to withdraw from almost all of the trench we had captured except one portion that we continued to hold in strength. At 7 p.m. a further attack \mder a barrage was made by us,; to endeavour to~ attain the final objective,.,:;;At; first our men met, with stubborn resistance,: but by 7.30 their line, was well advanced. ' The determined Jager assault troops counter-attacked again at 10.30 p.m., advancing'down the trenches, and we had to make further slight Withdrawals after stiff fighting; We captured foi'tythree unwounded and fifty-seven wound-! Ed prisoners, a,nd bur line was still left j in advance of the original position. The English troops gallantly fighting on our left captured the villages of Trescault. and Havrincourt, but on .our right no progress could bo made. The enemy had fought stubbornly along the whole front, and his machine-gun • fire had been intense and well aimed. On the following day local fighting continued for fovo^seetors of trench by. both sides, the, enemy showing dogged detei'mmation to hold the remainder of the ridge still in his possession. At 2 p.ml we again, attacked-; and drove,-the enemy out of part of a trench' he was holding Remnants of one German company, realising the position, fled across the open, and the New'Zealanders shot at them' as they rah. Eleven umvomxled prisoners of "the Jager ma-chine-gun companies remained with us. It is noteworthy that these Jagers? have more machine-guns than most of the other divisions, and that they use them with determination and skill. Durirg the afternoon and evening the enemy renewed his counter-attacks, and forced us to withdraw a little; and at 1.45 a.m. he came at the New Zealanciers with bombs and liquid fire forcing one of'our posts to withdraw.. -The enemy shelled us with guns of various calibres throughout, and also used much ens. In "addition to the large number of, prisoners' captured/ we inflicted very I heavy casualties on the enemy. One ol! his companies was reduced in a day from sixty to twenty-three, but was lucky in getting reinforcements up a communication trench during a-rainstorm. The men of the Rifles were';the .principal actors in this strenuous .fighting^ but at the finish -Wellington troops also hada hand in it. :,. v "/ ■'■

SOM E DARING : AI>V£NTURES v v :Most extraordiriaryv we're some of'the daring adveatures upon which small '-j ml' snd 6ven individuals,/ embarked. 1 h<i men themselves 'say little about these, and otten one only hears of them by chance. One of the finest traits in the character of "the diggers" is their modesty in regard to, their own most gallant ueeds. About the last day ot: tins tightmg a sergeant o f the fi'iflr. ■Brigade, ...with-ten-men;, went forward to exploit a success 'already gained, and in a sunken road came unexpecfcedlv upon a whole.company of the enem-p." Our small band might have been pai-doned had they-taken tp.flight, but they stood tneir ground and fought; and an y German.who.did not put up his hands was la/ l<id- A Jager ofiieor who rushed out of:a dug-out, to rally his men was profnpl-.ly. shot.' The others in. the im mediate vicinity then -.surrendered.- By tins-time there were only some six New Zeajanciers. loft unwounded, but they ■■Proceeded to collect other Germans from die shellholes till eventually the Sdozen marched back to cv? line v s, forty prisoners;, ■■:.,. ■ . ; So much for events on land! Almost every night now we witness tlmJlinoscMes^in the air, . The other evenir" f«/atched "aeroplane boifc held m the beam & . of: over a « searchlights, while the "Archies" and at him. Presently the bright silver of fi™lU^A c: se^ights turned to

w"r;;T "* gin t0 m '^e an awful streak ot .yellow flame, the red and blue £ >« -«enajling- Hares shooting o? from the; column and adding to the pyrotechnic display. FiiiaU v °ffio treem ed u f^ 1 of a low ridge behind w^ichliefeli was silhouetted aganisTtio glow Qt- his burning petrol tank as it crashed to earth. Later another aero plane was brought down in the samf . manner and a thirci, shot m a-"vital-part, landed ,m our li nes . Two cf its occunarns had got away in the, strong ym.d in parachutes, but the pilot a Ane younp felibw, was cap - tured by the New Zealanders. and was very crostfalleii at his bad luck - " ' 10-mght the clear moonlit vault is a buzzmg Inve of aeroplanes,- and at iritervals come the uneven droning bass of a Lrormaii machine, the dull crasluof-his exploding bom bs, the rattle of macbinegmis -snd^tlro- staccato banging of "the i Archies;Vr all bent on his: descrnctfoii -j \viule I was; wntirig thi« message/ loud ' cheeringvoutpiae my. flimsy hut w-l noticed - the (laming fr.JT of anothe"--o'iemv liiacliinn. The "fl;w":ers " sorri". mg cover, were all on tbr^vateb.^ Ts o - ; trimg pleases,them-, more than to- «>o a Bacho Tjomber descending in Raines/ ' •,'