LEGION OF FRONTIERSMEN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16822, 21 August 1920, Page 11

LEGION OF FRONTIERSMEN.

(By “Bushman.”) THE M.M. THAT WENT AVEST. (By T. Merlin AVinild.) Tho following is continued from previous notes:— “So on wo wont, and suddenly the enemy’s shooting ceased, AVlieu we were about sixty yards or so still distant from that trench, the majority of the Ifrit/.ies leaped out and ran for their lives across country further back. Some 25 oi’ 30 of them came toward us homing their hands up and chanting Tvaraerad!’ Our flank troops, left and right, had simultaneously reached their objectives, and were ‘mopping up’ the trenches they had taken. . . “AVo first got to work on tho Fritzics who were running away; they were runping down one gradual slope and up ; another, so we had .some splendid shooi- ‘ ipg at anywhere from 100 to 600 yards. | Tiio.se who were nearest drew, of i the hottest lire, and wc ‘got onr own j hack on Fritzio very sweetly.. AVe had , a Lewis gun with ns, and I can reraoni- , her tho No. 1 firing his gun off the cor- | poral’s shoulder till he’d used all the i available magazines. Very, very few, I of tho enemy got away from us that ! time! I “AA r o then hopped into tho trench, and for a few minutes were busy souvenir hunting; it was a. very good trench for ‘souveniring,’ and wo all got something j or other of interest out of it. I “Presently a captain came along from j tho Hank troops, and very warmly comI plimontod our platoon—nil that was left 'of it —on the splendid work it had done. I I need not repeat all the nice things ho j said, but eventually ho took the names I of tho remaining half-dozen or so of ns, ‘ saying as ho did so, “This platoon has I worthily upheld l tho proudest traditions (of the Army! In the face of a most j determined and deadly enemy fire, it j has advanced unfalteringly, and gained its objective. You few surviving men of ‘ this platoon are, every one of you. dc-, 1 serving of recognition for this day’s ■ work, and I will see that you get it!’ Ho went away with our names written in his notebook, and left us feeling very happy —at tho end of a perfect day, as it were. “Shortly afterwards Fritzio’s big guns from away back commenced to 'strafe’ ns with "gas shells, high explosives, and other kinds of ‘hate.’ AVo held on to tho position until dusk, and 1 then moved forward to occupy a ridgo j about half a milo ahead. lam not sure, ! but it was called Bancourt Ridge, I hoj lievo. AA’o went about half-way, and 1 were then held up by very heavy mnj chino-gnn fire from tho top of the ridgo; i so wo woro_ obliged to dig in and stay i there overnight, about 600 yards from : Fritzie’s position. AA r e didn’t move off j next morning, but waited for roinforcc- : raents; and about 12 at night tho order" ; came for the whole battalion to move as i close as possible to tho top of tho ridgo ( and dig in. By about one ack omnia I ; we had got to about one hundred yards 1 I from the enemy linos, and wore trying j I to dig in in the hard, stony ground. I Fvitzio sent np his flares, and raked ■ the ground with his machine-gun firo. ; AA r e hugged the ground as closely as wc ; could, and. in between tho showers of ; bullets, tried frantically to dig further into tho stony ground. It was useless, tho unfortunate Diggers were at Fitzzie’s mercy, and our casualties were , herfvy; wo wore ordered to retire. ! “So tho retirement was carried out, I j and wc waited all next day for rein-1 j forcoments. They came up at night;! • and we wore ordered to attack again just before dawn next morning. Our guns were then throwing a curtain of tho unfortunate Diggers' were at Frit- ‘ zic was doing liis host to drop a treI mendous barrage right on to us. It was hard! “Harder still, during that advance I received a smack on the shoulder, and , was eventually obliged to go to a dross- j mg station to got my wound attended I to. “Hardest of all. T.learned later that the captain who had taken tho names of those few survivors of onr platoon, and promised us decorations in connection with our successful attack of four days ago, had gone AA r est. A ‘five-point-nine’ high explosive shell had burst within a ; couple of yards of him, and the captain j had vanished! AVitli. him had gone! AA’est his notebook with our names writ- j ten therein; with him went AA r est also j that M.M. I had been fancying as al- j ready ‘home and dried’ at last!”