THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12393, 10 August 1918, Page 9

THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

OUR BOYS || ACTION. attack on rossignol. A HISTORIC BATTLE SPOT. (Special from the Official War Correspondent.) Writing on August 8, Air Malcolm Ross, the New Zealand official correspondent, says: Tito New Zealanders, after a spell m f. back area ! recently returned to the ‘ no ’ a P° sifcion slightly north of mi lot mcr sector, and for some days now have been acquitting themselves well m minor en torpriscs. These have resulted in the capture of several reen y irenc,les > aml a depth of about ICOO yards on a front of 300 yards. Included m the captured area is the famous Rossiguol Wood, where the branch fought iu the early days of the unr, and where subsequently the British had some hard lighting. The beginning of the matter was with the Rifles, who captured some cnemv tranches m front of Hebuterne. An officer and lour men went out in the oayligbt, crawled through the wire and .pnnpeiFinto an enemy trench, where they killed throe Germans and captured one prisoner without sustaining a casualty. Shortly afterwards Salmond, a young and promising officer, was bUlct by a. bomb at Rossiguol Wood. following this preliminary investigation of the enemy lines, the Rifles gamed some ground in the old British trout him by exploitation, Then two jcompames of Rifles attacked, after a ten minutes’ bombardment on 1000 yards iront, while at the same tiniq men from another battalion did a bombing attack down some old German crenelles iu the Gommecourt section. Hie enemy offered resistance in places, but the objectives sot our men i\ ere easily taken. When the barrage htted the parties wont forward and snocoeded ui capturing the whole of the old British front in front of Hehuterne. Not content, with gaining their objectives the bombing parties went forward and captured t- trench 300 yards beyond the objective. In this operalion we took tliiriy-seven prisoners, eight machine-guns,' throe heavy nia-clune-guiis, mid two minnon werfer, one of which we destroyed with a bomb to prevent the possibility of its recapture, beventy Germans were killed. Our men have buried fifty-four, and several < cr bei ,' s cnn ko -°cn Ring out iu- No Man’s Land, Next morning, about half-past three, the enemy counter-attacked and drove in two or our posts. During this attack they captured a New Zealand corporal, whq, though badly wounded, afterwards escaped and crawled back to our lines. The former situation was promptly restored bv a New Zealand counter-attack. On 'the following day the brigadier, while going round tbo front posts, was wounded in the arm and thigh by a German sniper. Ho was able to walk into Hehuterne. and afterwards was conveyed on a stretcher to a dressing station. His injuries are not serious, and his return is expected in a few weeks. While some of these events had been taking place the men of another brigade Canterbury's—-had established posts in the west end of Rossignol Wood, but were held up by machinegun fire from strongly-wired* pill-boxes-They escaped lightly with four men wounded. Onr troops started to consolidate the positions gained, and immediately afterwards it was ascertained that the enemy was blowing up his pill-boxes, evidently with the intention of retiring from a spot that was getting too warm for him. Our patrols went out, and, getting in touch,, with the enemy, found he was retiring from Rossignol Wood. The Otago troops were rushed keen in touch with the enemy. The Aucklanders cooperated on the right and pushed down the enemy trenches. After a certain nmount of bombing our men succeeded in clearing the enemy out of three, successive lines of trenches, and establishing a lino of posts right in front of the wood. In this advance we killed twenty-five Germans, captured three prisoners, three machine-guns, and one grenaton werfer. On the following day some fighting took place iu those captured trenches, and that night the Wellington men pushed out their patrols another five hundred yards, without meeting further opposition. Yesterday the Auckland and Wellington troops co-operated, pushing patrols forward. and succeeded in "forcing the enemy nut of his old front and support, lines in frontrof Hebuterno. Thev took two more prisoners, who wore sheltering in shellholes, and seemed not sorrv to come in. A- machine-gun was captured, and two large mortars were blown up. Afterwards the enemy shelled the wood heavily, but only wasted his ammunition, for wo had no casualties. As a result of th 0 shelling of the trench we gained we naturally had some casualties, but these were quite nut of proportion to the casualties inflicted on the Germans. The moral of the troops opposed to us was poor, and on one occasion onr men stood up in the open and had some good shooting at retreating Germans as they fled before onr barrage. Snlmohd’s body was found in Rossignol Wood by Travis shortly before the latter was himself killed.