NEW ZEALANDERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12407, 27 August 1918, Page 8

NEW ZEALANDERS.

PART IN THE ADVANCE.

MOT FIGHTING IN HOT WEATHER

(special from the Official War' Correspondent.)

August 21

At-dawn this morning, a long line of British troops, among whom the New Zealanders were represented, attacked the cneiny in .a new battle south of Arras. The utmost secrecy possible vvas maintained.regarding the 'operation. flic divisions concerned . made their preparations hurriedly during the past few days, and as a result the enemy was completely surprised. The lirst trenches were stormed before the Germans wero.'thoroughly awake. Many prisoners were'taken and considerable territory' was regained along a fairly expensive front. , The weather was exceedingly favourable /to- our - plans. •'■ A day, on which the enemy planes could do nothing, was succeeded by'bright moonngni, and; towards morning a heavy mist enveloped the landscape, the assembly of our’troops was cjuito unknown to the enemy. Practically all the movement necessary was done at mglVii, under, the bright, moon. The troops marched from the back areas viUi .bands playing. The sweating mule v antl horse teams, : and the mechanical transport swung round the cor-' uer of a village street towards the battle trout- -an inspiring sight' it was. A New Zealander, standing in the shac.ow of a church two centuries old, directed this traffic through the village past a chateau which was . mishandled, in the revolution, and no longer, sheltered its titled owner. •• ~ live minutes to five, summer time. , the guns all along the line opened a thunderous barrage. The troops foh °wed close. There was no preliminary bombardment.: The mist was almost nhe a London fog, and even from the advanced positions it was impossible to see anything of the battle.; ' Later the sun miado two or three attempts to breidc the veil. For five hours we waited and marched nearer the front '™ lt t,seemg anything. We could Lell by the absence of iiiaclnrie-gun fire except mj, a lew isolated spots, and from the feeble reply of the enemy artillery, mat the surprise was complete. 'Early .11 the momma- the first batch of prisoners,. loomed through the fog in the charge of a sturdy New Zealander, they were Bavarians, and did not seem sorry that they were captured by the Aew Zcaiauders. We gathered about t-JiGiii, and listened to the'amusing attempts a t conversation. Both these e.nd others wo saw later gazed with incredulity when they were told of the i cccnt successes of the Allies with large hauls .of. guns and prisoners. Thei news had been kept hidden from them One wounded man, whom ‘.l gave a piece of chocolate, seemed greatly astonished, and remarked that they had not had that in Germany for a long time. They said that food was getting scarce, but the soldiers got enough. Generally speaking the prisoners captured hr the New Zealanders were a good lot, and well clothed. Another thing they.would not believe was the-Ummber of Americans in France Never before have I seen a battle'in winch for so many hours the fighting was so one-sided. -At an early hour ug hoaid that iliG New Zealanders had captured 'their first objectives, and that their. losses were extremely light. On our light and left other troops were epmnr .well. One unit on our left attbened on a , broad ■ front, and other tresfi troops 'followed qnd went on 'the same breadth of line. The New Zcauuidcrs attacked in dashing style in the dense fog, and forced their way well into the enemy defences, surprising the enemy and killing or wounding some, and capturing others who, did ,not fight! Gno or two porkois, which had been overrun in the fog, gave some trouble ror a time , with machine-guns, but were quickly dealt with, the gun crews being either wiped out or taken prisoner. ■

In company with a London correspondent of somo New Zealand newspapers I walked' along tho front line, by ten o clock the sun had pierced the misty winch rapidly disappeared, and ho lemainder of tlic day was blazing not. A damaged tank,. king in a German shell-hole just beyond the German front line, indicated where the battle began. The air was now alive wrih our-planes, and the stutter of the maclune-g'iuis overhead announced a light in the air. The blue sky was punctured by the black bursts of hundreds of shells from the German antianciaft .guns. The other German gunners now warmed to their work. Four balloons could be seen distinctly ahead evidently directing their fire.' In the hohow were somo of onr tanks, heid in the lease, and others that had gone ahead we could see on the crest ofthe iidge. ahead. They became a target lor tlio German gunners, and our advaiicmg troops and reserves were also shelled. Other shells screamed overhead into what was now our back area, and fare she ! s crumped on a trench close at hand t 0 our right; the bursts. ..ending rragincnts almost to onr feet. ,l ‘fi- a te ,!’’ at i easi ’ " as ineffective s Q,- Uiere was nothing living 11- ™ p Ulost hll fLat wo saw round *V p ® re , ter J? a " wounded, which we ed -, °'. n ; casualties were light, ndeed, a. midday w e came upon two front an^ lan , cc ' s 1 } vell UP towards the nont. they had been waiting for four murs and had had nothing o To By midday the New Zealanders bad captured over 200 prisoners and several mch'ueluT' ° Ur ° WU arti »ery a-nd ,macn.iic-guu companies and trench S” i good “y-v B»b”1: .:7|® cIJJ 1 s ?w howitzers and othei guns moving forward There was considerable traffic on the roa£

that mormng on what had been enemy emtory. In our limited sphere, on ciuner side of us, the operations, as far as wo could make out, seemed to bo most successful. Of their full scope you " details from other sources. • 1 'f news of a further French success m .the south and their big haul of pi isoners spread during the inorninr over the battlefield and was inspiring to our troops.. •

ni, ' , August 22. lie progress of the battle to-dav was slow, the New Zealanders could not advance further owing to the troops on the right hem- held up and the troops on the left being counter-attacked'. 1 hese Limhsh troops not only beat off the hut captured 200’ Gormans. Icstorclay the Rifles bolding the front of .the Aticrc as’, a .defensive .flank as uoil as To join up with the troops on tile light, uero worried hv a strong machine-gun..position*3oo yards outside their own boundary. Presently the German gunners began to shell their own rnaclune-gnn position. The New Zealanders, who all the 'time had been watching their opportunity, now dashod across the front, and'the troops on the right quickly put the German post out of action. About half of the garrisou was killed by two Gorman 'shells which fell, into the position, and the other hall was quickly dealt with by | the fvciv Zealanders, who returned triumphantly to their own lines, bearing two German machine-guns on their shoulders. Some. of these gallant fellows also helped the troops on their right to capture an enemy position that was delaying the advance.Some -amusing incidents' occurred in the fighting in the fog. yesterday. Our light ticnch mortars actually advanced tar enough to be able to capture prisoners. They proudly sent a message to the brigade headouarters announcing IVe have captured prisoners and have sent them down in a wire cage.’-' To make quite sure that .they would be duly credited with .these .Germans they naively added the fact ■ that, they had taneir the precaution to get a receipt for them.,; Another unusual incident waa the capture of six prisoners by an artillery forward observing officer. Amongst the captured documents Was one giving details,, patches and badges of the units of the New Zealand division. The document also contained a complimentary reference to the fighting qualities of the New Zealand division. It did not say that they were cannibals, but said that they took few pi isoners. This testimonial came from our former friends, the Fourth Bavarians. -The description was not strictly accurate, for that very afternoon 250. Germans found themselves inside our wire cages. One of our battalions, whose casualties during the whole day were only thirteen, three of whom remained on duty, captured 81 men and one officer. Practically all these were; sturdy fighting men and well equipped. All the prisoners were most kindly treated by our men. The wounded were attended. to as our own. When some of them came into the dressinostations and found good bread, butter" tea. sugar and milk, and even oranges laid neatly on tables for the wounded, their amazement was great, and when .thev themselves were invited to partake of these luxuries, as if they were Brit--

ish wounded, they were still more astonished. Probably if these facts, for which I can vouch, were dropped as news behind' the German lines and in villages in the war zone, the New Zealanders would take still more prisoners. The German statement,._ of 'course, is designed solely to got their men to fight to a' finish and not surrender.

Yesterday when'our men came advancing in the thick fog on the eastern outskirts of Puisieux, they spotted a German officer making strenuous efforts to get his men to kkep down,' evidently with the object of attacking our men as soon as they had i gone past with their own barrage. ;This failed, for; our men turned on this little nest of Germans in very short time, and the subset) uent proceedings interested them no more. To-dar is blazing hot and the roads are clouds of dust.. Officers who have much walking or riding to do have discarded tunics, and oven in various headquarters dug-outs the' stn'ff officers can be seen working with their shirt sleeves rolled up, reminding one of Gallipoli days.' ' : August 23. The battle was resumed this morning along the whole of the corps front, and probably ■beyond. From a very early hour the inebssant thunder of the artillery'has been heating the air in- the clear moonlight; The planes began their work soon after midnight. The weather continues fine and hot, and the New Zealanders are still engaged.