ARMY OF SAVE DWELLERS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 8 December 1916, Page 3

ARMY OF SAVE DWELLERS

LONDON, Nov. 18. Mr Beach Thomas, correspondent of th:i "Daily Alail," writes;— "Some of tiicy enemy eaves were as big as, Buckingham Palace. Dug-outs had spacious doorways, and thirty steel steps leading down to tlieni. The .wretched, cowed. pri seemed not to be wo;tii a,single platoon of the Scotch and English, who" gaily leapt over afterwards re- ■ turned laugliitig ;and singing, despite tlioir wornras. , ■''■■• ' v. , was .built of its own stone taken from quarries which a serni-e.rele of enormous t"'nveftiM. The caverns are covered with sto4<* ;i BO effectively that they were gainst damage evert by 'grandEliza,' as the Tommies have named the bombarding 15--nch gims. : I watched these monsters lo|l)iiig tons of; shells subsequently against.Puisieux and Gi'andcourt. ' "The following incident reveals the spirit of the attack'. A R.A.M.C. man .bustled up. during some hot fighting and said to an officer, 'lf you have taken Beaumont Hamel we would like to borrow a cave for a dressing station. ■■"The prisoners taken looked remarkably white in the sunlight, as though thoy had' been bleached by loiag existence in the dug-outs. They were mostly docile, and some assisted their captors to bring in the wounded. • Allied Cross corporal, without being a%ked, sent nine infantrymen on stretcher-bearing duty in the middle of the fight. "All the British troops fought dashingly. English county regiments had a. large share, vii'tlie '••triumph. The hoav>- fo s rendered it necessary to carry on the artillery' work without observation. Nevertheless the artillery, co-operated excellently with the infantry, a,nd never were the guns of cahbr© mote highly concehtrated. The Germans arc now making desperate efforts to Retain control cf the- higher ground north of Beaunion t-Hamel. For this purpose they are using first qualitv troops wliose beahviour ? s m strong contrast «!th that of a regiment further south u-iij-cii was .seen rapidly and repeatedly fcnng in the air." French war correspondents reports that 'Beaumont-Hamel was carried ,<m Tuesday morming after furious nand to hand combats. The heights beyond 'the r:iljiagc /were • mastered during the afternoon. The British positions now command Miran-mont and (jrrandcourt. Tho Petit Journal explains that the attack on tßeaumoiitnHaniel was launched at dawn. The r.everbatioiis or tho guns ceased for a moment and silence reigned. Then came the short staccato note of commanvl, and .instantly endless ranks <;f grey phantoms rose up and leapt into the fog. lhen came the roar of the Gorman machine-guns, (obliging the British to .fall'flat. Thev swam through the inud, and though plastered with dirt and stiff with cold, reached the Geiman trendies in homogeneous waves, whilst tho enemy, "riddlc.l with metal and seared with fire,'and floundering the mud, resisted pin rly. lhp Matin' correspondent states thai a. division carried the fourth iiiie in 18 mniutes, "although in many places the water was above tho waists of the attackers. Observers that Bf-.-uirrivrnt-Haniel was the most formidable fortress on the Homme. Foai: netmoiLs of barbed wire 11' j yards deep, protected immense systems «;f cellars.