SPLENDID GALLANTRY OF NEW ZEALANDERS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17260, 12 April 1918, Page 6

SPLENDID GALLANTRY OF NEW ZEALANDERS.

HEROIC LEADERSHIP OF A

WAIKATO CAPTAIN

A RAIN OF MACHINE-GUN BULLETS IGNORED BY OFFICERS AND MEN.

(From Captain .Malcolm Ross, Of-

ficial War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.)

By Cable, April 7

The enemy made another attempt to attack the New Zealanders last evening, but were promptly stopped, mainly by artillery barrage.

During the recent fighting there j have be e n some splendid individual | deeds of gallantry by officers and j ineii. Ferhaps the finest of these j was performed by a captain in thy i WaiKato Company.- When his commander, a young Aucklander, was wounded in the attack opposite the berre road he took command. The company was nung up by severe ma-chine-gun fire. An actvauco of forty yards was made into a depression, where the company again got into attacking formation. The machine, gun fire at this time was terrible. Just before the moment of attack the captain climbed out oi the depres- ■ sion and walked along the too calling to nls men to take no notice of, "those damned things," meaning the machine-gun bullets, which were tnudding into the ground all about him. His puttees were cut by -ome ot the bullets. The men, inspired by his splenlid leadership, went forward with great dash, and gained tii^ir objective. He himself r.ished forward to one machine-gun position, and killed a German officer who was «*capin&-

This officer and his men had been travelling for five days with only nbout two nights' sleep, and had marched thirty miles, ten miles of which Immediately preceded the at. tack. On the following day he ascertained that some of his men were wounded, whereupon he crossed the railway line, which was swept by niachlue-gun Tre and bomDet Dy trench mortars, and, taking one of tka wounned men on his shoulders, carried him by relay to a place of safety in the support line. Fifteen minutes later he came back, and carried off another man.

On the third day several ot his men were buried by a burst of minenw e rfer. A sergeant who had <xtrlcatecl himself found his officer dieging out other men wJth his hands. He had already dug out one private, and was working away to get out a second man, which he xncceeded fn doing. He then superintended the evacuation of these, arter which he returned to the front lino to see that his company was all right. All this time the locality was being swept by marhlne-gun fire, and bombs were bursting quite close.

EVIDENCE OF THE FAILURE OF THE GERMAN PLANS.

Some Illuminating evidence of the failure of the German plans nas just been obtained from the diary of an officer killed by the New Zealanders. This diary begins in joyful strain about the prospects of a great drive, the objective of which was due west towards the coast at Abbeville, the plan being to separate England and France- The chief blows were to be against the Eng. lisli, Because it was thought if England and France were separated the war would end quickly. "Everything," continued the diary, "has been planned, and it is impossible to fail. All possibilities are thought out and met, and if the attack fails in one place It Is Immediately to be broken off, and another place tried."

The attack was to be in three places. As the days passed the diary begins to assume a pessimistic tone. Bombs damaged the German transport, ana an attack In this sector without artillery preparation failed. Then every moment came a different order, indicating want of organisation of the enemy plans. English shrapnel was searching the ground. New orders arrived, ana tho unit marched southward twenty kilometres in spite of heavy rain.

Bapaunitj road was blocked with transport. Here was awful mud; the roads were bottomlessThe division had extra artillery, but was held up by cleverly-hidden ma-chine-gunners. There were many casualties.

Here anct there is a significant entry. "We have to start trench warfare again, since the English are very strong" On the 30th they had made little' progress, with fairly heavy losses, and the diarist hoped to join a more successful group fur. ther south, because "here the resistance is too strong for us." Then the division was to be relieved, and tkere was to be no more offensive there at present. On April Ist they learnt that they were to take pert in the next big attack and force a passage of the Ancre. The division was in the Hebuterne sugar tactory sector to attack Colincamps. There was a tremendous traffic on the Ba-pauine-camt>rai road. The roads were botomless. and often blocked by traffic.

The diary continues: "At 2 am. we got away. It is pitch dark and raining. There are numberless Loles and old trenches < We got into a nurst of tire. ' One shell landed between two platoons, ca -sing several killed and wounded. We arrived at 7 a.m. The battalion had lost itself during the night, ar.fl we are not In the right place, but it is too late to change now. It is an awful mix-up. We are aoout two kilos south of Hebuterne. -, In front of us we have inhaoited countryThe weather is horrible. By day we are in an old English trench. tt is very different, owing to five or six battalions being mixed up"

It was. at this stage the diarist ana" his men tiumpea up against the New Zealanders. There was a further mix-up, and one more German diary c«me to an abrupt end.