GRIM FIGHTING

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13752, 27 April 1918, Page 5

GRIM FIGHTING

THE STRUGGLE FOR BRETONNEUX. GERMAN ASSAULT SMASHED. THE BATTLE OF THE TANKS. ENEMY FORCED TO SCUTTLE. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) Received April 27, 9.25 a.m. LONDON, April 26, 7.4 a,m, Mr Percival Phillips writes: Villa n Bretonneux is a substantial town of 5000 inhabitants. It is built mostly of brick and is laid out compactly in the form of a square, with the Amiens main road as the northern boundary. On the south fields fall away to the river Luce at Hangard, three miles away. On the east is the village Warfusee. On the Amiens side the ground dips sharply and rises again to a dense wood. The Germans owed their initial sue. cess to gas shells. The first assault by two German divisions aimed at capturing the wood, but only 40 men secured a foothold and they SHrrendered j later.

During t!ie 6r9t advance the Germans failed to" hiake any headway against the Australians arOund Saillylesc, and gave up the attack. Two more divisions c then thrown against Villers TVtonneux. Our counter-attack v. i ight was a Complete Surprise,

and the German gunners did not know what was happening. It was impossible to put up a barrage without destroying their own people. The rockets gave the Australians, Berkshiies and Northampton a huge light tor bayonet fighting, though sometimes we were delayed bv the darkness.

Our casualties were not light, but nothing like so heavy as the German. British and German tanks met for the first time in battle and the victory lay with ours. T! y fought ia the open fields around \ illers Bretonnenx. The German tanks led the attack from the north-east and south, the infantry following with machine-guns, mortars end light artillery. The Germans used four or five tanks, bulky, ungainly things ..very disimilar to the British, and equipped with a broad turret with qui?kflrers. They crawled up in a thick mist behind the barrage until close to our trenches. The first intimation of their proximiity was when one dropped into a gully running parallel with the trenches, and, turning north, flattened the parapets and fusiladed the infantrv.

The British tanks then came up. Tin Germans when they saw the British approach advanced to engage them, concentrating their shell fire on a single British tank, but the other landships crawled to the rescue. A'brief duel followed, until one of the German tanks was disabled, and the others then scuttled.

Later some light British Tanks Successfully Engaged

the German infantry which w-re massing for an attack !•■••■ Caehy, southwest of Villers. The tanks slid swiftly forward and returned with their sides covered with blood. They had charged the enemy repeatedly. The lesson of this first engagement is that we have nothing to fear from the enemy tanks despite the size and weight of the machines and their armament. The attack on Kemmel Hill, which was carefully planned, included four or six enemy divisions, of which three comprised mountain troops. Fighting continues. We s+Hl !.: Id Grand Bois and Wytscaete. The mountain troop* at one time reached the crest of Kemmel Hill, though the French fought with their usual galla. try and determination. The Germans assaulted from two sides, one of which had been swept bale of trees by artillery, and the other was covered with broken trunks and branches. The position was drenched with gas, the timbered slopes holding the deadly fumes, and the defenders had to fight wearing gas masks.