WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13889, 15 October 1918, Page 2

WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS

RAPIDLY MOVING SCENES. J IN NEW COUNTRYSIDE. .(Special from the official War Correspondent.) October 8. An unusual quiet reigned on our front last night. At intervals a Boche shell whistled loudly overhead and crashed in an adjacent village. The night was coltl and wet. With the first glimmer of dawn in the leaded cast the whole seem' changed and the front for miles became suddenly ablate with Hashing guns, while the drumfire of Ihe barrage rolled across the yall v> and hills. It was 1..10 a.m. when the New Zealanders moved forward beyond the St. Qlienlin canal to the attack on Lesdain and Ksrvs, two villages beyond Grevecocur which have already fallen lo them. The (Maun and Canterbury troons W' re on Ihe right and the Hide ' Brigade' on the left. Early in the advance opposition, mostly from machinegun and rille-fire, was met in front of Lesdain. at the beet crushing factory and from the village*itself, but This Was Soon Overcome, and our I roups were killing Bodies in the streets and on either side. Several prisoners were taken here. Pn ssing on with their usual determination, our, men crossed a tramway and ahead* ryot with more opposition in a sunken road, where there were several deep German dug-outs. As dm morning wore on the weather improved, and the battlefield presented a most wonderful sight. Along the crest of a ridge ahead the smoke of the shells, mingling with the darker bursts of high-explosive, rose in columns straight in the air, and at intervals the play of the sunlight on this smoking line was most picturesque. Our men could be seen about Seranvillers on the left and ahead of Lesdain making towards the lines. A counter-attack "plane signalled the oncoming of the enemy on our left, but our artillery' opened on them and the attack faded away. Presently we. could see black bursts of Boche shells in Seranvillers, indicating that it u\ad fallen to the division. On our left prisoners began to come down in droves, and the New Zealand cage was crowded with men and officers of the 38th, 201st and sth Bavarian divisions. The N.G.O.'s and men admitted defeat, and added thai Germany was done.

' At 9.30 explosions of the great German dump behind Seranvillers added to tlio picluresqueness of the scene. In Lesdain sour 1 men of the Rifle Brigade had stifflsh fighting, hut the honours of Iho fight \ver>: entirely with them. They killed several and captured many, including a battle commander. Our Lewis gunners shot from their hips and there was a lot of rifle work. Two hundred and fifty prisoners were counted.. Our artillery at 0.110 put a barrage on Esnes. We watched the smoking town 'and saw our men go gallantly forward to the attack. After a time the shelling died down, as they had

won their second objective. These were South Islanders. Some mines were discovered in Esnes. A squadron of cavalry attached to us vvm now sent to Esnes, and exploited towards Caudry, a town of considerable size, which quite recently housed French civilians. We could plainly discern its undamaged church and houses and chimney stacks, and up the slope in front of it were many retreating Germans. Between 9 and 10 there were signs of a counter-attack from the direction of Awoingt, on our left, with tanks, both German and some British converted ones, but the German infantry had not the courage to come on, and two of their tanks were left in our hands. The men of the ftifle Brigade were now seen away beyond Seranvillers, and the South Islanders were beyond Esnes. |AII their objectives taken in splendid style, they were now exploiting still farther fcheaO. During- these operations our artillery got on to the enemy massing for a counter-attack, and did some splendid shooting. They must have killed and wounded many Bodies. At a rough estimate our prisoners must be about three times our casualties. We captured several guns. I saw our own artillery teams bringing in three highvelocity 77's, and .there were several others. I walked across the battlefield through Lesdain and into Esnes, and saw myself many enemy dead, but few of our own. The story of the battle could be read as one walked along. Withdrawing the cloak from the face of one of our men near Lesdain, I ! found he was a greatly-esteemed Major who had been with us from the verystart. Near him was a lieutenant who by shell had met a painless death, and farther on was a Canterbury corporal. These had been killed while advancing gallantly over quite open ground in attack. There were a few privates dead here and there about Lesdain. There were many German dead on a piece of flat land to the left of the Esnes road. The enemy dead were

thickly strewn, all killed by one New Zcalatfl platoon. But the grimmest sight of all was in the sunken road beyond Lesdain, where lay a New Zealand private and twelve dead prisoners whom he was taking back, all killed by the one German shell. He at least Vvas

Faithful Until Death. As I left, two fires were burning in German territory north of Caudry. One was the biggest lire I have yet seen on a battlefield. October 8 (evening). Touch was obtained with the retreating enemy by the. New Zealanders this morning at Fontaine-au-Pere, where they were held up by machinegun lire from the village. Some gunners were firing from the church steeple. I W ent again through Esnes to Jonghart, where I could see the men of the Rifle Brigade on* Ihe left and the Otago troops on the right of the village. Our supports had dug themselves in in .small oblong pits behind the forward rise. An enemy balloon was up, and German guns were firing at our men on the left, but the fire was not heavy, and the men were sheltered from any I lung but direct bits. From this vantage point there was a magnificent view of the country ahead. We bad come well east of Cainbrai, which was still burning. Caudry, to the right, was also smoking, but the fields were green with root crops, where French civilians had but recently been cultivating, tine had come at last into a pleasant land, where villages were undestroyed. Roads were pood except where bridges had been blown up. In the houses there were evidences of the hasty plight of the French inhabitants. Women ;)id children's clothing, good crockery and glassware, remnants of food—alt'were littered about the rooms. In one house stood a sewing machine, with a garment a woman had been making still under the thread, due wondered what had happened to Ihe late occupants of these pleasant village homes now their belongings were strewn to Ihe four winds of heaven.

On the way hack I saw one of the most comical sights of the war. . A New Zealand ammunition column .swung round the village street corner in a strange guise. The riders and men on the had discarded their steel helmets, and were wearing bellloppers, bowler and felt, hats. They were the cynosure of all eyes, and the' roads they passed along became gay with the smiles of long columns of infantry moving forward in fours.

October 9. This morning everyone was moving forward. Guns, transport, and the infantry df two armies streamed along the mads in an endless line. The Hoselie had gone in the night time. There was an idea that he would go after yesterday's advance, and all night long guns thundered, harassing h:s positions in and about Cambrai. This morning our barrage came down on no one, and the New Zealanders, advancing behind it, occupied Longsart. At 10 o'clock we were not yet in touch with the enemy. The South Island troops, with the Hides, a squadron nf cavalry, and an extra machinegun company, are continuing their advance. Headquarters are moving forward, though the enemy is retiring to the So|esmes-l,e Gateau line, in front of which is the Sclle river and railway. The

Hindenburg Line is Gone for ever. A great tire is burning in Cambrai. enormous volumes of smoke rising 2001) feel in the still air on our right. Other tiros have been burning since yesterday afternoon, the whole of the eastern horizon being grey with smoke. Hindenburg and Ludendorff, Ihe destroying angels, are busy with their firebrands, aware of the disaster that has overtaken them. October 0. II has been extraordinary. Headquarters, divisions and all the services are streaming forward into new territory, with villages from which the French civilians as well as the enemy had hurriedly withdrawn. New Zealand headquarters, which had been split in two for some days, has now moved well forward beyond the St. Qucntin canal, occupying houses in which there was a litter of rubbish and dug-on!s still smelling of Boche occupation. We had wi( I'd meals at odd hours, ami strange things happened. Advanced dressing stations got ahead of regimental aid posls, and the ammunition re-filling point was almost at our front line. II was wonderful how munition and supplies arrived well forward. One saw Maori pioneers eating raw carrots from garden plots, and our infantry digging potatoes or cutting cabbages that eitlmr the Germans or French farmers had grown. The day was line, and our men, in high spirits, were thoroughly enjoying themselves. They are again in touch with the enemy, who did not seem to be in great force, and apparently was lighting a rearguard action. In the villages one had to he careful of booby traps. Hits of wire, pulled by the unwary, might explode a concealed shell or mine. We were warned not to light a tire in any slove, in case it would melt some connection that would fire a mine. Darkness fell upon us still looking for somewhere to sleep, and with a strange quiet, for there was no I sound of guns or bursting shells. Gradually, however, things straightenI ed themselves out, and we dined at j ultra-fashionable hour. Along the I roads lay dead horses and dead Bodies that there had as yet not been time to bury. To-morrow we may move again. It is all strangely interesting and good to be in the midst of such moving scenes.