The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-01-27
Canadians Carved Fame Niche
at COurcelette.
AUSTRALIANS LIKE WHIRLWIND
POzieres Their Bunker Hill in
Northern France.
Newfoundland Soldiers Trapped
Fight Way to Victory.
BY w. S. FORREST.

London, Jan. 27.-(By MaiD-Ever-
lasting pages have been added to Brit
ish colonial history in the battle OF
| the Somme.
struggle show that every one of Bri-
! tainS overseas contingentS has chosen
some particular elevation. valley, viii
lage or wood whose name will live like
Americas Bunker Hill.
The Canadians carved their niche
of fame at Courcelette. 1t was the
French Canadians here who brilliantly
| carried out their part of the general
staff's set program and then pressed
| on, Storming the fortress village, fill
ed to the brim with Germans. Com
petent military authorities say it was
simply Canadian valor and impetuos-
| ity that put Courcelette behind the
allied lines within an hour. whereas
| it had been expected to hold out
week. Historical versions of the bat
tie of the Somme can never be written
without the story of the Canadians
dash thru and over the complicated
defenses the Germans had built at
| Courcelette. The taking of Regina
trench, named in honor of Regina,
Saskatchewan, is another feat and
name that will find print in every rec
ord of Canadian fighting. The Canad-
fanS at Ypres is another chapter which
has nothing to do with the Somme.
In Death Struggle.
The troops of diminutive New
foundland have selected a November
day for annual national observance.
The scene of Newfoundlands
triumph in the Somme struggle will
probably be named before many
months. Hieroglyphical military maps
describe the scene as "F39c2.5 to
4OA132." That's all the location it
has so far but what happened in that
trench filled with Newfoundlands
enemies is what Newfoundland has
to be thankful for. The thinned New
foundland bayonets that reduced it
to ditch of dead fought counter at
tacks to a standstill while a German
artillery barrage smothered life on the
ground between them and their orig
inal line. Troops working on the right
in conjunction with the men from
Newfoundland were unable to carry
their part of the trench The victori-
Gus North American islanders there
fore fought their way into every corner
of the stronghold and cleared it. They
held the trench and have got it yet.
Pozieres is word that means a lot
to the burly Australians. The antip-
oda1 whirlwind which came slowly up
the rising ground from Ovillers-la-
Boisselle and gained its highest We
| locity in the shell-scarred ruins OF
Pozleres Will long be remembered by
the forces who tried to keep the vil-
lage. Even Australians give the Ger-
mans credit for the most extreme of
extreme efforts to hold this keypoint
OF the ridge that overlooks the Bau-
paume plateau. But extreme efforts
didn't stop the Australian giants who
Fought with bombs, bayonets, fists and
teeth in and out of every house in the
village. Magnificent physique is what
won Pozleres, said an authority from
the front, that-added to perfect cour-
age and a whole lot of determination.
South Africans Score, Too.
Delvllle wood is already historical
south African name. History at Del.
tN-f1l 10 AT.sd
the South African fighters fell back
out of the wood on the decimated
ranks of Scottish Highlanders who
had held their wrecked trenches there
for four days. Outnumbered six to
one, the Africans and their Killed COM
patriots rallied. stopped the enemy's
rush, broke him and drove him back
to line which the enemy has tried
but has never taken. DeIviIle Wood is
SO firmly driven into South African
history that it will never come out
The little village of Flers figures
most prominent n New Zealands his
tory of the Somme. Sweeping thru
this village, in conjunction with sup
porting troops. they bombed and
lbayonetted their way into and up and
down the German main third line and
held their gains.
i What was once a few square miles
of peaceful unduiating countryside :.
miniature hills and wooded valleyswith
miniature red topped, church spired
Villages breaking the passage of ciiaiK
white roads is today a few square
miles of blackened shell-scarred DESC
lation. But this small portion Of
northern France. which represented a
pinhead on an ordinary map, has
made more British colonial history
than all the former wars. 1t will
| make more history in the spring for
the whole world. it is believed today.
but what colonial history it has so far
made will probably never be over
lshadowed.