New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-23
by The Associated Press

be placed as lying between Forum on
the north and Prezenberg on the SOUTH
Before them lay strong Bavarlan posi-
lions scattered over g terrain which at
first blush made an advance seem i'm
possible. Stretching out from the Zon-
Acknowledgements road across the
centre of the battlefield was ridge
which dominated all surrounding
ground, and from a myriad of machine
guns on the crest could be poured a
deluge Of bullets into advancing ranks.
Faced Many Machine Guns.
Through the southern portion Of this
section the swollen Zonnebeke River
poured it's muddy water, and scattered
along both banks of the stream were
many steel and concrete redoubts hold
ing from 20 to 100 Germans, all we'll
armed. Immediately in front Of the
Irish was undulating ground. Every
knoll was a strong Bavarian position
and the whole section was filed with
concrete redoubts and shell hole nests
lined with machine guns. Depressons
in the ground were a mass of knee-deep
mud caused by recent rains and the
food of the river,
The Irish battalions were muddy and
wet when they began the attack. The
Ulster men were on the left of this
battlefield and the men of the South
on the right. Shoulder to shoulder
they moved out among the heart-break-
ing obstacles at the break OF day, bog
ging at every step, and all that human
beings could have done under such cir
cumstances they did. As they ad-
vanced they first encountered the GUS
tomary thinly held line of German out
posts among the shell craters. These
Bavarians fell back and almost imme-
diately the Irishmen found themselves
facing fire from every machine gun be
fore them, vicious rapid-iire whipping
out steady stream of lead breast-high
across the whole battlefield
Pushed DOggedly Forward
Amidst this hail of bullets and crash
ing shells the lrishmen pushed logged
~ forward. The Ulstermen first struck
a position called Pond Farm, below
Fortuin. Here were many machine
guns placed in concrete pits, behind
which lowered strong redoubts and
deep dugouts. The Ulstermen plunged
into the gun pits, and a fierce struggle
followed. The Bavarians would not sur
render, and they fought until the last
German lay crumpled beside his gun.
A small garrison was left TO hold this
place, and the Irishmen pushed on.
There was constant and bitter fighting
at every step.
Near Pond Farm they were held up
by partly cut bsrbed wire entangle-
ments, and as they struggled through
this they were swept with bullets.
Numerous redoubts were encountered
beyond, and in most cases il was hand
to-hand fighting TO finish with stub
born enemy. The Southern Irish at a
given hour went forward with all the
GOODNESS which made them famous at
Ginchy and other places. They surged
on through the mire TO some Of their
detectives, but they had passed numer-
Gus unsilenced machine gun emplace-
ments, and following waves of infantry
were held up by these.
lrlsh are forCed BACK
North of Frezenberg was redoubt
called berry Farm, holding sixty TO
eighty Bayarians with machine guns.
The position was too strong for the
infantry to take, but the lrishmen bat
tied on until those troops which had
essayed an attack on the fertilization
lay dead or wounded before it. But
others pushed forward to Hill 30, as
the ridge which dominated the sur
rounding ground was known, and for a
time that eminence was actually in
British hands. But it was too important
a position for the Germans TO relin-
uuish. They massed great numbers of
men behind il and hurled them against
the Irish. The latter met the onslaught
with bayonet and dubbed rifles, and
fought as their forefathers fought,
fiercely and determinedly.
But they were greatly outnumbered,
and gradually they were forced TO fall
back until the Germans had regained
their hold on the hill. The Bavarians
then began a series of heavy counter at
tacks. and the Irish, many of them
wounded and all exhausted, retreated
slowly. fighting every inch of the way,
until they reached the trenches which
they left at dawn, and which they held.
No more heroic effort has been made
since the war began than this. There
had been many instances of individual
heroism, a striking case being that OF
the chaplain who gave his life while
working among the men he loved. They
tried to keep him back, but he had been
with them in Ginchy and other strug-
giles. and he would not desert his boys
now. so he continued to work on the
shell-torn. bullet-swept field, his kindly
face seen now beside some wounded
man. now beside another who was
dying.
Chaplain killeS by Shell
It was while he was kneeling to give
absolution to some badly wounded man
that a German shell broke near MIN
and he was killed. II was great loss
TO the Irish troops, and his name was
spoken with tears by those left behind.
Another who will not be forgotten IS
the doctor who for 1--WE days and nights
continued his work of resculng the
nyshded under heavy fire.
MeAEwnile the conflict continued
about Lens, lnough apparently greatly
diminished ia inensity. with the Cana
dams still hold,ha the Germans of
from the positions ~aich they had
gained i'm the Southwestern. part OF the
city Yesterday. and a. the scme time
clinging tenaciously to the nuS'erous
new posta in the German line Oh Nhe
porthWestcrn section.