Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-12-27
AnZaCS Make Remarkable Rec
ord During the War in
France.
ARE MUCH LIKE The YANKS
Had No Elaborate Trench Systems,
Just Watched Huns Dig and Then
Went and Took Them-NeVer
Lost Yard Of Ground.

London.-"For each absolute casual
ty the Australian army has sustained
in its fighting in France 1t has taken
three German prisoners"
That was the statement made re-
Gently by Maj. Gen. Charles Rosenthal.
commander of the Second Australian
division. He was q brigadier general
in command of the Australian forces
which relieved General Carey's monde
script forces before Amiens and STOP
ped the German drive. General Rosen-
thai related some facts, hitherto I'M
published, how the Australians out
witted and o~utfought the Germans be-
fore Amiens, steadily drove the enemy
back, winning jumping-off ground for
the British offensive effort which
opened August s.
Il had been In a hospital three days,
having been gassed. when / was or.
dercd to take charge of the Australian
brigade sent down from the north to
the Amiens sector" General Rosen-
thai said. General Carey's forces
were about worn out. The Germans
were preparing n new blow against
them. They could not have held. When
the blow fell and the Germans found
they were up against fresh Australian
forces they ceased the attack. They
never gained q yard of ground in SUBJ
SeQuent attacks.
Took German Trenches.
1T was open fighting. There were
no elaborate trench systems. although
the men dug in. l had my men dig
only n trench-a front line trench.
We did not build rearward defenses.
My men knew they had the one line
and would hold 1t, not weakening
their staying powers by realization
there was some trench in the rear to
60 back to. We watched the Germans
building their trenches, and when they
got the first line completed we went
out and took 1t from them. That was
better than digging them ourselves.
"As a consequence, the Germans
never knew where their front line
a The artillery forces of the en-
envy would not shell it, for they did
not know whether we held 1t or their
own men held it. 1t was the safest
place on the battlefield.
Sometimes we'd take the Germans
front trench in daytime, sometimes at
night. We harassed the enemy con-
t%inuOusly. 1t was midsummer and the
crops were waist high. Our men would
go through them on their bellies. For
instance, n mOralng at ten o'clock
rs Of Jul men wiggled up to within
a few yards of the German front
trench where machine gunners were
lolling about, thinking Of most any
thing besides an attack at that hour.
We took 48 prisoners, killed so Ger.
mans and the rest fled. From July 4,
the day we relieved General Carey's
force, which was made up of 80 dif-
ferent units, until August s, when the
British drive was launched, we ad-
vanced our front before Amiens to q
depth Of $500 yards. Just two Aus
tralian brigades did this. We broke up
two German divisions in that time. We
had simply stolen his troops. Natural
ly the Boche morale steadily went
down as ours went up. And when
the British drive was launched the
way had been prepared by our troops.
Never Gave Ground.
"As an example of the way warfare
has changed, two Australian regiments.
with 1000 bayonets each, were given