Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-02
Identify New Divisions


Of German soldiers have paid great
sums of life
Identify New Divisions
In the last hattie two additional
divisions have now been identified as
having been put in against the British
front in Flanders, one being the 1l7th
near Normozeele. and the other the
30 guards division, including the Mai
kaeter. or Cockchafcrs whom the
Welsh regiments shattered at Pilkem
last year and who have fought against
the British i'm the Cambria salient
Last night, when no doubt German
reliefs were in progress the British
guns turned loose with shrapnel and
high explosives upon the transport
and troops crowding the track from
Vierstraat to Wytschaete and this
morning the enemy had more dead to
bury. SO the slaughter goes ON.
During a rare DAY without great
news there is an opportunity of writing
a few words about some Of the BRUSH
hattalions who i'm the earlier fighting
NUIltlR llltSe recent htllItS Nfl' N'Hr
dcrful i'm courage and endurance and
self-sacrificc. but have not yet appeared
I'm our narratives because for a time IL
was inadvisablc TO mention their pres
ence in the battlcline. They are bat
talions Of guards There is no need for
secrecy now. because the enemy met
them at close quarters and knows how
these men fought. sometimes i'm small
bodies almost to the last man
Make Splendid stand
The recent history Of the guards be-
gins with the battle Of Arras, on March
IS when the Fifty-siNth London Divi-
sion and Fifteenth Scottish and the
grand old Third Division made their
wonderful stand against ON" uf the
biggest efforts Of the enemy
ON the 2Sth and 30th the guard were
. heavily attacked aud beat off the cu-
emy's storm troops with exceedingly
great losses to them. IN" Grcnadiers
making a countcr-attack near BoilcauN
St Marc with fixed hayoucts and nng
ing the enemy back from the ground
they had gained.
But later than that hattalouS NJ
guards have been fighting i'm the north
around the forest of Nicppo aud be-
tween Lepinetc and NiouX Bcrquin.
That was from April ll.to ~. after TN"
Germans had broken through III" Por-
tuguose line and with th" full weight
Of their forces endcavorcd to widen the
Eap--did, indeed, widen the gap, pushing
up between Nrmcuticres and MervilIc
by gaining the crossing of the Lys.
The Grenadicr Irish aud cold Stream
Guards were sent forward along the
Iiazebrouck- Eslarics road when the
situation was at its worst. when the men
. . ,T t11 ,t
units had fought themselves out in con-
I tiuual rear guard and holding actions.
50 that some Of those still in the line
! could hardly walk or stand, and when
/ it was utterly necessary to keep the
/ Germans in check until a body Of Aus
. tarlian troops had time to arrive The
guard werc asked to hold back the
| enemy until thOs" Australians came and
/ to fight at all costs for foTty-CiEht hours
/ against the German tide Of men and
/ guns which was attempting TO no'
/ around the other hard pressed mon. and
/ that is what the Guards did, fighting i'm
/ separate bodies with the enemy press
/ ing in on both tanks.
/ Greatly outnumbered they beat back
attack after attack and gained precious
4 hours, vital hours, by the most noble
/ self sacrifice A party of Grcnadiers were
so closely surrounded that their officers
/ sent back a message saying:
My men are standing back to back
and shooting on all sides
The Germans swung around them
CirclInE them with machine guns and
rifles and pouring fire into them until
only eighteen men We're left Those
eighteen, standing among their wounded
and their dead, did not surrender. The
army wanted forty-eight hours. They
fixed bayonets and went out against the
enemy and drove through him. \
wounded corporal Of grenadiers, VINO
afterward got back to the British lines
lay i'm ditch. and the last he saw Of his
comrades was when fourteen men OF
them were still fighting in swarm OF
Germans.
The Coldstrcam Guards were sur,
rounded in the same way and fought r
the same way The army had asked fol
forty-eight hours until the Australians
could come. and many Of the cold
streamers eked out the time with thei
lives The enemy filtered i'm on theiI
nanks came crawling around them Will
machine guns. sniped them from shor
range and raked them from bitches auC
upheayed earth.
The Coldstream Guards had 10 fal
back. but they fought back In smal