The Washington times., 1918-08-20
YANKS STEAL AWAY
TO GET into FIGHT
ny G. e. w. BEAN,
offieial War COrfEsPondent for the
Australian GOVeFnment,


Australian lGOVernment.
WAR CORRESPONDENTS HEAD
QUARTERS IN FRANCE, July 20 Cby
maill.-Many of the details of the
fighting by which Hamel was captur-
ed by Australians and Americans on
July 4, reflecting great credit upon
the assaalting troops, have not been
related publicly.
When our barraEe came down and
the infantry advanced in the gray
morning light toward Hamel, the wind
continually carried a drifting mist
from the smoke of the barrage across
the front This made the dawn far
darker than it should otherwise have
been. The bursts OF our own shells
were most difficult to see through the
mist ahead. Australians, many of
whom have followed a barrage Ike
This many times before, could often
only tell where the barrage was by
eeeing our own shrapnel 7Ehells burst
ing overhead.
American infantry who had not seen
or heard SHELLS before pluckily faced
the extraordinary difficulty OF know
ing where they were by keeping ..Ie
eye on Australians.
Watched. Australians.
1--WE just locked out to see that we
Kept in line with them" said one OF
their officers. $50 long as we kept
going while they were going. We
knew we were all right" At the be-
ginning OF the fight one American
platoon, for example, was pushing
straight on into our barrage. The
Australian company commander saw
this and pulled It back. The next
time when the barrage started he no
ticed that this platoon did not move
on to follow ii.
well, how about getting on with
the fight?" he asked.
Has the barrage moved yet?" they
asked
'fwhy, It has gone on a good half
minute" he said. The Americans
were up at once, hurrying after 1t.
Aen from the two forces worked
shoulder to shoulder wherever the
fighting was thick.
An Australian Lewis gunner was
facing German machine gun team
with his gun at his hip. when an
American sergeant dashed out and
bayonetted three.
Take DuEouf Full Of Men.
r An Australian with two Americans
who spoke German were detailed TO
search for dugouts. Working by
themselves, Immediately after the at
a dugout which they realized was i'm |
portant The Americans called down |
the entrance and a battalion com !
inander and three other officers and |
twenty-three, men surrendered.
Many Americans are still wearing
the colors of Australian battalions 10
which they were attached: many 9TH |
ers who should not have been in this !
fight hid themselves successfully I
Nrh n M
deed some Americans lost their lives
fighting beside Australians in Hamel5
who by rights should have been |
many miles away. Never was firmer |
friendship sealed than on this battle |
field
One American platoon. went in
under an Australian officer. When
EuldaheG OF his riunnef WHO Rad had
experience on other battlefields. !
Thiee. times in one corner of this I
fight one heard of privates playing /.
the part-of officers.
One company commander in the |
dense smoke drifting through Hamel
Wood lost touch with his main bodysI
Later he found it again 1t had
gone on exactly as planned.
Private Works Alone.
Al the same part of the fight an
Australian private found himself iso-
lated except for a few scattered men /
belonging to other companies. He
Immediately organized a party of ten. /
cleared dugouts in the village and /
captured one German officer and |
twenty men, and sent them of to the
rear under an escort At the opposite /
corner of the village an Australian 1
corporal found in a house which was ,
burning from shellfire, a dump OF rife
ammunition. and bombs. This turned I
out to be an old store OF British am
munition which had remained there /
since the village OF Hamel was taken !
by the. Germans on April l. The cor
poraI saved from the house $1,000 |
rounds OF ammunition and some
bombs.
The same Australians who fought at
EuIlecourt, where the tanks were not
30 successful as now, are full OF warm
praise OF the tanks. Time after tint
the tanks went straight at obstacles
which the infantry wanted removed.
and 'fattened them out One tank
moved straight along the bank of a
sun1zen road. breaking down shelters
along its whole length where Ger
mans had been holding out. Natur-
ally the Germans would not face
them.
Big Tank Rifle.
The Germans fired on the tanks
With a special giant rifle, Just the
sort Of thing one would expect a Ger
man anti-tank rifle to be-" one officer
told US. But the whole battalion of
tanks only had twelve men wounded.
The. tanks constantly rubbed out ma
chine gun posts where the Germans
did not wait for their approach,
As the line swept on in the gray
Hight past an awkward point known
rs pear" trench, a machine gun open
ed from ahead. The platoon command