Passchendaele battle

The ferry steamer Waireka ashore near Portobello. She was unable to make headway against the...
The ferry steamer Waireka ashore near Portobello. She was unable to make headway against the recent violent gale and was stranded on the sandy beach. She was refloated practically undamaged and was engaged in the usual running on Labour Day. — Otago Witness, 31.10.1917
Bellevue Spur is an ugly V-shaped hill rising to a height of 200ft above the flood in Rabapeek Creek, its sides extending 1000 yards back into Passchendaele township.

At the point of the V, which is about 200 yards wide, a deep concrete structure stands overlooking our lines. It is a narrow slit manned by machine gunners and snipers, governing every approach. Two irregular lines of wire, each 10ft deep, extend across the front of the redoubt, and down the hill to the valley, where a smaller redoubt bars the flank. Bellevue looks a forbidding stronghold, which was the scene of one of the greatest incidents of the war. Against this spur thousands of fine-spirited New Zealanders flung themselves down on Friday, with high hopes of crowning an unbroken series of victories with the greatest victory of all. The enemy barrage was placed heavily upon them for 20 minutes before the start, but the lads rose eagerly from the line of shell holes and began a steady advance in waves, our barrage plunging ahead. The men sank sometimes waist-deep in the mud, and the barrage went faster than advance was possible. The enemy machine-gun fire swelled to a shriek. Many men fell, but the men pressed on.

They reached Rabapeek, and plunged into the knee-deep morass. The enemy’s main barrage of shrapnel and high explosives descended hereabouts, whilst the machine guns, which now thickly studded the trenches between the redoubts, seemed to close the passage over the stone road which traverses the morass. Many nevertheless pressed irresistibly over the dead, across the road; others plunging through the water, though wounded, and some were drowned. Then the ascent of the slope began, and the first wave was now faced with the wire. This heroic effort will in future be told wherever Australasians gather. The gallant lads tried every means of piercing the wire, and wave after wave advanced to death. Many were riddled with bullets; others dropped to the ground and began crawling beneath the wire. Many were shot and remained; some reached the other side, charged and fell.

The great effort ended. The waves had determinedly expended themselves, and the survivors remained in shell holes, the Jaegers sniping so accurately that any head put above the ground was shot. They awaited another effort, which the commanders decided was not desirable. The day was crowded with heroic incidents. An orderly-room sergeant, after the death of the colonel and the wounding of the adjutant, went through a hail of bullets to the senior captain, found him wounded, went to other senior officers and found them all disabled, then went to a lieutenant and informed him that he was in command of the battalion. The journey occupied 90 minutes. A Lewis gunner, who was wounded, the rest of the crew having been killed, continued to work his gun upon an enemy machine gun, twice advancing his position alone, and finding another gun when his own was blown out.

Waireka blown ashore

In the course of the heavy gale that prevailed on Thursday afternoon the ferry steamer Waireka was blown ashore at Portobello, and now lies on a sandy bottom in a position that is causing no alarm. The vessel had just left the wharf for Dunedin at 3.45 p.m., when she was caught by the wind before she had gained any speed, and was driven towards the small peninsula upon which the fish hatcheries are situated.

Captain Edie dropped the anchor, but it failed to  hold, and the Waireka grounded lightly on a sandy beach about 25 yards from the shore. It is not anticipated that any difficulty will be experienced in refloating her, but in the meantime temporary arrangements have been made to replace her. 

The position of the vessel showed no material alteration yesterday, save that she had moved a few feet further inshore. An attempt was to be made to refloat  her at an early hour this morning, using the towing services of the Waikana.

In the event of this being successful, the full time-table should be resumed again on Monday; otherwise only a restricted service is in the meantime possible. Another result of the gale in the lower harbour is the blowing down of telegraph wires across the islands. — ODT, 20.10.1917.

 

• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ

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