Despite high ideals I have not been following the New Zealand Field Artillery closely in the final months of the war, as the tide turns against the Germans and the New Zealand Division with the other Allies has advanced relatively quickly in recent weeks. I am in the chapter on Le Quesnoy in New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914-18. It is the final chapter. The battle for Le Quesnoy itself took place on 4 November and was over in a day. I do not know if all soldiers would have concurred with the assessment of the official history:
This was the last occasion on which the New Zealand Artillery paved the way for the advance of their infantry in a major operation, and from the complicated nature of the barrage and the masterly precision with which it advanced through all its stages, it may be regarded as a fitting climax to the work of the guns in supporting the infantry in attack. It was known that there was a large number of civilians in Le Quesnoy, and it was therefore decided that the barrage should sweep the ramparts garrisoned by the enemy, and as it moved forward completely encircle the town, but that no fire should fall within the limits of the town itself....
The battle which was about to open was destined to be the last of the long series of desperate combats, in which the Division had figured since that distant April morning, when the New Zealanders had first leapt from their boats on to the shores of Gallipoli and climbed the hills to grapple with the Turk. If their arms had not achieved invariable success, each successive engagement had added fresh lustre to the laurels which the New Zealanders had won for themselves in the Gallipoli campaign; and disappointments had been endured with the same calm in which the soldiers viewed their victories.
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