55229 Rifleman Alfred Henry Walker, (25/10/1879-12/9/1918). "confused and more determined"

Alfred Henry Walker was a ploughman working in the Hakataramea area when he joined the NZ Rifle Brigade.  

Alfred was recorded as missing after September 12 - this was the day on which the Rifle Brigade assaulted the German position called the Hindenburg Line.  He was later listed as killed - this indicates to me a more confused fight for the Brigade than usual.  He was 39 years old and unmarried.

The newspapers reported the Rifle Brigade's experience in strident terms: 

NEW ZEALANDERS' ASSAULT ON TRESCAULT RIDGE.

CULMINATION OF MUCH STRENUOUS FIGHTING. 

POSITION GAINED DESPITE STUBBORN RESISTANCE. 

FIERCE COUNTERATTACKS FINALLY REPULSED. 

N.Z. War Correspondent. FRANCE, Sept. 15. The long spell of strenuous fighting in which New Zealanders have taken such a conspicuous and continuous part, reached its culminating point in an assault on Trescault Ridge, east of Havricourt Wood. During the last few days this fighting became somewhat confused and more determined than ever. The ridge constitutes one. of the buttresses in front of the defences of the Hindenburg line. A certain wellknown trench was the key to the position of the St. Quentin defence line of the enemy in this sector, and it was defended by stout divisions, who were ordered to hold it to the last. Prisoners we captured said all attacks upon it were to be resisted to enable the Hindenburg line to be further strengthened, and that final withdrawal would be to that line, which would be held at all costs. 

FIRST OBJECTIVE GAINED AND HELD. At dawn on September 12 the New Zealanders attacked in conjunction with troops on the flank of the division, and, following a splendid barrage, the Rifle Brigade had no difficulty in attaining their first objective. Further progress, however, was difficult owing to intense rifle and machine-gun fire from a trench held by the enemy in considerable force. Except for a few posts, we pushed out our line, and remained for the whole day on the first objective. Frequent bombing attempts by the enemy to win back the positions we had gained achieved no result. To the south the battle fluctuated owing to strong enemy counter-attacks. One attack delivered at 6 a.m. drove our thin line back for some distance, a second was delivered at 2 p.m. along sunken roads, with covering machine-gun fire from an adjacent trench. Heavy fighting ensued for possession of the captured trench. As the enemy succeeded in outflanking us from the south we had to withdraw from almost all of the trench captured, except one portion that we continued to hold in strength. At 7 p.m. a further attack under barrage was made by us to endeavour to attain our final objective. At first our men met with stubborn resistance, but by 7.30 p.m. their line was well advanced. Following up the determined nature of the assault, enemy troops counter-attacked again at 10.30 p.m., advancing down the trenches, and we had to make further slight withdrawals. After stiff fighting we captured 42 unwounded and 57 wounded prisoners, and our line was still left in advance of its original position. English troops gallantly fighting on our left captured the villages of Trescault and Havrincourt, but on our right no progress could be made. The enemy had fought stubbornly along the whole front, and his machine-gun fire was intense and well aimed. 

FIERCE COUNTER-ATTACKS FOR LITTLE ADVANTAGE. On the following day local fighting continued for two sectors of the trench by both sides, the enemy showing dogged determination to hold the remainder of the ridge still in his possession. At 2 p.m. we again attacked, and brought the enemy out of part of a trench he was holding. The remnants of one German company, realising its position, fled across the open, and the New Zealanders got at them as they ran. Eleven unwounded prisoners of Jaeger machine-gun companies remained with us. It is noteworthy that these Jaegers have more machine-guns than most other German divisions, and they use them with bitter determination and skill. During the afternoon and evening the enemy renewed their counter-attacks, and forced us to withdraw a little, and at 1.45 a.m. attacked the New Zealanders with bombs and liquid fire, forcing one of our posts to withdraw. The enemy shelled our troops with guns of various calibre throughout, and also used much gas. In addition to a large number of prisoners captured, we inflicted very heavy casualties on the enemy. One of his companies was reduced in a day from 60 to 23, but was fortunate in getting reinforcements up a communication trench during a rainstorm. The men of the Rifles were the principal actors in this strenuous fighting, but at the finish the Wellington troops also took part in it. 

SMALL PARTIES' DARING CAPTURES OF PRISONERS. Most extraordinary were some of the daring adventures upon which small parties and even individuals embarked. The men themselves say little about these, and often one only hears of them by chance. One of the finest traits in the character of "the diggers" is their modesty in regard to their own most gallant deeds. About the last day of their fighting a sergeant of the Rifle Brigade with 10 men went forward to exploit a success already gained, and in a sunken road came unexpectedly upon a whole company of the enemy. Our small band might have been pardoned had they taken to flight, but they stood their ground and fought. Any German who did not put up his hands was killed. A Jaeger officer who rushed out of a dug-out to rally his men was promptly shot, and others in the immediate vicinity then surrendered. By this time there were only six New Zealanders left unwounded, but they proceeded to collect other Germans from shell-holes till eventually the half-dozen marched back to our line with 40 prisoners. 

DESTRUCTION OF MANY ENEMY AEROPLANES. So much for events on land. Almost every night now we witness thrilling scenes in the air. The other evening we watched a German aeroplane being held in the beams of over a dozen searchlights while anti-aircraft guns and machine-guns were firing continuously at him. Presently the silver of his wings in the searchlights turned to flame, and he began to make an awful descent from thousands of feet in one streak of yellow flame, the red and blue of his signalling flares shooting out from the column and adding to the pyrotechnic display. Finally the tree-fringed crest of a low ridge, behind which he fell, was silhouetted against the glow of his burning petrol tank as it crashed to earth. Later another aeroplane was brought down in the same manner, and a third, shot in a vital part, landed in our lines. Two of its occupants got away in a strong wind in parachutes. The pilot, a fine strapping young man, was captured by the New Zealanders and was very crestfallen with his bad luck. To-night the clear moonlit vault is a buzzing hive of aeroplanes, and at intervals comes the uneven droning base of the German machine, the dull crash of his exploding bombs, the rattle of machine-guns and staccato banging of anti-aircraft guns all bent on his destruction. While writing this message loud cheering outside my flimsy hut announced the flaming fall of another enemy machine. "The diggers," scorning cover, were all on the watch. Nothing pleases them more than to see a German bomber descending in flames.  -NZ Herald, 21/9/1918.

The Rifle Brigade's Official History puts it more plainly, while giving some idea of the confusion which reigns in a bitter episode of trench warfare:

Sergeant C. K. Jennens, of the 1st Battalion, completed the first advance in charge of a company, all the officers having been struck down. Approaching Snap Trench he personally and successfully led a small party against a machine-gun post which was delaying the advance. At another point Rifleman C. T. Stevens carried through a similar exploit, using enemy bombs when his own gave out, and then, when the post was taken, bringing the captured German gun into action. He was materially assisted by Rifleman J. Donn, who, after killing the crew of a gun on his own account single-handed, jumped into the trench and attacked this second crew from the other flank.

By the end of 1918, both sides were experienced and the German Army had everything to lose.  The Hindenburg Line was a tough nut to crack but its cracking by the Allied armies was a serious blow for German forces.  For them, it was the beginning of the end.

Waimate Cemetery.