In the fighting that ensued they showed themselves worthy of their new mates, attempted feats almost impossible and accomplished superhuman deeds. The Australians are loud in their admiration of the Americans and consider the Yankees as soldiers of muscle and mettle second to none.
In the Hamel attack they were not to be held back, and that their casualties were heavy in the fighting was to a great measure due to the Yankees' hurry to get forward, and rush ahead under the shells of their own barrage to get on the neck of the enemy.
The tanks helped greatly in this operation, and even now, in a time when the great events of the morning are so often forgotten in the greater events of the night, the Australians still speak with enthusiasm of the work done by the steeled mastodons of war in the attack on Hamel.
Germans surrendered readily in most places here, but at one or two points nests of machine guns evaded the vigilance of the tanks and kept up a harrowing fire on the attackers. It was a case then of rushing the positions with the bayonet, and the Australians went forward in their grand, audacious manner, fighting every yard of the way. The still bodies lying on the field afterwards testified to the struggle which had taken place. And the Americans proved their worth, fighting in such a manner that the Australians were quick to regard them with admiration and look upon them as great soldiers.
"Great fighters, but damned bad moppers-up!"
This, in one terse sentence, was an Australian soldier's opinion of the American soldiery. This Australian was a man who had fought side by side with Americans, and who gloried in the fact. He had seen them dash forward at Hamel when that part of the Western Front was captured; he had joined them in the affair, and was proud to fight alongside of them. He had also taken part in the fighting north of St. Quentin when the American troops went forth at the tail of a mighty barrage to attack the Hindenburg line.
The "Diggers" have a great fellow-feeling for the "Doughboys," whom they consider to be very much like themselves in thought and outlook. The Diggers, having fought with their splendid American comrades, dared the tremendous task of war under the same barrage and shared the same risks and dangers on the field, have come to know the new Ally, and that knowledge is filled with appreciation.
The Americans are great fighters, they will tell you, and add as an afterthought that they are "bad moppers-up."
"Mopping-up" is practically a new operation in battle, and if not altogether new it has come into great prominence in this war, especially when the enemy is retreating. The track of the flying Boche is a track of snares, pitfalls, toils, traps, hidden mines and all manner of treacherous contrivances which a cunning enemy can lay to kill his pursuers. The dug-out may conceal a machine gun, the apparently dead may be waiting for a chance to fire at the troops which have passed him by, the elbow of trench may conceal a sniper, so all suspicious objects have to be examined before being crossed over.