On 4 November 1918 the New\nZealand Rifle Brigade was camped outside the walled medieval French town of Le\nQuesnoy, which was occupied by the Germans and had been for several years. The\ntown had a moat and very high walls which were hundreds of years old. New\nZealand artillery couldn’t be used to bomb the Germans into submission, because\nabout 5,000 French civilians were still living in the occupied town.<\/p>
The Germans refused to surrender\nand a party from the 4th Battalion was detailed to try and work\nout how to scale the 13-metre-high inner brick wall. <\/p>
Intelligence\nOfficer, Second Lieutenant Leslie Averill – a medical student from Christchurch – used a\nlong, fairly rickety ladder and led a small party of men up the wall. He\ncourageously chased off two German guards with his revolver, which allowed more\nNew Zealanders to then follow him and take the town – without a single civilian\ncasualty.<\/p>
In 1958, Leslie Averill recorded\na talk for radio, describing how he got into the town. (Notice that in this\nexcerpt, in a classic piece of Kiwi understatement, he manages to completely\navoid saying that he<\/em> was the first man up the wall.)<\/p>"); $('.summaryWrap').removeClass('mi'); $('.summaryWrap').addClass('en'); $('.language a.maori').removeClass('active'); $('.language a.english').addClass('active'); $('.js-year').html("Year:"); $('.js-location').html("Location:"); $('.js-location-name').html('Le Quesnoy, France'); }