(2)
Private W. M——, 1st Wilts, — Company:—(1) On the Aisne, between September 14th and 22nd, I was in B Company and going to A Company for a wounded man. I am a bandsman and have acted as stretcher-bearer. The Germans came out of a wood with a white flag. The captain (Captain R——) of — Company gave the order to cease fire—the Company was in the trenches. Captain R—— went forward alone towards the Germans, and the German officer then shot Captain R—— with his revolver and the rest of the Germans opened a heavy fire. Number — Company replied and drove the Germans back.
(2) At La Bassée, between October 12th and 27th, the Germans had shelled our trenches and driven us out, their infantry advancing in close formation. By that time only eleven out of B Company, including myself, were left. The Germans were within fifty yards of us and so we retired through a brewery down to a farm-house. We went upstairs—a mixed lot from various regiments (West Kents, Royal Irish Rifles, etc.), and began firing from the windows. From the upstairs we saw the Germans bayoneting those of our wounded who had been left in the trenches or placed under cover by us eleven, behind them, or had crawled along.
(3) At La Coutérie,[92] about 3 kilometres from La Bassée, it must have been before October 12th, because that was the day we got to La Bassée, we took possession of a farm-house for a dressing station. The farmer’s wife frequently took food and clothes down to the cellar, she said it was for her daughter; the daughter would not come up. The mother, who was crying as she told us, made out to us that the “Allemands” had outraged her daughter—she held up five fingers.