What a glorious death to die! Dr. O'Connell had no thought for himself; he freely gave his life to bring succour and comfort to the wounded and dying. There is no higher and nobler heroism than this. "O selfless man and stainless gentleman!"
"Baby Rose" such is the nickname bestowed on the smallest of French soldiers, who appears above. He is a great favourite with the Zouaves, one of whom is seen accompanying him. Photo, Daily Mirror
A bold adventure during the advance to the Marne is thus described by a major of the Royal Field Artillery:—
"At last we came to the edge of the wood, and in front of us, about two hundred yards away, was a little cup-shaped copse, and the enemy's trenches with machine guns a little farther on. I felt sure this wood was full of Germans, as I had seen them go in earlier. I started to gallop for it, and the others followed. Suddenly about fifty Germans bolted out firing at us. I loosed off my revolver as fast as I could, and —— loosed off his rifle from the saddle. They must have thought we were a regiment of cavalry, for, except a few, they suddenly yelled and bolted. I stopped and dismounted my lot to fire at them to make sure they didn't change their minds. I held the horses. I then suddenly saw there were more men in the copse, so I mounted the party and galloped at it, yelling, with my revolver held out.
"As we came to it I saw it was full of Germans, so I yelled 'Hands up,' and pointed the revolver at them. They all chucked down their rifles and put their hands up. Three officers and over forty men to ten of us with six rifles and a revolver. I herded them away from their rifles and handed them over to the Welsh Regiment behind us. I tore on with the trumpeter and the sergeant-major to the machine guns. At that moment the enemy's shrapnel and our own howitzers, thinking we were hostile cavalry, opened fire on us. We couldn't move the beastly things, and it was too hot altogether, so we galloped back to the cup-shaped wood, and they hailed shrapnel on us there. I waited for a lull, and mounted all my lot behind the bushes and made them sprint to the woods where the Welsh company was. There I got two fellows to help. We ran up to the Maxims, and took out the breech mechanism of both and one of the belts, and carried away one whole Maxim. We couldn't manage the other. The Welsh asked what cavalry we were. I told them we were the staff of the ---- Battery and they cheered us, but said we were mad. The funniest thing was the little trumpeter, who swept a German's helmet off his head and waved it in the air, shouting, 'I've got it,' wild with excitement. He is an extraordinarily brave boy."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE AISNE VALLEY.
In Chapter XVII, I described the undulating chalk plateau known as the Heights of Champagne. You will remember that this ground was chosen by the French in 1874 as the best place for making a stand against an invader marching on Paris. The rapid advance of the Germans prevented the French from rallying on these heights, and forced them to withdraw much farther south before they were able to form their line and advance. During the Battles of the Marne, you will remember, they drove the enemy northwards from 6th to 11th September 1914. Bad weather caused them to slacken the pursuit on the 12th, and the Germans were enabled to cross the Aisne unmolested. While their rearguards were fighting stubbornly, the main bodies were strongly entrenching themselves on the heights north of the river.