CHAPTER XXXII.
THE HEROISMS OF FESTUBERT.
In the great struggle for the trenches which I described in the former chapter there was plentiful opportunity for our men to do deeds of individual daring. The fighting was at close quarters, and often men were engaged in hand-to-hand struggles. I could fill a volume of this work with the heroisms of Festubert alone. Let me tell you a few of the many gallant deeds done in the ten days of the battle.
I have already mentioned the exploit of Company Sergeant-Major Barter and his eight comrades. One of the men who joined his party was known as Private Hardy. While the bombing of the German second line trenches was going on, Hardy did splendid work, but was hit in the right arm, and fell fainting to the ground. His wound was dressed, and he recovered. As soon as he was on his feet again he cried, "Luckily, I am left-handed," and ran off to rejoin Barter. With his left hand he flung grenade after grenade; but the white bandage on his arm made him a good mark for the German sharpshooters, and he fell with a bullet through his head. Now comes the astonishing part of the story. Soon after the war broke out, Captain H. S. Smart of the 53rd Sikhs was granted short leave, and returned to England. He overstayed his leave, and disappeared. All inquiries failed to trace him, and his name was removed from the Army List. After the death of Private Hardy it was discovered that the dauntless man was none other than the missing Captain Smart. He had so longed to fight in France that he had deserted the Indian army, and had joined the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment as a private. When the story became known the King ordered the hero's name to be restored to the Army List with full honours.
During the fighting in the Festubert district one of our officers was seen lying out on our front wounded. He was on the lip of a mine crater, where he was hidden from the Germans. Our people could see him, and when he gave signs of life they determined to bring him in. Under cover of the fire of our snipers, a non-commissioned officer crawled out with a rope, which he made fast to the wounded officer, who then crawled or was gradually dragged into our trench, his rescuer staying behind in his place! This noble fellow was continually bombed, but at last he, too, was able to crawl back to safety.
Sir Max Aitken tells us that the Canadian artillery, shortly after the affair at the orchard, played a very effective trick on the Germans. They opened fire on the enemy's trenches, and meanwhile the infantry made a great show of fixing bayonets, rigging up trench ladders, and blowing whistles, just as though they meant to attack as soon as the bombardment was over. The Germans, according to their custom, promptly retired to their support trenches and prepared to shoot down the Canadians as they advanced. As soon as the Germans were in the support trenches, the gunners lifted their sights and began shelling them; whereupon the Germans rushed back to the front trenches. Still there was no infantry attack. When the front trenches were full once more the Canadian gunners shortened their range, and the full blast of their fire fell upon the crowded Germans, causing great havoc. Next day the world was told that the Germans had beaten off a desperate attack! The Huns in the trenches, however, knew better, for that evening one of them cried out: "Say, Sam Slick, no dirty tricks to-night!"
On the 26th Corporal Pym of the Royal Canadian Dragoons showed great self-sacrifice and contempt of danger in rescuing wounded men. The British and German lines were only sixty yards apart. An English voice in the narrow No-man's Land was heard calling for help, and Pym determined to try to bring in the sufferer. He crept out into a zone swept by constant rifle and machine-gun fire, and found the man, who had been wounded in both thigh bones, and had been lying out in the open for three days and nights. The poor fellow was in such torment that he could not bear to be dragged in. Pym, therefore, called back to the trench, and Sergeant Hollowell crept out towards him. Just as he reached the wounded man, however, he was shot dead. Pym thereupon crawled back across the fire-swept space, to see if he could get a stretcher; but when he considered the position, he decided that the ground was too rough for him to drag a stretcher across it. Once more, therefore, he recrossed the fire-zone, and at last, with the utmost difficulty, brought the wounded man in alive.