CHAPTER VII
THE FIGHT ON THE BIPSCHOOTE-LANGEMARCK ROAD,
OCTOBER 23RD, 1914
We were, I believe, sent up in reserve to the 1st Brigade. Whether that is correct or not, it is not for me to state—all I know is that we formed up well behind the front line, two companies taking the first line in extended order and two companies the second line in the same order. Thus we advanced about a mile over flat open country to the front line. We went up in short rushes, and a word of praise is due to the men who took part in it. I never even on the Barrack Square or drill-ground saw a better advance: the men went up absolutely in line, each man keeping his correct distance, and that under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. Of course some men got knocked over; but it made absolutely no difference. One Officer, a Major Powell, carried a chair with him the whole of the way, and, on reaching a hedge, would mount this chair to get a view of the enemy.
Two hundred yards off the front line, we made a combined rush into it. There we found the Camerons, with the usual one-man trench. The man I lay down behind told me that they had been out there three days and had had no rations, and also that they had had many men taken prisoners.
In this front line we had a breather, the German trenches being roughly three hundred yards away, and a hedge was also running parallel between the two lines of trenches, with a big gap facing us. Through this gap we could see the enemy retiring one and two at a time from their trenches. They appeared like so many rabbits running from their holes, and, as they ran, so we took pot-shots at them. After we had had our breather, the word was given to charge; and this we did, going through in fine style. Just behind the front line of German trenches was a house from which we took a number of prisoners. The first man of ours to reach it was a corporal. He called upon the Germans to surrender and got a bullet through the brain for his pains. The Germans then saw us, and were obliged to surrender, and were given over to men to take behind. One German Officer remarked: "We don't mind—we've got Paris, and London is in flames." One of our Officers turned round and said: "You know that's not true." Whereon he remarked: "I know, but the men believe it."
