“The Old British Way”
They have a trick of throwing masses of cavalry at our weakest infantry when they are either advancing in an exposed position or in retreat. They tried it on as often as they could, but what they don’t seem able to get over is the quick way in which the smallest party of our infantry will turn round and give them the bayonet. At first they came on all swagger, thinking they could cut our men down, but when they began to see what our chaps were up to they weren’t so keen on keeping it up. I have seen them coming on with great bluster and bounce until the order “Prepare to receive cavalry” was carried out in the old British way, and then they took to their heels as fast as their horses would carry them: A Corporal of the South Lancashire Regiment.
Covered with Straw
News reached our brigade that some of the Germans were making a stand not far in front of us. We at once scattered ourselves in the fields, and then advanced in extended formation until we could see them nicely. We fired a few rounds into them, and they beat a hasty retreat, but not before they had killed seven and wounded twelve. Our colonel was the first man shot, and he died the next morning. After the dead had been collected and the wounded attended to we again got on the move, and I shall never forget how I felt as I passed my dead comrades on the road. They had been laid by the roadside, and their faces covered with straw: Bandsman T. Woodward, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
Nothing to be Seen
The disconcerting thing in battle nowadays is that you may be fighting for hours on end and never as much as see an enemy to grapple with. We lay for ten hours with rifle fire dropping around us like raindrops in a heavy shower. The roar of the guns was always there, like the thunder that you hear in a big storm, and you could see one long line of little white puffs of smoke away in the horizon every time the Germans fired. Beyond that you couldn’t see anything, and it was only an odd sting in the arm or leg or head from a bullet that made you realize you were in battle: Corporal of the Connaught Rangers.
“A Horrible Trade-mark”
I have had two horses shot under me, so you can see my time hasn’t come yet. Our men are wonderfully fit and fight like the very devil. We have lost two of our young officers, and I am wearing a pair of riding-breeches which belonged to one of them. I have been sharing a pipe for a fortnight with one of my troopers. Things are going well with us, and we are giving the Germans all they want, and a little more besides. But there are such hordes of men that it’s a case of shooting one line down when along comes another. They are cursed cowards, and will not meet our cavalry in the open. Their shells are our worst trouble; they don’t give you half a chance, for you can’t see them coming, and they leave such a horrible trademark: A Squadron-Major of the Royal Horse Guards.
Blown Sky High
It is not only on sea that the Germans make use of mines. They do it on land. Nearly all the approaches to their trenches are mined for about two hundred yards, and even one thousand yards. One day an infantry battalion of ours, supported by French infantry and cavalry, fought their way right up to the enemy’s trenches and were formed up for the last rush, when suddenly the earth under them gave way with a terrific explosion, and the air was thick with bodies blown sky high. Our own men seemed to get very little damage, though many of them were stunned for the time being by the awful explosion. After a time they were re-formed, and swept across the intervening space with a ringing cheer that told its own story. The Germans were ready for them, and they had a hard tussle to clear the trenches, but they succeeded in the end: A Lance-Corporal of the Lincolnshire Regiment.