All the stories in this volume are told by men who were seen personally, and who, with one or two exceptions—cases of soldiers who had returned to the front—read the typescripts of their narratives, so that accuracy should be secured. The narrators spoke while the impressions of fighting and hardships and things seen were still strong and clear; in several cases full notes had been made or diaries kept, and reference to these records was of great value in preparing the stories. When seeing an informant I specially asked that a true tale should be told, and I believe that no unreliable details were knowingly given.
I have been fortunate in getting a good deal of exclusive matter—the full record of the noble achievement of L Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, for example, has not been given anywhere in such detail as is presented here, and the same remark applies to the story of the three torpedoed cruisers.
During the earlier periods of the war British soldiers told me tales of barbarities and outrages committed by German troops which were so terrible that it was impossible to believe them, and I omitted many of these details from the finished stories; but I know now, from reading the Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages, presided over by Viscount Bryce, formerly British Ambassador at Washington, that even the most dreadful of the statements did not do more than touch the fringe of the appalling truth.
Though much has been already published in the form of tales and letters from our soldiers at the front, yet I hope that this collection of stories will be accepted as a contribution from the British fighting man to the general history of the earlier stages of the war—those memorable preliminary operations which have made a deep and indelible impression on the British race throughout the world.
Walter Wood.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| [CHAPTER I] | |
|---|---|
| Mons and the Great Retreat | [1] |
| Private J. Parkinson, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. | |
| [CHAPTER II] | |
| German Atrocities | [17] |
| Driver G. Blow, Royal Field Artillery. | |
| [CHAPTER III] | |
| “Greenjackets” in the Firing Line | [29] |
| Rifleman R. Brice, King’s Royal Rifle Corps. | |
| [CHAPTER IV] | |
| The Struggle on the Aisne | [41] |
| Private Herbert Page, Coldstream Guards. | |
| [CHAPTER V] | |
| “The Most Critical Day of All” | [54] |
| Corporal F. W. Holmes, V.C., M.M., 2nd Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. | |
| [CHAPTER VI] | |
| British Fighters in French Forts | [70] |
| Private J. Boyers, Durham Light Infantry. | |
| [CHAPTER VII] | |
| German Treachery and Hatred | [82] |
| Corporal W. Bratby, Middlesex Regiment. | |
| [CHAPTER VIII] | |
| Life in the Trenches | [94] |
| Private G. Townsend, 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment. | |
| [CHAPTER IX] | |
| Sapping and Mining: the “Lucky Company” | [108] |
| Sapper William Bell, Royal Engineers. | |
| [CHAPTER X] | |
| L Battery’s Heroic Stand | [118] |
| Gunner H. Darbyshire, Royal Horse Artillery. | |
| [CHAPTER XI] | |
| Sixteen Weeks of Fighting | [135] |
| Private B. Montgomery, Royal West Kent Regiment. | |
| [CHAPTER XII] | |
| A Daisy-Chain of Bandoliers | [146] |
| Private W. H. Cooperwaite, Durham Light Infantry. | |
| [CHAPTER XIII] | |
| Despatch-Riding | [158] |
| Corporal Hedley G. Browne, Royal Engineers. | |
| [CHAPTER XIV] | |
| The Three Torpedoed Cruisers | [169] |
| Able-Seaman C. C. Nurse. | |
| [CHAPTER XV] | |
| The Runaway Raiders | [182] |
| Sapper W. Hall, Royal Engineers. | |
| [CHAPTER XVI] | |
| Campaigning with the Highlanders | [191] |
| Private A. Veness, 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. | |
| [CHAPTER XVII] | |
| Transport-Driving | [203] |
| Private James Roache, Army Service Corps. | |
| [CHAPTER XVIII] | |
| British Gunners as Cave-Dwellers | [213] |
| Corporal E. H. Bean, Royal Field Artillery. | |
| [CHAPTER XIX] | |
| With the “Fighting Fifth” | [225] |
| Private W. G. Long, 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment. | |
| [CHAPTER XX] | |
| The Victory of the Marne | [236] |
| Corporal G. Gilliam, Coldstream Guards. | |
| [CHAPTER XXI] | |
| An Armoured Car in Ambush | [256] |
| Trooper Stanley Dodds, Northumberland Hussars. | |
| [CHAPTER XXII] | |
| Exploits of the London Scottish | [264] |
| Private J. E. Carr, 14th (County of London) Battalion London Regiment (London Scottish). | |
| [CHAPTER XXIII] | |
| The Rout of the Prussian Guard at Ypres | [277] |
| Private H. J. Polley, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. | |
| [CHAPTER XXIV] | |
| The British Victory at Neuve Chapelle | [291] |
| Sergeant Gilliam, Coldstream Guards. | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
To face page | |
| L Battery’s heroic stand: “Another battery of horse-gunners was dashing to the rescue” | [Frontispiece] |
| “We were helped by the Germans throwing searchlights on us” | [2] |
| “Some of our cavalry caught him” | [16] |
| “The Germans came on and hurled themselves against us” | [38] |
| “From behind trees we kept up a destructive fire on the enemy” | [50] |
| “I hoisted the trumpeter into the saddle” | [62] |
| “We found a fair lot of Germans in houses and farms” | [80] |
| “We were so near the Germans that they could hurl bombs at us” | [102] |
| “We had a very warm time of it” | [112] |
| “Planted a maxim on his knees and rattled into the Germans” | [128] |
| “The men were told to lay hands on anything that would float” | [168] |
| “Good swimmers were helping those who could not swim” | [180] |
| “The Hogue began to turn turtle; the four immense funnels broke away” | [188] |
| “A bullet struck him in the back and killed him” | [202] |
| “We were in a real hell of bursting shrapnel” | [222] |
| “I took him up and began to carry him” | [234] |
| “Before they knew what was happening the car was in the river” | [244] |
| “Cavalry and Guards got in amongst the Germans and fairly scattered them” | [254] |
| “I made a lunge at him, but just missed, and I saw his own long, ugly blade driven out” | [286] |
| “The infantry dashed on with the bayonet” | [302] |