AN HEROIC DEED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 2732, 30 July 1915, Page 5

AN HEROIC DEED.

HOW A SOLDIER WON THE V.C

(Received July 30, 9 a.m.)

LONDON, July 29. An officer in the Indian Army Corps tolls how Smyth, of the 15th Silkhs, won the Victoria Cross. It .was necessary to send a bombing party from a reserve trench to the front line with two boxes of bombs. The party had' to cross 250 yards of absolutely open ground, the only possible shelter from tho frightful fire being a broken-down trench, whioh at the best of times was hardly knee-deep, and was now in some [places filled almost to the top with, dead. Tho party struggled through the mud, pulling the boxes, till they reached the old trench. Then they attached their pugarees to the front of the boxes and pulled them through the dead bodies, all the party lying flat. The whole ground was a hissing deluge of rifle and machine-gun firo. Four of the Sepoys were wounded in the first 80 yaxds, leaving seven, who crawled till, just before the end of the- trench, only Smyth and a Sepoy (Lai Singh) wa,s left; two of the others had been killed and three wounded. The two were compelled to abandon the second box, but continued pulling and hauling the other. In the open they met an increased blast of fire, and soon were confronted by' a small stream, which ■was too deep to wade. They crawled in full'view of the enemy till they came to a fordaolc point and struggled across with their burden, and in a few yards reached our trench. Both were un- j touched, though their clothes were perforated with bullets. Shortly after, Lai Singh was killed in the trench.