CAVALRYMAN'S STORY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2878, 16 September 1916, Page 3

CAVALRYMAN'S STORY

OF THE CHARGE IN" THE -WOOD. Several of the men who took part in tho diargc of Dragoon Guards and Dccoan Horse near Eoureaux Wood recently, when, for the first time since tho early days of tho war, British cavalry canio into iactiion, have arrived in England for a few days' leave. A member of tho Deccan liorse thus described the charge:—"l was in it myself," ho said. 'I was ono of the lucky ones, for, indeed, wo counted ourselves lucky to got to work again at. our old job." Ho had been living tho lifo of a disgruntled infantryman iii tho-trendies, hoping always, in this engagement and! that, that tho way would bo clear once more for a cavalry charge. After describing the excitement of preparing for this last attack and the thrill when the order came to take up their position ready for tho dash, the soldier said: "Wo "were ready early in. tho, day, riding light, our horses full-of excitement, and restless, as if they knew what work wa.s before them. We had to lead the attack of the faradvanced infantry on certain German trenches, and we very soon found that we should not ho alile to dash across the trenches ourselves; we should have' to go around them and attack them in. the roar. And'so we waited end waited for hours, till at last, in tho afternoon, tho signal for the attack came,, and we picked our way around the trench lino. "Then the horses simply went mad, and so did we, and tho Germans had tho surprise of their lives. They hadn't' dreamt of British cavalry. They were terrified, and) they fled in* all directions, hunting for any sort of cover where there was none. Tho horses were a marvol. They had been kept in perfect training down at the camps all thoso months, and they knew exactly what to do. It was their fight as much as ours. Tho Germans got their guns on us, and shells were bursting all about, but they didn't caro in tho least. If they galloped fall-tilt into' a shell-holo they clambered out on the other side almost without slackening speed, and! mostly they took the holes at a hound. ; They were wild. I couldn't tell what wo did, what was happening with us all tho time. - Our blood was up too, and I only know that wo rode in and in among the Germans, groups of them or scattered men, thrusting at them with our swords, and! that we cleared-that bit of ground in two or three hours. Meanwhile, the infantry had deue their job And taken tho trench."