THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 184, 24 April 1918, Page 5

THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

A MOVING EPISODE OF THE BATTLEFIELD

ONE MAN AGAINST A

THOUSAND

(By Lieut. F. .T. Sleath.)

(Published by Authority of the War Office, ner favour of tho Royal Colonial Institute.)

The English captain looked at the sinking sun and carefully measured the time (ill darkness. Three hours still remained, and tho anxious look in the captain's eyes deepened. Not till dorkness could lie expect en her relief or the cessation of tho - attack, and he knew that his men were nearly spent, that another determined onset by Ihe enemy could hardly fail to break tho line. Early that morning his battalion had counter-attacked, , iiud stopped a German inrush which had threatened to overwhelm the whole sector. They had seized on a key position, which Ihe Germans must take before their advance could proceed, and all day long they had held it. despite repeated onslaughts by , a desperate foe, thus giving timo for British reserves to bo hurried up to make the sHuatioc secure. But the cost had been heavy. The captain was the ouly senior officer left, and of ijhomien 'scarce a hundred remained, a wholly inadequate strength to etop the grey masses, which could be seen in the 'listance filing up for a fresh assau.lt. Tho line ran alon« the erest of a slope: Hardly a vestige of- earthwork remained. Tho German artillery hadmade a cral"'- field of tho position, and the defenders Jay in little groups in the ehcllholes, ' iind somehow held the enemy at. bay. - Runners had risked their lives -to bring up ammunition and distnbuto it irom shell-hole to shell-hole, men fired until their rifles jammed frojh tho heat expan. sion, awl went on'iiring with the weapons which wounded comrades handed up. to them, so that the bullet storm sweeping tha enemy did riot diminish. - But shrapnel and high explosive had taken a steady toll, and in every shell-hole men lay dead and dying. Their Guardian Angel.

Earlier in tho day, when the trench had been blown in and its defenders had taken "to the open, German aeroplanes had swooped down and raked them with I their machine-guns. Unprotected- irom i above, tho battalion could not have held I out an hour. But a British scout had [ dived on the enemy pilots.- , '1 he wreckage ! of- three of their machines lay in iorlorn ! heaps a little to the rear. And for hours j no enemy 'piano had dared to, come- on the scene. ' Again and again the British airman had swept down on the Gorman infantry, 'bombing and machine-gunning thenranks, just when they threatened to carry everything before them. In-and out among the shrapnel puffs ho danced. I Sometimes it seenied as if a salvo or high explosivo had passed through his machine, for'the aeroplane would stagger and slip in a curious fashion as though struck a tremendous blow. But ever the pilot,righted it, and held the foremost of the battle, disappearing in quiet spells for fresh supplies, but always reappearing whenever tho need was greatest, liie men of tho battalion watched eagerly for his coming. He had become a oynibol of courage and endurance to them, and they cheered him. hoarsely, even while ' their fingers mechanically pressed triggers and drew back bolts, sending an unbroken leaden stream into tho German ■ranks. • . ~ • But for over an hour now, the airman had not been with them. Through his ■glasses the captain had seen the rent I wing fabric and the broken bracing wires i streaming and flapping about the machine as the pilot took it homeward. Ami the captain had given up all hope of his return. The men also sensed that further aid from their staunch little ally could hardly bo expected, and a feeling of despondency was Browing in every heart. A hellish bombardment was screaming around them, the preparation for a now assault. The-captain went from shellhole to shell-hole, encouraging his men to stand fast. But they 'saw those grey masses piling up in a strength of ten to one, and though they were determined to die where they lay rather than surrender, the greater resisting power, winch enables the soldier to achieve miracles from the consciousness of ultimate success, was gone from them. They know that their commander considered lue [position 'hopeless, in spito of his words ot encouragement. They would go on hghtins until the Germans swept 'over them. But to roll back such a weight of numbers as was now making ready to ad-vance;-was beyond their power, '.the lino must go at the next assault. . The Airman Returns!

A lull came, in the firing. The captain saw the grey blue lines beginning to movo forward. Ho looked down to see that his revolver was loaded and the taint rattle of a machine-gun came, to his ears. "3ly God, he's back again," he exclaimed. The German, lines wore scattering and disappearing into their for driving down on theiu was tho British aeroplane. Along tho line it swept and back again, and tho grey, blue vanished from tho surface of the ground. Tho shrapnel etorni buret out afresh around tho (iiMveriug- 'plane, but tho noiso of tho 'wllooping shell-bursts was somehow a lessor thing than the roar.of cheering which burst from every British throat to greet the gallant airman's return. (Aircraft cannot be everywhere, -on a long battle line, and, as it chanced, this nirinnn was along here.) He sped away to tile rear, pursued •v biißstinfj shells, and soon the assaulting waves began to form again, in the eky far behind the enemy lines thrse ominous specks appeared. Quickly they grew in size and disclosed themselves as powerful German chaser machines. Ihe little British scout came spee<hnjr over the ridge top. He charged and scattered tho hostile infantry once more, and then- climbed rapidly as the German 'planes dived to engage him. Something like a groaii came from tho watcliing battalion. The struggle was hopeless from the beginning, and they realised that their pilot was going calmly to nit. death, that the odds against them might be lessened. His Life for the Men Below.

He eluded the dive of the leading machine, twisted round nomehow into shooting position,, and sent the German crashing. Another whs on him beiore he could recover. Ono long burst ot enemy bullets thrashed about his cockpit and engine. But he managed to reply, and tho German slipped qiuckly out of the fight and came to earth a mile away. But tho British pilot was finished. His machine wavered about uncertainly, as his dying hand "tailed to hold the control Jevcr steady, nnd speeding down like a hawk in the lull mwn of a successful swoop, camo tho third German 'plane. . There vras no mistaking (lie action pi the British airman, lie deliberately slid his aeroplane right into the course of his enemy, and before tho latter could divine his intention tho two machines collided. The German rebounded and skip-slipped into hie own lines. A spout of smoke and llamo came from me H-reckag'-' «' IDO miicliinc collapsed <m the ground. The Brilish 'plane dropped like a stone. Us Held pilot shot out and fell in the No Man's Land, fifty yards in Iroiit of the men whom ho had. died to aid. ' Tho sun went down, the Germans sullenly withdrew from tho fight, and the remnant of the battalion still held the crest A divine frenzy had taken possession of thu men at the sight of the British pilot's self-sacrifice, and every Gorman attack was shattered before them as waves on a rock-boiwid coast. Tho relieving troops camo up and took over. They saw the piles of _ German dead before nnd in the position, ami they looked at.the battle-worn defend■ors' in wonder. Hut before the captain led .-his command away he went nut in(o tho i\o Man's LaiiU along willi tho lit men loft in and searched among the sain for the'pilot's body. They earned him back to their reet billots, and laid him r i little- Vrenoh churchyard beyond l,o'reach of tho guns. And over hie "Svo the captaiu told tho soryofU«> fight to tho mourners from al tho fliwsfoni that, the whole army might know how'(ho.day was won.