BAYONET V. BARE HANDS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3222, 9 January 1917, Page 7

BAYONET V. BARE HANDS.

COWARDLY Hl'N BEATEN BY A WOUNDED MAN. A company sergeant-major describes how he bat tied with a German armed with rifle and bayonet who attacked him as he lay wounded. " Before it really struck me what th.« cowardly brute was up to,'' said the sergeant-major, "he mode 0 lunge at Hie with the bayonet. 1 was lying on my back, but a managed to parry the thrust with my foot, knocking liis weapon aside. Three times lie tried to do me in, but 1 parried him with my feet and legs, getting a couple <f flesh wounds in the process. Then ho paused a minute as if perplexed. "In that moment I made a great effort, and. weak as I was, struggled to mv feet and faced him. He lunge I at me again, and I caught bis bayonet in my hands, Sikh fashion. I could onlv'use one hand, a wound near tha shoulder making my other ,iaU( l antl arm helpless. •' Wo fought like this for what seemed an age, although 1 suppose it was only a minute" or two, the German with a rifle and bavonet and I with my bare hands. At last 1 succeeded in grasping bis rifle, and then, rushing in. let go the rifle and s<-ized him by the throat. We fell to the ground together, and with a last effort I got oil top of him and throttled the brute. Then I fell back senseless." The sergeant-major lias no fewer than ten flesh wounds as the consequence of the encounter.