SOLDIERS- NARRATIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15748, 24 October 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

SOLDIERS- NARRATIVES.

THE 120 HOURS' BATTLE.

STORY OF IuIE RETREAT.

SANGFROID OF BRITISH. Wiikx the history of the tremendous struggle in the neighbourhood of Mons and Ch.irlnoi -i TiUnic combat lasting five <l,iv«—in compiled, the historian will pen perhaps the most glorious chapter which e\rr lias hern or - . er will be abided to the history of itie British mid French arms, v.ritis Mr. (1. Rerwick in the London Daily Chronicle. From the liny of tiWe who took part in it, from the wounded out of the battle rt cunts, from the refugees who fled from their blurred and blackened homesteads and their villajjrs devoured by fire and shattered by shell, it is possible to piece together the story of the struggle. Pica., to yourself a little khaki-clad soldier, his arm in a. sling, his faco bronzed with the sun, bis hands rough and scarred with trench-digging and the. grasping of a rifle almost too hot to hold. In his eyes still flashes the light of a heroic determination; he talks with animation: speaks lightly of his wound; he hopes soon to be back to the front again. Last night he bad his clothes and boots off for the first timo for six days. Five Days In the Trenches. "Wo were five solid days in tho trenches." ha said. "At first we were within a short distance of Ligny, holding a strong, entrenched position. Backwards and forwards we went all during that time. " I can't remember all the names of the places, but the end of it all came early on Thursday morning, when, I think, we were occupying part of the line somewhere in the Arras region. " It is tho finish of tho business that I shall always remember. The enemy were something under a kilometre in front. It was two o'clock in tho morning, dark and with few stars about. "Our officers camo along—l should tell you that we were, at that particular spot, about &a,O strong, a force composed, I think, of about equal numbers of—and— and told in to lie down and sleep where we were.

" Wo were making ourselves as comfortablo as possible when a light or something betrayed us to the enemy. We had been getting a pounding that day, and only needed tho word to go to sleep. An Inferno of Bullets. "Hardly were the first of us down on uir backs than we found ourselves in an inferno of bullets. It was like a thunderclap bursting a few yards above us. We could do nothing. Down upou us tile shranncl bullets hailed ; we went down by toe score. Practically at the same time the enemy's Maxims opened on us, and we were almost without shelter. " From above and from in front the bullets rained. We could do nothing; we saw we were caught. "' livery now ar.u again a flashlight fliiied in our eyes, making the thing more ghastly still. It flitted along our lines like a great ghost it was; then in its tr... came a tin-ker hail of shrapnel, and a dealier shower of bullets from the Maxims.

" We lay down, we crawled along, we got up, ran, but there was no getting out of the hail of bullets. ' Leave everything and retire' was the order, and there in tl." darkness we did what we could to carry it out. But each one could only act for himself. " I don't know hdv; long it lasted ; possibly it did not last very long. But when there was some ligul to see by, I could see about 30 of us wandering over tho country." "Thirty! You mean survivors?" " Yes, that's it. Thirty of us were left at the —out of—two thousand. We were wiped out; that's all there's to it. He, my mate and I, wandered from the others, and I suppose we shall go bark to England. We should be getting out to the frout again by Monday." Poor German Gunnery. "Yes," his companion said, "that's the story. It was the first time the German. artillery really got at us.. As a rule, their log gun fire was poor, though -uey did go in lor quantity. Id the trenches we used to watch the German gunners trying to hit the conspicuous parts of Mons And every time they missed we gave them a direr which they could hear. 11ic_\ are not snots, either. It was reallv astounding what thev muld miss. I think v. ran bent evcrylv.dv at marksmanship." " And the British artillery?" " Win, t was inaenifirpnt. If there hid only b.-p" mote of it—but, there, the Germans co! a.< it. was. perhaps, a pood d.-a 1 i. mi" thin i hey ever expected. U." artillerymen, too, were desperately ! tool "°" '- " o-'.t. ■ r T think it was late on \f. -id-y we •.;.! „ portion about five " six h'ir.'rfd yards from the Gerli an : lie-:. W.. rould «„„ them quite, <"'•■ •' " IT were m- .tly stari.ime up— '■" ' troop.. [ •!/,; t ; o- V were, being 1.r..- ■!■ ••-. f.. r anclh-r n.tvk. " I- " "id. r •.•::,... •.,.„ to „, to ix Diiyf) . r*'-'" II a- , ,-:.!, .::■.■ to oe .-! r]nT „ lx __ th" th ■-■;. v.p e.,,.:-,i'y the _ h -.d been w-"li"..' I : In I 1 ' -■■!! !i -lit our bavoneti fl-"-h-.| jr.! .... w ~...| f,-,r the order. "'I:..- '■' m ."- m .-' have sp?:1 our fv '" '"- '!'-! •■ ■. '. ■- d'tvn th»v wrnt mi ♦'•'or f"c« Ii |~.e is ore t'hi'i" thev »-•' •■ ■'■■ ;'V " Tie attack de *•■'""•' -idd. .■'■•- , |~il of hul:,!s, and tl-e or-!,-r to <}•,■] e did not come. Strewn With German De^d. " '''■'■ ■'. ■<] ~ ! i'.'.r way after tint, B-.d I ' ..,-.: ;.,! arlva.-.red to mm li ''•■' ■"< !•" on a?:,'.,. Ju--' as the d ' <'• ■ i. v. ...ii!.l ~.( the L . r ,,u,,,| v ' : '' >'•■■■' '•'■ ■■- s.iiiii, . uttered with C, ■••■.■„, ■:. : ""■i - i :• ' '•! hr-.- furious!', for <''••' ■ " ' '" -1 -''-',;ir.M 'hi FlftKll l ■_•-■.- ■' ■■■ •■••:• !'.r:tii-!. Kii:-:...ii '- ' : ■>* '.'■'■- .';■ '- |ii:u«e i.l the. "... '■'.! • i.-',,',,, ... ',?„,.'""s'.; iw , v Si e i-r,:. . i . 1, .',. ~:, the ,-;;;!..{ „. the i'i:'.'.-'i •■■'.'..■ -: .i ii up Throughout the luwUy til- .1..' t una on, and lar into tuc night .1 r-'Utiuucd.

What slaughter that night covered will i probably never Ire exactly known, butt those who went through ittho air thick with shrapnel shells, flashlights presaging the swift shower of bulletswent through 'lie worst perhaps that war in alt its hideoufrness can provide. The Attack on Our Army. Not only wag the long battle derided at that point of the line, but the retirement there brought about the furious attack during the Wednesday on the i>rit!sn expeditionary force. With regard to that attack one of the wounded men gives the following narrative: — "At times." he declared, "we could hardly hold our rifles—they were so hot. Often we had no trenches, no cover of any sort. We had just to dig up a heap ot earth a foot high or so and, lying behind it, pelt away for all we were worth. "Our shooting, I can assure you. was as steady as though our men we're at the nth: ranges, and ever so often in front of our positions we could see the dead accumulating in great heaps. " Far away on my right I saw at one trme uie British cavalry charging. We took the risk and looked up to see it. Upon my word, it was a magnificent sight. " I was too far oft to see what happened when they got home, which they dvi with magnificent dash. I don't think they lost heavily—nt least, not very heavily wo saw them get back again. ' Germans Enormous Numbers. " And the Germans, -what do you think of them'" I asked. " Not a great deal, as shots, but the way they came on, again and again, throughout the day, was great. They're a brave lot, and it took us all our time to bold them hack. They had such enormous numbers." The wonderful thing of it all is the marvellous spirit, of the British soldier. In the middle of a serious narrative a smile will break over his face; ho will tell you a joke from the trenches, make you laugh at the sallies of comrades near at hand while the bullets are whizzing overhead. « It makes you as certain as he is that the —be it far or near—will be victory.