Gift to the Ypres British Church
76
the exact hour of the forthcoming attack. That the ruse did not altogether succeed was
only due to the fighting qualities of our patrols, and the excellent leadership of their
subalterns.
Meanwhile, No. 3 Patrol on our left-centre had much the same experience, but
unfortunately the officer in charge was badly wounded in the enemy front line. The
patrol, however, pushed on under its sergeant to the second line. Here the fire was very
hot and our Lewis gun was simply riddled by bullets. Under the pressure it was
impossible to locate the fallen officer, and later on we learnt that he had died in enemy
hands.
The most difficult task of all fell to our left flank platoon. They could find no
support on their left, and though they dealt faithfully with many snipers, they came
up against a nest of concrete defences between Cake Lane and Cake Walk. In trying
to work round the first of these the whole of the Lewis gun team became casualties, and
the withdrawal had to be carried out with rifle-covering-fire only.
Slowly but steadily the little body of men extricated itself out of a menacing position,
mainly due to the superb marksmanship and coolness of a boy not yet out of his teens
17114 Private T. Barratt. In each successive rush he was the last to go back, and
he set an example to his fellows beyond all praise. With her strange fickleness
Fortune deserted him just as he got backthe last of his patrolto our line. He was
killed instantaneously during the very heavy shell-fire which the Germans had maintained
on our front line from the moment the patrols had left it. He was posthumously awarded
the Victoria Cross, and we felt the Divisional Commander did not put it too highly when
he said I know of no award of the V.C. more richly merited, amongst the records of
stirring deedsthis stands out as second to none."
0
This is a bald and simple narrative, but it requires no colouring for readers who have
knowledge of the Salient, and any spark of imagination. One hundred and thirty men
had left our trenches in the clear light of a summer day in the hottest sector on the whole
of the Western Front without the support of a single gun or maxim, or tank. Casualties
were indeed heavy, but a far greater number had been inflicted on the enemy. If one
may compare a Battalion's achievement with a great historical event, it had succeeded
in tweaking the Kaiser's moustache at Ypres as effectively as Drake singed the King of
Spain's beard at Cadiz.
A. H. A.
AN interesting and very beautiful gift has come into the possession of St. George's
Church, Ypres, by the recent death of the Rev. C. W. Prangley, of Downham
Market, Norfolk.
His son, 2nd Lieutenant C. D. Prangley, 1st Lincolnshire Regiment, fell in the
advance on Gueudecourt on 25th September, 1916, and in his memory, Mr. George Smith,
of Downham Market, designed for the family an illustrated Holy Communion Service
Book. This was bequeathed to St. George's Church on the death of Mr. Prangley, the
father, and has now been received from the Archdeacon of Wisbech, Norfolk, his great
friend.
The book is of unique design, and unusual skill and care must have been exercised
in its execution.
