The Yprbs Times.
5
eventually stopped him firing, and I waved a white handkerchief, whereupon about sixty
Germans rushed into our lines with their hands up and almost mad with fear. Captain
Wickham and I rounded them up, and were going to send them off, when a German
shrapnel shell burst a few feet over their heads. They scattered in all directions. Captain
Wickham got one in the cheek, and went off to have his wound dressed. He came back
very sson afterwards to command his company, but I never saw this very gallant officer
again. I returned to my hole, where I found two cringing prisoners, who appeared to
be too terrified to move. A bearded German was lying just on the other side of the hedge
in front of my hole. About 4 o'clock in the evening I saw him raise his head, so I took a
bayonet and pricked him he immediately jumped up and surrendered. I found he
was a Prussian and spoke good English. He asked me where our second line was and
where our reserves and supportsI told him I had never heard of any of these things.
He became furious, stamped his feet, swearingI presumedin Germanfinally he
pointed towards his friends and shouted, If only they knew! His last remark confirmed
what I have always upheldnamely, that we were saved by the woods behind us being
filled with imaginary reserves. I have mentioned 4 p.m., but long before that the break
in the line occurred. I have forgotten the time, if indeed I ever knew it. My company
commander came to me and shook me by the hand, saying, Good-byeWe have
done our best; look there!" I looked to my right flank. D Company had been overrun,
massacred almost to a man, and blue-coats were pouring through the wood. I could
see our men retiring up the hill behind in a leisurely way. My company commander,
with the other surviving subalterns of the company, went off to help rally some more men
to hold the gap. Sergt.-Major Walker, of the Scots Guards, sent to me asking for a
platoon to fill a gap in his line he was then, I believe, commanding two companies of
the Scots Guards, and he was doing it in a most wonderfully cool and capable manner.
I sent him about ten men, saying that I, too, had a gap that wanted filling. I began to
get men shot in the back, and our situation appeared impossible, but so far the Germans
had not favoured us with much attention. After about half an hour the most pleasant
sound in the world came to our earsan English cheer in the wood behind. Soon parties
of Germans came rushing out making for their own woods once more. My survivors
with the Scots Guards stood up and did great execution on the retiring Germans. By
this time, too, D Company's trench had been reoccupied by a mixed force of S. W. Borderers
and others, so that only a certain number of Germans ever reached their own lines again.
The cheer may have been the Worcesters', but of this I cannot be sure. That night the
whole line was withdrawn some 600 yards, and after a day of continuous fighting we spent
the whole night digging. The most trying part of this withdrawal was that we had to
leave all our badly wounded behind in a chateau. A medical officer of the Guards
gallantly volunteered to stay with them, and I believe, apart from being turned out of
their beds, they were fairly decently treated. As it turned out, the Germans did not
notice our withdrawal for some four or five hours as we had left a few snipers to keep
up a desultory fire, and all the wounded might have been cleared. This merely proved
that the Germans did not consider us so altogether contemptible."
During the night of November 1st the Third Brigade was relieved. A battalion of
the Rifle Brigade relieved my regiment, and we went back half a mile into the woods.
Our resting-place was a swamp with trenches full of water, which looked very cold in the
moonlight. Our rest was not for long. About 2 p.m. on November 2nd we were informed
that the Germans had broken through the Rifle Brigade and we were to go up at once to
retake the trenches. I took up the leading platoon of the battalion and found a great deal
of confusion in front. It was impossible to see what trenches were to be retaken. I could
see no Germans. I saw a number of British prisonersnot a pleasing sightand I saw
a number of men in khaki in a trench who some people told me were Germans in English
uniform. I therefore got my men into a trench and awaited further instructions. About
