I already had about three inches of steel in my side
when my chum finished him."
The charge of the Coldstream Guards at Le Cateau is another bayonet
exploit that ought to be recorded. "It was getting dark when we found
that the Kaiser's crush was coming through the forest to cut off our
force," a sergeant relates, "but we got them everywhere, not a single
man getting through. About 200 of us drove them down one street, and
didn't the devils squeal. We came upon a mass of them in the main
thoroughfare, but they soon lost heart and we actually climbed over
their dead and wounded which were heaped up, to get at the others."
"What a sight it was, and how our fellows yelled!" says another
Coldstreamer, describing the same exploit.
Tommy Atkins has long been known for his accurate artillery and rifle
fire, but the bayonet is his favorite arm in battle. Through all our
wars it has proved a deciding, if not indeed the decisive, factor in the
campaign. Once it has been stained in service he fondles it as, next to
his pipe, his best friend. And it is the same with the Frenchman. He
calls his bayonet his "little Rosalie," and lays its ruddy edges against
his cheek with a caress.
V
CAVALRY EXPLOITS
"We have been through the Uhlans like brown paper." In this striking
phrase Sir Philip Chetwode, commanding the 5th Cavalry Brigade,
describes the brilliant exploits in the neighborhood of Cambrai when, in
spite of odds of five to one, the Prussian Horse were cut to pieces.
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