The regiment fell back into
safety and the situation was saved, but the message arrived none too
soon, and the gallant Irish Fusiliers certainly saved one battalion from
extinction.
In one fierce little fight the Munster Fusiliers (the "Dirty Shirts")
had to prevent themselves from being cut off, and in a desperate effort
to capture the whole regiment the Germans launched cavalry, infantry and
artillery upon them. "The air was thick with noises," says one of the
Munsters in telling the story, "men shouting, waving swords, and blazing
away at us like blue murder. But our lads stood up to them without the
least taste of fear, and gave them the bayonet and the bullet in fine
style. They crowded upon us in tremendous numbers, but though it was
hell's own work we wouldn't surrender, and they had at last to leave
us. I got a sword thrust in the ribs, and then a bullet in me, and went
under for a time, but when the mist cleared from my eyes I could see the
boys cutting up the Germans entirely." The losses were heavy, and the
comment was made in camp that the Germans had cleaned up the "Dirty
Shirts" for once. "Well," said an indignant Fusilier, "it was a moighty
expensive washin' for them annyway."
How Private Parker of the Inniskilling Fusiliers escaped from four
Uhlans who had taken him prisoner is an example of personal daring.
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