Shells had been flying round the position, and
the gunners had been killed, whereupon the two drivers went to rescue
the gun. "It was a good quarter of a mile away," says the witness, "yet
they led their horses calmly through the hail of shell to where the gun
stood. Then one man held the horses while the other limbered up. It
seemed impossible that the men could live through the German fire, and
from the trenches we watched them with great anxiety. But they came
through all right, and we gave them a tremendous cheer as they brought
the gun in."
Sir John French in one of his despatches records that during the action
at Le Cateau on August 26th the whole of the officers and men of one of
the British batteries had been killed or wounded with the exception of
one subaltern and two gunners. These continued to serve one gun, kept up
a sound rate of fire, and came unhurt from the battlefield.
Another daring act is described by W.E. Motley, R.F.A. "Things became
very warm for us," he says, "when the Germans found the range. In fact
it became so hot that an order was passed to abandon the guns
temporarily. This is the time when our men don't obey orders, so they
stuck to their guns. They ceased their fire for a time. The enemy,
thinking our guns were out of action, advanced rapidly.
Pages:
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70