This was done by a sergeant of the
Engineers, but immediately afterwards his own head was blown away by a
German shell. "The brave fellow certainly saved the position," writes
one of the Middlesex men, "for if the Germans had got across that night
I'm afraid there would have been very few of us left."
Other daring incidents may be told briefly. One of the liveliest is
that of seven men of the Worcesters, who were told they could "go for a
stroll." While loitering along the road they encountered a party of
Germans, and captured them all without firing a shot. "We just covered
them with our rifles," writes Private Styles; "so simple!" Sir John
French relates a similar exploit of an officer who, while proceeding
along the road in charge of a number of led horses, received information
that there were some of the enemy in the neighborhood. Upon seeing them
he gave the order to charge, whereupon three German officers and 106 men
surrendered! On another occasion a portion of a supply column was cut
off by a detachment of German cavalry and the officer in charge was
summoned to surrender. He refused, and starting his motors off at full
speed dashed safely through.
Hairbreadth escapes are related in hundreds of letters, and they have a
dramatic quality that makes the ineffectual fires of imaginative fiction
burn very low.
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