WONDROUS CHARGE OF THE KENTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2508, 8 July 1915, Page 2

WONDROUS CHARGE OF THE KENTS

GERMAN TRIBUTE "BRAVE, GOD-LIKE FOOLS Every British heart should heat higher when it reads the following opinion of a German officer who took part in the battlo of Neuve Chapelle on tho new British Army in France. The opinion has been communicated to the Now York papers by Mr. Herbert Corey, a correspondent who is with the German Army in France. Mr. Corey states tliat tho battle of Neuve Chapelle is- still xlie topic of constant conversation among tho Germans. '"There were two lessons to bo learn-, od from that engagement," his officer friend said. "The first was that an entrenched position can be taken if the price is paid for it. The second was a bit of a surprise for us. It was that tho now Englishmen are bettor than the old Englishmen. We had not expected that." 'Die Germans believed, incredible as it may seem, that the "new English" consisted of raw, undisciplined, guttersnipes. After •explaining this, Mr. Corey proceeds: "They are fine young fellows," said the German officer who had watched them in action. He spoke with the accent of a man skilled in. judging men. "These men who charged us at Neuve Chapelle were not gutter-snipes. They wero not slum sweepings, but the best blood in England." He said he saw their faces both in the fight, as prisoners, and as they lay dead on the field. ■ "They 'were lean, full-templed, longjawed men those who went first under that hellish fire," he spid, "youngsters for the most part, men who looked as though" tlioy were sons of good fathers or City clerks or boys who had played in tho open air." Ho was enthusiastic about them. "Let me tell you of one thing I saw," said he. It was the most wonderful deed I have ever heard of on any field." _ The _ officer's eyes woro nioisfc and .his voico was lowered and trembled as he spoke. " "I think it was tho West Kent Regiment, said he. "They charged across an open field against ps. Our firo was as though we were playing a stream of bullets upon them.. As they came across that open space cheering nud waving their rifles I co.uld' see men stumbling and falling forward on their faces and dropping sideways. Gaps wero opened in their line -so that I can remember seeing the landscape at tho back of "thorn. But tho gaps were always closed.". i 1 ' "Brave, Cod-llke Fools." Tho Englishmen 'took cover at last, having gained tho last possiblo inch, but they were hopelessly exposed. They could not ; get forward and could not stay. - Finally the order came to fall back. ■ "They had a hundred yards to go," said the German officer with a quivering voice, • "and What do you think those brave, god-liko fools did? Instead of crawling back, as the men ofany other nation would have done—as trained' soldiers are told to do—they ros'o on their feet and walked back —n'o, by Heaven, they ■ strolled back. They stopped to light cigarettes ; and .they pinkefJt up their wounded and carried them home. Thoy wero cut down 'by the score, but they did not hurry their pace." Tho officer continued: "You cannot imagine what that first English firo was at Neuve Chapelle. It burst upon us like a sudden storm in the early morning/ -We did not know they had concentrated : their artillery on our front. . Now we find from their own papers that they had more , than 350 guns upon a front 'of two thousand yards. That is at the rat© of one gun for evory six yards. : It is not possible to jam them any closer, as the servers need elbow-room. "The clamour was maddening. It beat my temples as though with • a hammer. I did not think at all of the danger I was in! .1 prayed that this hellish noise-would cease. There ! was oho inasked Gorman battery. almost'in the cdntre'of the arc,of the British firo. It replied, of course. Wo always do reply. Under -^he-swift flow of that cannonading concealment was simply washed away. ' "The men at the battery were killed. One gun waq struck fairjy on the side by a heavy shcjll and thrown high into tho air. The captain, of the battery, one officer alone, lived. The remaining men" continued to servo the single gun that-was left. - "Tho most accurate torrent of the English fire was turned against them. Earth was'spurted, into the air on all .'sides, but by\one of those miracles that recur in war they were untouched. It seemed to me as if tho English guns must be white hot. There wero 110 •longer any breaks in that awful chorus. "Two of the team remaining looked at each other and smiled. > I saw this through my glasses. The next moment, even as I watched, there was only one man at the gun. Jle worked 011. but slowly there was a black patch ,on his blouse, and then he suddenly sat down upon the ground and turned over." '