STUPENDOUS GALLANTRY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 669, 16 May 1914, Page 2

STUPENDOUS GALLANTRY.

The landing of the British Army in Egypt on March 8, 1801, was a. tremendous piece of gallantry, it being done in face , of a great French army, which waited with artillery, behind fortificatioKs, ready to sweep tha disembarking British into eternity. As the boats containing the soldiers approached tha shore many were sunk by shot and shell. Sir Ralph Abercromby was in the barge of the' Kent, the flagship* and as he saw his soldiers drowniag before his eyes he desired the officer in charge of the barge to place him in frasnt of the fire. "I command you, sir," said the veteran. '"My personal safety is nothing compared with the national ddsgrace of the boa,ts turning back. Example is needful in this tremendous fire, whkih exceeds all I ever saw." The lieutenant in eommand of the barge said that he had the orders of Sir Richard B'ic|k:erton not to expose the general unnecessarily to ftre, or land him until the second division were on shore. Sir Ralph,, in great agitation again ordered the officer to put him in front, and was met by that officer respectively declaring that he "'would obey the orders of his admiral alone." The old general then made an! attempt to- jump overboard, saying, "'Without some striking example, human nature could not face such a fire*" The sea was being literally ploughed up by mus-ket-balls, making a spray that sometimes even, hid the boats from view. Most of the boats succeeded at last in reaching the shore, and, with a stirring cheer, the British soldiers leaped on the beach, and were at once engaged! with the bayonet among the enemy. One of the first regiments to land was the 42nd Foot, which, led by Sir John Moore, of Corunna fame, carried all in front of it by a gallant bayonet charge. The ensmy never recovered from this surprise, and that night the British Army camped on their first line of defence.