COLDSTREAMS IN BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 155, 26 November 1914, Page 6

COLDSTREAMS IN BATTLE.

COVERING THE RETREAT. ' ALL-NIGHT FIGHTING. j GERMAN STRATAGEM FAILS. j A thrilling story of the narrow escape I from annihilation of a battalion of Cold- j stream Guards, who by their brave re- < sistance saved n division of British ' troops, is told by Corporal Schoks, l'ri- i vate White, and Private Shaw, of the | 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, who ; are in a Midlcsbrough hospital. | It was during the retreat from ilons i against overwhelming forces of the j enemy tliat the action took place. The i 3 ill Coldstream Guards, situated in the I town of Laiulrecies, were told off to I guard the rear of a British division, | wheih was attempting to escape from '• the German enveloping movement. It ' was a position of the utmost importance. ! Private White stated that word was j received from a French ollicer that a body of French troops might be expected during the night. "True enough," said White, 'troops did come, but they were not French. They were' Gorman. The ! British force was resting when we first j perceived them in the distance, but, an- 1 ticipating French, we. were not undlllv alarmed. A reconnoitring party wont ! forward, and the officer in command issued a challenge to the advancing men, who were, dressed in French uniforms. J An Answer was returned in French, but 5 the interpreter with the British did not j like the accent, and asked the ollicer to give the challenge once more. This lie | did and was immediately knocked oil' his j feet by the foremost 'Frenchman' into a 1 pond of water." I It was now evident that a trap had j been prepared for the British, and the order was given for three rounds of rapid | liring. The Germans at once replied | with big guns, which thoy had paced in position, and the engagement was now in full swing, The British stretched I themselves across the roail which lay in ! the path of the oncoming forces, and, supported by the. four machine guns with rows of infantry lying, kneeling and standing behind, poured into them a uleadly fire. "The Germans," continued White, "were in tremendous numbers, easily sufficient to swamp us. We hail chosen the position very carefully, and our Hanks were protected by barbed-wire defences. The enemy suffered (fearful losses along that narrow strip of road 20 yards wide, but they never relaxed their efforts to take the place by storm. So fierce was the fighting that the Germans did manage once to capture one of our machine guns but they did not keep it long. We soon had it back. Rush after rush came during the long watches I of the night, but our lads held fast. The I German big guns were proving very trou- 1 blesome—one of them in particular—and i the order came to one of the machinegunners to try to scrap it. 'Yes, sir, | what range?' 'Four hundred yards,' , came the reply. The gunner adapted his j machine and let drive. One shot was suf- i ] ficient. It got the German gun right in i the breach." I)

All through the night the engagement proceeded. It really seemed at one point that the gallant little band must "withdraw, but. tlie majur rallied them finely. ''For God's sake, boys, don't retire; come on up," "and so," said White, "we would not let them get by." There was one incident of German duplicity which took place in this engagement, and is vouched for by all three men who told the story of the light. A soldier in iFrench uniform approached a machinegunner named liobson, and with a word of greeting took him by tiie hand. The next moment the Britisher's stomach had been ripped open by a bayonet thrust, but the Gorman guilty of this dastardly trick did not come oil' scathless. Kobson happened to have his hand at the gun at the time he was stabbed, and in an instant the German was riddled with bullets, both men being killed. ! Such was the manner in which a huge ' German force was held up by a eompara- j tive handful of British soldiers, while j their main body yas able to extricate itself from a most precarious position. "We saved a whole division that night," proudly remarked White, '•'but we saved ourselves by the interpreter. If it had not been for him we should have been wiped out. As it was, the battalion lost the very small number of 150 men dux- , ing the terrible night, while the Germans were piled in heaps before them. A medical corps man said that the German Josses were about 1500. Though this was I their most severe engagement, the Cold- j streams had many still' fights.