FUSILIERS CUT OFF.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 165, 18 December 1914, Page 3

FUSILIERS CUT OFF.

DIVE OVER A BANK. I A private of the Royal Fusi'.'eri studs the following letter home:—"N\>xt morn- j ii:g we set off, and after'going nineteen j miles, came to a big town. We were told that it was Mons. We never thought what a never-to-be-forgotten place it was going to be, . . We halted neir the town about an hour, our reg'ment being in front. We could h?ar the sound of guns fired far away, and so I sanl to my chum, 'This is it!' "Then we went straight down past the bottom of the town, the Belgians cheering us as we went, but when we got to the bottom, were confronted with something we ruxcr thought of. Women, men, and children were running, screaming and shouting that the Germans were coining. We told tlu'in as best we could that it was all right and not to worry, and we inarched round tile corner singing, It's a Long Way to Tippcrary' at the top of our voices, "All of a aiiwjn, 'hang, bang, and in front there were eight Uhlans who had been scouting. The chaps in front had the pleasure of ec-oimting fo, - five, the other three es-ap'ng to take back the information. "After this we went on for another mile and a-half. We had forgotten all about feeling tired and dug trenches. . We were io hold the trenches at til rostf. and things began to tare a serious turn. It was then I and my chum tool: photographs wo had wit!, us from our pockets and looked long into the f ices of those we had left at Inme. Then we t'-olc out our small books ind mide oil. - wills, and then waited But nothing happened that night. 'After a rest we took up positions ■".long the railings, and there wo had to hold until we could bold no longer. In ?.\\ there were four regiments to hold 10,000 Germans. You never hea d such 'lunincny.' . . We were toi.'i f'.'.t ve had dene well, but at what cost! "Early v xt morning, we moved back three miles, and just as it was getting light, itj-started 'raining' again. Truly th. y are marvellous at finding where we are. We got behind a bun,:. My i ejiun said to me,'' They doe t mean to ! give us much rest.' I said, Wo, the bouidcrs. It's th;ir numbers that's Jo> in.; it.' Just then, we hiid the order to dig a long trench at the edge of a turnip field under shrapn I fir.;. But there was no shirking. We hud to do .t, and it was <;cnc. 'We had to retire again, and suddenly everything get into cjnfusion. All sorts of orders were given, our artillery vcre galley v away, ar.l our chaps seemed to ';•"■ f-<-ing in all directions. In the end we g)t on to a sort of plain when we saw no. -100 yards in front cf us hundreds of Germans coming across a ridge. "T thought it was our last day. I don't know how many times we wen: missed. We were in an awful position. To ntire, meant exposing ourselves more; to stay meant getting killed iv captured. Behind us was a wire railing, with a straight drop behind of 'lO to -10 loet. We made a dash for it, .i.id simply dived through. We picked up some more of our fellows, and were making across country, when a murdeoas the poured into ir? at 500 yds. Wo 'ay down and fired, and then got our ransacks ell and made a run for it, with th; Germans potting at es "