BRITISH FACE THE ODDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 273, 28 April 1915, Page 7

BRITISH FACE THE ODDS.

GERMANS HURLED BACK. The story of the great battle of Yprcs has already been told in the Dnily News. One of its most thrilling incidents is nar- ■ rated by a British oflieer who took part in a desperate tussle in October, when •2-::l0 Britishers held the village of Ghcl.-.velt, on the road to Yprcs, against 24,000 Germans. Hastily constructed trenches in front of the village were manned by thinned battalions oi the Scots Guards, the South Wales Borderers and the Welsh and Queen's Regiments. There had been no time to ■perfect these poor defences against the artillery and rifle fire of the enemy, but every British soldier knew that the position had to be held at all costs, for once the line was broken there was nothing to stop the Huns' march on Calais. Reinforcements had been promised; the Worcesters were on their way, but even then the odds would be nine to one.

From long before dawn the battle raged. The German artillery searched the British trench from end to end, and shelled the Chateau of Gheluvelt, where the battalion commanders were quartered, causing their hasty removal to a dug-out in the chateau grounds. Men fell, not by ones and twos, but by draens and half-dozens, but those who survived nere as steady as if on parade. There was no random Tiring.

Tho officers, careless as usual of their own safety, ceaselessly patrolled the position from end to end, cheering and encouraging their men. Many fell, and those who could scramble to their feet again, making light of their injuries, but many had fallen for all time, and had, perforce, to lie where they fell. At last the shelling ceased, and there was a stir in the German ranks. They were about to charge. Now- the British knew that the time of their inactivity was passed. Now they could take toll of the enemy—avenge" their comrades who lay stark and still' around them. The machine-gunners looked to their weapons; there must be no hitch, no jam when the moment came. And so the Germans charged. On they came, without fuss and without ilurry, only to be mown down in thousands by rifle and gun. One moment there was a solid advancing mass of Germans, and the next there was still a mass of Germans, but they were farther away, while between them and the British was a carpet of grey, heaps. Again the Germans came on, climbing and stumbling over those grey heaps—those heaps which but a few moments befor.e were the leaders of the advancing host. The carpet became thicker, but no living enemy reached that lead-spurting trench, and at last the Kaiser's soldiers fell back to cover.

The British held their line, but at terrific cost, scores lay dead, and there was scarcely an unwouuded man in the whole long line of trench. The Wclsi. Regiment in the centre had suffered heavily. Reinforcements from the scant reserve behind the chateau were hurried into the trench, and then the German shelling commenced all over again. The day wore on, men fell left and right, and as yet there was no sign of the Worcester* Regiment.. Towards dusk the Germans could be seen massing for another attack, and the British troops prepared for a final stand; there were no more reserves, and if the Germans but persisted in their attack nothing could stop them. | The shelling redoubled in fury, and then came the second attack. The full fury was directed at the centre of the line, ■ held by the Welsh Regiment. Horde upon horde of Germans pressed forward. Hundreds fell as they advanced, but where one fell two filled his place. Right up to the trench they came; right up and in. No quarter was given to the British. Savagely the Prussians stabbed about them. Bayonets were thrust into dead and living, and many an English soldier, but wounded by a. Prussian bullet, was murdered by a Prussian bayonet. On the left the Scots Guards still held their line, and on the right the Queen's were at bay, and before the enemy could advance they had first to deal with these gallant remnants of gallant regiments. But now the Worcesters had arrived.

The Englishmen were only three companies strong, but these scarce 500 men charged right through the shot-swept streets of Gheluvelt, right up to the lost trenches, almost into the heart of the German host; and the Germans turned and fled—fled when the odds at this moment were more than 20 to 1 in their favor, and fleeing lost for ever their chance of breaking through to Calais. Had they withstood that desperate charge, had they in turn borne down upon the Englishmen, sheer weight of numbers would have carried them through to tho Calais Road, But they fell back —back behind their original position, and were never again able to break the British line.

Of the 50(1 Worcesters who went to the charge, but 200 unwounded men answered to the roll when the field was won, and of the 2100 British soldiers hale and whole when morning broke, hut SOO lived to tell of that great fight.