BAYONET TO BAYONET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 291, 18 May 1915, Page 7

BAYONET TO BAYONET.

GCABBS' FINF WORK. , ,\:i «.;■:.-€ i- :,;. the front, who has sent 'ill Ms i:! 1.0ed.: ii yo-ti. II 1)1' his , liiirv. writ.-.,: - 1 I :i:n trving (o re-101l some .if the exI peri, -nccs of inv suklior.-rrvant, a'private in tlic Coldstream Guards, who fought from Mulls to Ypies. li.' was wounded in I hive places, daring tiiir attack li.v the I'm.,skin Guard, lli' has told me of many little incidcnls in tlic retreat ami afterwards, ami of being in hospital for a, few .lavs after being buried alive by the earth ihrov.n up he an exploding "coal-box"; bill I shall only try to give a- fev ~!' his storied T oidv wish 1 could .lo so in his own words and phrases, "In tlk' pari, of their line north of the Aisno, which was opposite, the Coldstreams' treneii. tiie Germans one night lessened the, monotony of lighting liy means of one of their national brass bands. Tliuy annoyed our men liy singing their own National Antliem, which has, unfortunately, tlie same time as ours. This, together with the possibility of (hiding the German sentries taking part in the choruses, 'persuaded a Coldstream subaltern (one of the only two oliicers left to the battalion) to go out to reconnoitre their trenches. He did this with sue!) success that lie ordered his company to parade at 7 o'clock next evening, two platoons armed with rilles ami bayonets, and the other two carrying nicks and shovels, so as to be able to fill in the Clerman trenches. It was still too light at 7. so they parade:! again at !), and moved silently oil' tnrough the narrow gap in the wire entanglement in front of them. They crawled forward towards the German trenches, whose loopholes, with the lights behind them, looked like tho portholes of a ship by night. 'No alarm was given, and when about a yard from the parapet the officer gave the arranged signal to charge. He, touched the man next to him, who 'passed it on until it came to the last man. '['his man then stood up, and the whole leapt forward with a shout. The Hermans in the bottom of the trenches could do nothing. "They were like pigs in a boiler," my story-teller 'told me, and . they were stabbed form above as fast as tliey tried to get out. The parapet was being destroyed and the trench filled up when the German supports coun-ter-attacked Men left behind stood at, the gap shouting, "This way the Coldstream Guards," and they got back with very slifdit losses The result was n D.RO. for the olliccr and a V.C. for one N.C.O. The men were inspected and congratulated by the general. His description of the charge of the Prussian Guard was rot verv full, ■as j he was wounded in three places, and did not see the end of it. In the evening there was a light mist, which favored the grey clothing of the. Germans, who crept up to within a few yards of the trenches. This had been remarkably well done, for they had avoided the listening posts in front of the trenches without disturbing them at all. and by night a man in a dangerous position is far more likely to hear too much than too little. Had they got a little further unseen they could have caught our men from above with almost no chance of escape. But a. clost watch was being Jcept, and a rapid fire was brought on to them, which drove them back. Again and again through the night the, Germans advanced , to the attack, but were driven hack. | The reserves they brought up fared no better. Our men wee told to get out and lie down behind their trendies, so that these would form an additional ob- | stacle to the enemy's rush. When the | latter came on, however," we leapt fnrI ward over the trench and met them | bayonet to bayonet, and so this hand-to-hand fighting went on through the day By the evening the Co.'dstreams had lost all their officers, and the remains of the ', battalion—s2 men—were commanded by a lance-sergeant. Their places were taken by the London Scottish. These, as is of course well known, continued the fight, and by midnight the German attack had completely failed.