THE MAN WHO SAVED THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1918, Page 3

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE EMPIRE.

THE MOST .UOMEXTOt.'S kvent OK TIIK WAR. TllUJi STORY Of THE BATTLE oi' THE MARXE. (I'y Edgar Wallace). It is given to very few men to bear in history the proud title of ''Saviour of his Country.' We might perhaps -ay thi-; of Sir Francis Drake, who. in the critical hour of lii:< country's fortune, aided by extraordinary climatic conditions, destroyed the Armada and i'reed England from the greatest menace which had ever cnifronted 'her. We might perhaps say the same of Xelson in difl'ercnt circumstances, and to a degree of Wellington; yet we know behind the deck of those groat commanders; and overlain with the story of the complete accomplishment, were valorous acts of men unknown to history whose initiative and "cuius made these national victories, possible. We sometimes ask wonderiugly why the Herman did Hot win in the first year of the wat., when he 'had all the advantage; of numbers and equipment, when he had superior mas-es of artillery, and when lie was organised more perfectly than any army had been that ever took the fioM. And even if we can find some explanati.-Yn as to why he failed on the Maine. it is yet difficult to understand why lie did not. wifli the powerful forces under his control, sweep through Ypres and establish himself on the coast. MIDLANDERS' UXDYTNO Of.ORY. The explanation of hi s failure is to be found in the gonitis of one man and the valor and splendid discipline of one battalion. Many regiments of extraorditiarv bravery contributed to his defeat. The old Army, and particularly the Ist and the 7th Divisions, accomplished miracles: but there was one battalion of Midlanders who struck at 'the crucial moment and whose success turned what might have been a rout, and would have certainly been a disaster, into a German defeat.

Who, then, was the man whr saved England?

Some middle-.'j-ed rej.ders will lemember an incident i» the Boer War, which, because it occurred at tlie outbreak of hostilities, will be recalled when other and more significant actions have faded from the memory. I WM „ mv way to the front in South Africa when I was handed at De Aar a newspaper telegraphic despatch describing this singularly gallant little act. An armored train operating from Mafeking had gone out ngainst the Boers and had got into difficulties. I believe there_ was a derailment, and things were going badly for the devoted cre\Y of the train, when a gallant little patty made a sortie from under the leadership 'of an officer named Pitz-Clarence. THE SALIENT ABOUT GHELUVELT. FitzClarenee And" his party of fifty men extricated the train from its position, fought oft" the attacks of the enemy, and brought the train in triumph to the beleaguered- town. It wa-; this same FiUCtarenco who, on October 31, 1014, commandeered a battalion which was not in his brigade, not even in his division, and employed it to such purpose that tlie Germans' irresistible advance was checked and held. .On that date we were falling back- under the superior pressure of the enemy toward Ypres. On the very ground where Sir 'Douglas Haig'a gallant soldiers are now repaying the Germans with terrihle interest for all tliev suffered in 1914 .the battered Ist and 7th Divisions were holding up the attack of 80,000 picked troops of the German army. They were astride of the Menin road. The juncture of tlie Ist Division and the 7th was to the of that road ,and a little to the north of the village of Gheluvelt, whilst on flic right of the ,7th Division was the 3rd Cavalry Brigade. Against the latter, whose centre was the ridge of Zandvoorae, the enemy directed the fiercest of his attacks, and under a hail of fire which decimated the splendid cavalry regiments of the British army our men were pressed back. This retireent Jeft the right of the 7th Division 'ln the air." That is to say, there was n big gap of more than a mile bet veen the left of tlie broken cavalry and the right of the 7th, and in consequence the 7th Division was compelled to 'living back its right-and seek a junction with the eavalrv. This left a very sharp salient about Gheluvelt. and the enemy lost no time in taking advantage of the situation which was created. Naturally he pushed his heaviest attacks against the unsupported right of the 7th Division. Which was pressed 'buck to the Klein Zillebeke ridge, and the 2nd Scots Fusiliers, which formed the left of the line, iiieng annihilated- / WHAT THE LOSS 05 GHELUVELT MEANT. At the same time he sent a furious attack against Gheluvelt. Reckless of death, the German units came wave after wave, supported by an unprecedented artillery bombardment, and the line before Gheluvelt was crushed. It was ii case of "Save who can/' and the remnants oi the Ist Division began to straggle hack, leaving only the South Wales Borderers to hold tlie enemy in check. It was a moment for a supreme decision, and the mat; who could have made that Hecision was naturally the general oftieer commanding the Ist Division, General Lomsi.v.

!?v out oi tnose terrible coincidences which occ'.Vi in all battles, nnd cor,iteven to human beings when luck is against then-, ills disaster of the broken line was followed by yet naother. Lomax ariu his staff, standing by tlieii headquarters and viewing the distant battk, were destroyed 'bv the bursting o," a Gorman shell. Not only the general and his si:, l staff officers were killed, but Oewral Muiiro, who commanded tht 2nd Division, was struck down and remained unconscious for an hour. Til® F.RENCH COAST IN PE3IL. So here we had this remarkable situation. We had been driven one oi Gheluvelt, ot.- iine was broken, c, victorious enernv wav advancing with perilous rapidity in such a direction that he could not fail to smash in between tlse armies c;.the north and the armies ci the south, iarnl <;? the two men who could have directed the operations r.-.ie v/as dead and | tli.- other whs imconsei&w;.

Cot tTioro be no mistaking this fact, that the loss of Ghcluvelt meant the loss of the French coast. The Germans would uave been established als Calais, and the raids which w<> are now experiencing would hr.ve been of daily occurrence throughout 101.=: and lfllfi. 'The whole of the Belgian army would have "Keen cut oil' itiid captured. The Ist Corps and the 2nd Corp., •jouTil not possibly have extricated themselves, and if the Fermans had gone another mile the liriUsli Ejtpuii-

t ion,try Force would hem practically wiped mil of existence. ■THE OEIiMAX Kt'Sli STOPPED. And 1 lion a miracle happened. Marshal French mid Sir Douglas llnig. lmrrviiig: to ill.' scene ut Iho l'ntlh\ knowing no more than that tho worst timl r<mld possibly happen wa.; a fact, an.l thai: 'Jiitdtivi'll. "an cxtrcnu'ly import.! nl ali\Up«i« point, had been taken i>v the enemy," prepared, as I say, tor the most momentous, the nioct terrible disaster that had ever overtaken a British army, were thunderstruck by the receipt of the news that, the Herman rush hail been stopped, am! t'hiit Hhcluve't had been retaken 1(V fhe British One does not doubt that Field-Xfarslml Viscount French coi-ld not believe the good news. and yet it wan true.

FiizCiavenee was a Brigadicr-Oenoral commanding the Ist Hoards' Brigade, lie had watched the disaster near at hand, and bad seen hi". ,splendid force overwhelmed, and then he had sent in hi? la'it reserves, t'aough be must bavp thought that it was humanly impossible to save the day. And when bis last reserves had Eone be mounted his horse and rode calmly tin toward Ghcluvelt to sharp tils fate of bis brigade. Tie was a man who knew no fear. Tie wore the Victoria Cross, which be had earned three times over in South Africa; hut. with his fearlessness he had the intuition of a great commander. A BRAVE SOLDIER'S DECISION*. Tic discovered before he had gone far that there was another battalion'waiting in reserve to the south of Polygon Wood This was the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. It was not in his brigade, and technically he had no right to issue any orders without consulting the ( Brigadier. " Ho sent for, the commanding officer. Colonel Tlaiikey, and told him What he intended doing. Colonel Ilankev was naturally reluctant. He was at the disposal of his own brigadier, and it might bo that the division to which 'lie was attached would require the reserves which his battalion represented. .But he saluted and turned hack to his battalion, and in a few minutes the 2nd Worcestershire Regiment was inarching forward under a terrific cannonade and deploying so close to the enemy's "position that they left over a hundred men between their deployment and their occupation c; tlic ftrat trench. THE FAME OF FITZCLAREXCE.With a dash which had never been surpassed with a steadfastness beyond all praise, the went forward in the face of death and carried with their bayonets the defences o£ the village, fighting from bouse to house in one of the most bloody engagements of the war, and established themselves on the ground whence the British Army had been driven.

It was the most fateful counter-attack in the war, and it was carried out by about 800 men; but mark the consequence-! Th* gap was filled. The left of the 7th Division came back to its original position and the breach which -had existed between the 7th and the Ist was made good. , By ten o'clock that night we had recovered all the ground we had lost in the morning, and the Kajser, who himself was on the battlefield and had comedown in the firm belief that a road would he made for him to Calais itself, went back to headquarters a sick and disappointed man.

It i 3 perhaps difficult to malce the nonmilitary reader appreciate the significance of individual .actions. There is apparently no difference between the talcing of ono village and the taking of another, and the consequence of our failure to hold one seems fraught with no greater danger tTiaii our failure to hold a village at spme other part of the line. But because the British are more of a military people than the Germans, I do r-ot think that you at home can fail to recqnnire what you owe to this man and this battalion.

FitzOlarence is dead. He fell like the hero ho was and as Tie would have him- ' elf desired, at the head of the Ist Irish Guards on the night of November 11 eleven days after he had saved the line iji'l long before a confessed public opinion could apportion him the praise which Was his due.

Hii name should be enshrined in every heart and in every home. He should hike his place with the greatest figures of. the war: with Smith-Dorrien, whose ivonderful aetipn at l.e Catcall, preserved the British Expeditionary Force; with Haig, who ,-iaved us from disaster at restuhcrt; y/ith the great men of all ranks who have cheerfully made the supreme sacrifice for Britain and her people.