The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-09-04

british line Of steel Ia not such easy
work as harRssing a countryside shorn
by murder OF its men folk.
German cavalry. estimated to un.
Der 5000 men, may have overwhelmed
a little British force OF 700 which was
hourly awaiting relief, but not before
Its own ranks had been sadly ihinned,
nor yet without having recourse to
the base expedicnt of mounting Quict
frers In Red Cross wagons.
Supporting Force Fats.
IL was not for the 700 to reason
why. The supporting force never ap.
peared, They just stood their ground
to a man, and It seems that only 300
remain, When all was lost there en-
sued ne sauve qut peut. Calmly har-
assing their pursucrs with a murder
Gus fire, all that was left OF them re.
treated with the wounded Of the CON
yoy intact.
1t Ia a simple story, q last stand one,
that should thrill every British heart.
On Wednesday morning British troops
had taken up a position slightly In the
rear OF the town censor forbids name
Of town. upon high ground. On the
extreme right Of IA sernicircular posi-
tIon were two high guns Of garrison
artillery.
AT first these found an excellent
range, dealing death by Wholesale TO
the invaders. who We're some miles
a anna rNl,ar, .nI.l A.. .4-.l- -
advance the range was lost toward
| p, m,
Position Becomes Critical.
The fight had begun at 1850 a, H..
The position became critical for the
heroic British defenders, As every
vital minute slipped by anxious eyes
looked back for the promised help
that var never to come,
Even at q terrible dIsadvantagC-at
least ten to one Infantry and artillery
mo artillery was holding It's own.
when hordes Of uhlnns seemed sudden
" to sweep down through the town.
They EalIopcd, with amazing d!sre-
gard for themselves, on TO the very
mu2zles Of the cnemy'B field guns,
There must have been 5000 OF them
here alone. A survivor tells me (the
correspondent:
The last ] saw was one OF utr off,
GERS holding u revolver IN either hand,
firing away, screened by the guns. He
alone must have accounted for a dozen
uhlAns. They were falling on all sides
OF him"
Towards 2 y, m. the 400 gallant sur
yivors. the majority of them wounded,
began to fall back. They reached Il
safe position by nightfall.
Keep Up Continuous Attack.
The uhlans kept up a continuous at.
tack, and at midnight two hostile air
men began dropping bombs on the
British camp, but fortunately without
causing It's destruction. Perhaps |
may be permitted to give verbatim the
following eloquent summing up from
a gunner who was shot In both legs:
They won't be so cockgure the next
time we give them hell"
have been able to gather details Of
severe engagements In which british
troops we're concerned, On Wednes-
day morning at 6 o'clock de]taChmentB
1000 strong b%lvouacked after a forced
march of II miles. Through lack Of
air scouts q am asked to emphasize
this point the exact position In the
n~eighborhood Of hostile troops In su
perior numbers was m~isjudged.
Leave Wall Of Dead.
Within an hour with the uhlans
leading the way, the Germans swarmed
down on our fatigued men, approach
ing within so yards With the quick
the British position, however
was strong, and the Germans we're .
pulsed, leaving a wall Of dead.
BY all accounts the German plan Of
campaign is being carried out regard
less Of human life. The German aftil-
lery fire is spoken Of as deadly, but
the infantry Is beneath contempt.
After repulsing attack after attack
and not suffering considerably, the
force was able to select and
save o base five miles distant. That
the attacking force was more or less
crippled Is clear, for they made no Cd
fort to follow up their opponents,
Lauds Conduct Of French.
An Amiens dispatch to the Daily
Chronicle says:
THE French retirement before the
German horde advancing from Namur
Jntua thn NaJiny" ~ the MaVua psa p. .
mastery. The Germans won their way
1t q cost In human life as great as In
yet they won their way.
For France that retirement IL as
a story as anything In her
1t was nearly a fortnight ago that
he Germans began concentrating
heir heaviest forces on Namur, press
southwards oyer the Mouse valley.
after the battle OF Dinant the French
lrmy was heavily outnumbered and
back gradually in order to gain
line for reinforcement to come To
Is support.
THE French artillery was posted on
he heights above the river and swept
he advancing Germans with a storm
il fire. On the right bank the French
was intrenched. supported by
Ield guns and mitrailleuses. The In
antry did deadly work, holding the po-
itions with great tenacity and drop
ing back only TO occupy new posi-
Ions Just as d~oggedly.
THE fighting extended for a consid-
rable distance on both sides OF the
ieuse, and many side line engage