The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-22


 Han Armies During the Great Retreat) river. With the bayonet they charged
 the enemy, who fought with the cour-
 age of desperation. In the struggle that followed men forgot everything but their determination to conquer, and they wrestled and struggled with each other until in their excitement
 in many cases they fell in the river locked in the deadly embrace of com batantS, and were carried down stream. Ultimately the enemy were thrown back and the Italians held on until they were relieved the next day. By then the two hundred tatteCed scarecrows that I saw marching back were all that remained of the three
 battalions originally sent to hold the line
 British Officer Saves Situation
 The Italians are ready to acknow- ledge their debt to our men and also to our women. It would be impos- slble to overpraise the courage of some
 of our artillerymen and nursing de- tachments. From an Italian officer of high rank I heard the story, told with bated breath, of a British bat l tery under the command of young ster who had only arrived from Wool
 wich the week before.
 This battery was engaged in cover ing the Italian retreat towards the Pi-
 ave line. The enemy were pressing
 hard and the retirement was likely ru
 become a debacle, owing to the fact
 that the Austrians had stolen a march
 on the Italians and were on the point 1 of turning their flank. Between the
 Italians and disaster there only inter-
 posed this British battery, under it's
 inexperienced commander, for the rest
 of the officers had been killed in the
 first desperate fight.
 The youngster went tn the Itarian general covering the retirement and said that he thought there was just a sporting chance of holding up the
 blighters."
 l The Italian general looked at the
 would-be- -holder-up of the "blighters''
 and drowned severely on the strip ling who thought he could do what had never been done before in the his tory of any war. The stripling stood the scrutiny unconcerned and as the position was really desperate, the Ital- ian commander agreed to the holding up.
 The youngster had his guns moved up to the best available positions, and
 with a thick screen of Italian infanery
 and cavalry to hide him from too ob-
 servant enemies, he barred the ad-
 vance of the enemy, who now cencen- trated every available gun on the Bri- tish battery.
 In the heights of the action the young commander was wounded. He
 had his men move him into a position
 where he could observe and give or
 ders with the minimum of pain to
 himself, and in the, anxious hours that followed the wounded youngster re-
 mained at his post. It was in vain
 that the enemy threw their masses
 against the improvised position. They
 were always moved down under the
 fire from the guns directed by the
 wounded hero, and the remnants ot
 the Italian army were withdrawn un-
 der the eyes of the foe, who ha6
 counted on securing a crowning tri.
 umph in this stage of the fight. The most desperate phase of the battle was reached when it became necessary to move back the guns tha' had played such a great part in the ! struggle.
 The foe kept pressing harder thar ever, and rained shell-fire o.l the re firing gun teams. Propped up on { gun carriage, supported by two of hi men. and smoking a cigarette, tht ' young officer remained in charge tt
 the end, giving the orders and i'm pressing something of his own sub lime coolness on his men. Never dit the enemy improve their position They were always kept at the sam' distance, and every time they tried t. ! get nearer they found those deadl. guns raining death on them.
 ] After terrible journey, fightin!
 day and night, the battery reached tn Italian line just beyond the Taglia t mento, and the first man to gree = the victorious commander of the bat tery was the Italian general who hat
 thought the youngster so presumption '' in imagining that battery could holt . in check a pursuing army. He rush ed forward and embraced the lad il 5 the presence of his army, and whel K the wounded hero passed through tn 5 Italian lines he was cheered by tn Il lines of enthusiastic men who realize e how much they owed to the splendi e courage of this young hero at tn | most critical stage of the retreat. II British Nurses Heroism f Now for story of our brave nurses r. There is one girl with whom I hay - served in Serbia. She is not yet 2( n She found herself in charge of a con e voy of wounded and sick in critica q stage of the retreat. The enemy wer s. shelling the convoy all the way, an IT panic was inevitable. That girl too IS command with firmness that put t e shame all who thought of flight. Tn r. convoy moved steadily on, the gil l. herself bringing up the rear and show h ing not the slightest emotion wit n shells bursting within a few yards ( G where she was riding.
 2 Some of the men transporting tn ,f wagons were losing heart, and the l. threatened to abandon the convo, f., She went up to them and ordere Le them tc remain at their posts. The