The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-09

writer Of this thrilling story, h;
spending two years and four m
ing that period paddy was SCI
other and kept the Germans on
On one occasion he struck a
ing him. Later, rebelling at the
forced to work in a mine, he, b!
plain in this series, brought abe
From the first he made ur
times attempted to get away be:
My experience of actual warfare is
very little. In fact had barely been
in France a week before I fell into the
hands of the Huns.
My battalion of the Durhams was
billeted at small village in Northern
France in April, 1915, when we re-
ceived orders at midday that the AL
gerians had been pushed back and
that we had to Immediately go for
ward and try to stem the ove1Whelm-
ing tide of Germans.
At six O. clock on the Saturday night
we marched through Ypres under
heavy shell fire, and 1 may tell you
we saw some CHASTITY sights on the
roadside. On the way we met the
Algerians, who had been forced to re-
tire owing to the gas which the Huns
had sent over. Poor fellows! They
were in an awful state.
That is now, of course, matter of
history that in thi8, the first battle of
Ypres, the Huns initiated the use of
poisonous gas, and it was so devilish
that there can be no wonder that the
Algerians fell back before it.
When we arrived on the scene we
found that the gallant Canadians were
left uncovered on their left. Our sta
ton, therefore, was to fill up the gap.
There were no communication trench
es, and we had to take up the posi-
ton vacated by the Algerians by 60
ing over the open ground.
Old Fashioned Guns
On getting into our trenches, which
however, were of very little protection
owing to the horrid manner in which
they had been thrown up, we were told
that the Canadians had had no relief
Germans had hurled every kind of
shell over that Krupps could put out.
The Canadians fought that day like
tigers. Drawer men I have never seen.
Time and again the Germans tried to
break through, but the Faithful Dur
hams and their Colonial comrades
threw them back.
Our men were being killed right and
| left. The trenches were battered to
smithereens, and in some cases the
dead bodies of German and British
soldiers were piled up in front of US,
and we fired from behind them.
! When our officers saw that we were
lost, I was instructed to take a mes
sage to Canadian officer on our
right appealing for achievements. On
arriving there however, I found that
! he had lost every man but ten out OF
his two companies.
| When I got back to my own COM
pany found my officer had been laid
low so I reported myself to a Cana
dian officer who had come over tC
take charge of our depleted forces.
The Germans were now almost or
top of us, but we still fought on
Then they got through and we were
lost. We had done our best, and il
we had failed, well, it was gloriou:
failure.
But from what have since discov
cred we did not fail, for though thu
Canadians and the Durhams fought tt
the bitter end, we had held out quite
tions behind.
ChivaIrous German Officer
Among those who captured US wa
a German officer who was a rea
white man."s Mark you, I am no
fond of Germans, but I must give GREG
it where it is due.
It is a we'll known fact that Their
is no love lost between Canadians an
Germans, and they hate each othe
like poison, but in this instance on
German, at any rate, paid an I'm
grudging tribute to the Canadians.
When the Germans entered GU
trenches they behaved like fiends
They used the bayonet on helpless in
jured men, and 1 fear we would hav
: met with a like fate but for the ar
rival on the scene of one of their OF
ficers who possessed the heart of
gentleman.
When the Canadian officer ar
preached him the German office
t came forward with outstretched han(
and gripping the hand of the Cana
dian said:
81 am proud to meet such a brav
man as you"
His men, however, were as wild a
| savages, and could hardly be restrain
ed. One German, in fact, deliberate
, bayoneted a wounded CanadiSS, bl
! he had hardly done so before he wa
felled by his officer.
The German officer was certainl
: not mistaken when he called the car
Il tured Canadian a brave man, for
q well deserved the honor, if to be cor
y y graduated by a German is an homo
I This Colonial officer had time an
again exposed himself, and his tunl
y was cut to ribbons. Strange to sa,
II however, he had escaped serior
5 wounds though it could be plainl
) seen that he had sustained numeror
flesh wounds.
We did not feel safe in the hands {
" the Germans. VINO cursed US in thei
own language and told US what the
were going to do with the British. NJ
l. content with their curses, they {
9 times held their bayonets across OF
Threats and threatened to do US in
Canadians Crucified
Then a remarkable thing happene,
kAa one of the rnen was gesturi1g i