St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1918-01-09
AVENCES INJURY
TO BABY GIRL
Child Injured in German A;
Raid-British Captain
Later Gets Even
WITH THE BRITISH ARMIEs IN

o.
of the Associated Press)-The full
story of the heroism of British cap
tain who was so moved with hatred
of the Germans for Gripping his
child with a bomb, that he attacked
and killed eight Of them with club
and withstood sudden German on
slaught by his inspiring leadership,
has just been received. The tale has
made the captains name d pyword
of gallantry and bravery in the Brit
ish camp. Here are the facts:
When the Germans delivered their
tremendous assault against Mas
nieres and Marcoing during their
general offensive on November 30th,
those two towns and the territory
about them were being held by a
division Of English troops. On the
staff of the commanding general was
dashing captain who may be des-
ignated as Captain Black for the
purposes of this narrative. ..s
Black was q man of long service
and much beloved by all the troops
He had been q jovial companion ur1-
til recently, when during a German
air raid over England his baby girl
was crippled for life by bomb.
Black had become bitter against the
Germans and had sworn that he
would exact full penalty for the air
mans deed.
The captain little knew when he
turned in on the night Of the goth of
November how soon he would be
able to get his revenge. Next morn
ing the Germans attacked Masnieres
in force and the brigade to the right
of the troops holding the town was
forced to fall back. The brigade in
the town, however, stood firm and
fought the enemy off. Meanwhile
waves Of Germans had swept by to
the south of the town and were
sWarming westward
Captain Black came out of his
headquarters south of Marcoing to
find five Germans in possession of
great dump nearby So quickly
had the enemy advanced that this
was the first intimation that they
were nearby. Black had in his hand
heavy walking stick which was his
only weapon. Without a moments
alone and beat about him so fierce
ly that he Drained all five opponents
before they recovered from their sur
prise. He had made good his vow,
but his work was not finished =,
Other Germans appeared west of
Les Rues Verts, southern suburb of
Masnieres.. Black collected all the
signallers, cooks, orderlies and other
servants available, and with two
companies of regulars delivered an
attack towards RueS Vertes. The
Germans fell back and fierce hand
to-hand fighting followed. Black led
his little army from house to house
and as often as the Germans made a
stand he drove them out, until fin
ally the whole suburb had been
cleared with the exception of one
machine-gun whose crew of eight
men kept pumping bullets into the
British ranks.
Black charged this machinegun
with one orderly. Four other brave
orderlies had been shot down beside
him previously and this one also was
caught as the machine-gun was
reached Black then attacked the
Germans with revolver in each
hand and shot down the last man of
eight This cleared Rues Vertes of
the enemy and outpost were estab-
lished about the place. Black had
been wounded during the fighting,
but he held on to his command until
relief came next day.
This story is not the only one to
be related of that bitter day about
Masnieres A regiment which had
the stiffest part of the fighting in the
town was made up, of troops known
as die hards", and they fought all
day with rifles and bayonets at. close
quarters and never gave a step in
the face of a great onslaught made
against them. During the fighting
the colonel had been. wounded in one
eve and so serious was his Injury
that his other eye became useless.
His troops continued to be so hard
pressed that it seemed probable that
they would give way,
The colonel knew they needed all
the encouragement possible to enable
them to bear the awful strain. He
called for an orderly, and led by his
servant he started making round OF
the front line to speak words of en-
couragement to his troops. For hours
this blind man with bandaged eyes
kept up his tramp among his men
with his hand in that of his orderly
who was his only guide. This heroic
example was the final word for the
Tommies. They loved their colonel
and they stood and died for him and
held their line.
Masnieres produced another thrill
ing incident the next day. The Ger
mans renewed their attack and came
down in waves. Their assault at the
crossing at the canal bank was par
ticuiarIy fierce and the British. after
sustaining the shock for some time,
began to WAIVER and the general
rushed to the spot. He took a stand
III the midst Of his troops and rallied
them about him along the bank. lie
spoke to them with assurance and
pleaded that they he calm. The
Germans were sending forward an
other great wave of infantry.
It was then that the general u1l-
consciously echoed words of the fam
Gus order issued by an American
general at the battle of Bunker Hill
Steady men, steady. do not fire