The Washington herald., 1919-04-20
The Untold Agony Of the War
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blast of machine gun fire. Some
Of the white smocks fell and did
not rise from the mantle of snow
in which they lay still But like
Arctic wolves the Gordons reached
the Butte, 'roved around the en-
trance Of dug-outs and tunnels in
which q company of Germans
were living. They refused to come
out-all except a dozen. who came
up scared almost out Of their wits.
The Nightgown The others stayed
Raid of the below and bombs
Gordons. were thrown to
them. Th ir
fumes appeared from the mouths
OF these pits and flames shed a
red glare over No cans Land.
In the dug-outs of the Butte of
warlencourt a whole company of
Germans were being burnt alive.
and when the Gordons came back
the laughter had gone out Of their
white smocks. In individual acts
OF heroic folly thero were thou
sands of instances, such as when
single men of ours went forward
to German machine gun nests and
routed their gun teams by the pas
sion Of their lone attack. In the
battles Of Flanders when a COM
pany OF Somerset Light Infantry
had surrounded a German pill
box" or concrete block house and
turned their trench-mortars upon
1t without smashing its strong
thick walls. a young officer ran
forward and banged with his bare
hands in the steel doors. shouting:
Come out, you blighters. Come
OUT" One machine gun bullet
would have ended this heroic folly
forever But one of the steel doors
opened and a crowd Of Germans.
forty-two of them, filed out with
their hands up in surrender. That
was the spirit of the individual,
and that was the spirit of the
British armies-and sometimes
some of us wished it were not so,
because of the needless loss of men.
For the Individual 1t was splendid.
but It wasn't the best quality of
generalship.
Looking back now upon the long
agony of our men II seems to
many OF us that II was nothing
but heroic folly which made US
cling on for years to the old
Ypres salient after the first
and second Battle of Ypres.
We should have fallen back
further and avoided that hideous
bulge or salient between Ypres and
Armentieres where from their out
er line on the ridges around. the
enemy could fire upon our men
from three sides and even shoot
them in the back. 1t Is impossible
to say what numbers OF lives were
sacrificed by holding this position,
from sheer pride and sentiment,
but all our English. Irish. Scottish.
Welsh and Canadian divisions took
their turn in that Salient OF Death
year after year, and suffered enor-
nous losses by being slashed TO
pieces as they marched up the
roads, by being buried in the ruins
of Ypres, and in their dug-outs
along the canal bank at Hoogs.
and Zellebeke, and by being blown
to pieces in the holes along the
canal bank.
Tommy Another Of our heroic
Preferred follies was the lack
Danger to of strong defensive
Digging. positions behind our
first and second trench
systems. The British soldier was
a great fighter. but a bad digger.
and neither our dug-outs nor our
trenches could compare in safety
of shelter with those Of the enemy
beyond. Tommy preferred the risk
of death to the labor OF earth
works. And 1t was up to his conf
manding officer to keep him busy.
by strict discipline, at this side OF
the job. But our generals were be-
witched with the idea, from the
very early days. that elaborate
defensive systems. deep and COM
plicated tunnelling and shell-proof
dug-outs, were hardly necessary
because the British armies were
going to move forward and turn
the enemy out of Belgium and
France. They did. but for two
years the lines were almost sta
tionary. and afterwards they
moved backwards, now and then,
rs well as forward. Neglect of re-
serve lines and absence of head
~ -
British youth. due to the undying
optimism of the British spirit and
character which was our weakness
as well as our strength. This
optimism was shown many times
by the attempted use of cavalry
In front Of trench systems which
were impossible ground for mount
ed troops. The night before the
first of the battle of the Somme,
in July, 1918, 3. mass of cavalry
was concentrated behind our lines
near Fricourt, and ! well remem-
ber passing our Indian cavalry
that night at a place called the
Moulin Vivier. They sat in their
saddles with their lances rising
above their steel casques, like
statues carved out of bronze in the
darkness which was illumined by
little points of light where our
infantry soldiers marching up to
the battle ground on which so many
OF them fell at dawn, smoked
cigarettes or lighted them. 1t was
a wonderful optimism to believe
that our victory would be so great
that next day We should have
smashed the enemy back through
a maze of trenches, twenty miles
deep. and that We should 20 round