The Washington herald., 1919-03-30

knowledge of this danger by hearing
the rattle OF German ma
Germ ans chine gun fre outside
swarm their huts. The gar
Like risons of the forward re-
Wolves. doubts had been quickly
overwhelmed but many
OF them fought to the death, as we
now know. All telephone wires had
been destroyed at once by German
gun fire but by means of a buried
cable there came several messages
from the Manchester Hill redoubt near
st. Quentin. 1t was the colonel Of the
Sixteenth Manchesters who spoke and
he said: I'VE are entirely surrounded
but We are putting up a good fight"
Later he said: Nearly all my men
are wounded. and the Germans are
swarming round like wolves. They
have got into the redoubt." The last
message came at 3:3O in the afternoon,
eight hours after the beginning of the
battle, when the enemy had broken
into our main positions and the for
ward redoubts were far behind the
German lines. The coloners last
words were heroic: THE Sixteenth
Manchesters." he said, will defend
the redoubt to the last moment"
BY the end Of that first day many
British divisions had been forced to
give ground and fall back to prevent
themselves being cut Off In the
north the enemy had forced a wedge
between the Sixth and Fifty-first Di-
visions on the third army front and
was driving towards Bapaume. On
the right of our line the Germans had
broken through in several places be-
tween the Thirtieth and the Thirty
sixth CUlster) Division and between
the Fourteenth and Fifty-eighth Gon-
dom Division. near st. Quentin, and
were advancing on to Ham towards
the crossings OF the Somme. A gen.
eral retreat was decided, with orders
to hold the line of the Somme at all
costs. 1t was a difficult and tragic
situation for generals and STATS as
well as for battalion officers and men.
All our we'll ordered machinery of war
was suddenly thrown into disorder
like watch which has lost its main
spring. The headquarters of armies.
corps and divisions We're on the move
like nomads who pitched their camps
at night and retreated hurriedly at
dawn because a horde of barbarians
was bearing down upon them. So
iiNb oe' stdhs 0dy ny udy III inc
midst Of this retreat with maps out
spread on wooden boxes surrounded
by litter Of their kit and furniture
while down the road came slowly
surging tide of traffic like a world ON
the move as heavy guns, ambulances.
wagons laden with hospital gear, aero
dromes packed up like travelling cir
cuses: thousands of refugees with their
handcarts. and long transport columns
of motor lorries drew back from the
advancing German lines. Owing to
the destruction of telephone wires and
this general confusion of retreat It
was difficult for the stan 10 keep
communication with the fighting units
and responsibility for action was
thrown largely OIL the brigadiers
and battalion officers. They did
glorious work and their courage
never failed throughout those days
Il am writing this re-
"Wil Hold port with one hand and
On to. firing rifle with the
the Last" other" was message
received from Gen. Grif-
hths. of the Ulster division. when his
headquarters were almost surrounded
by Germans. English. Irish and Scot
tish battalions fought heroic rear
guard actions until they were over
whelmed. A colonel of the Sixth di-
vision reported: Situation impossible
without reinforcements, but will hold
on till the last" And he was seen
leading twenty survivors against a
mass of German troops. That Sixth
division lost 50 per cent of its in
fantry in forty-eight hours by desper-
ate f1shting against hopeless odds. and
other divisions lost heavily When the
Ulstermen were relieved by the French
166th Division after five days of rear
guard fighting the French general was
unable to detrain his men quickly
owing to heavy fire an the railway
and asked the 1rishmen to go on fight
ing until he could get to their posi-
tion. Gen. Nugent. commanding the
Ulster division, sent a tragic message:
DO impress on the French general"
he said, that / can give him only
800 sound men,"
By this time the worst had hap
pened. In spite of the help of French
cavalry and the French Flfty-sixth
Division. which had come up to our
aid at Guiscard. we could not stem
the German tide which was now in
full spate across our old battlefields'
and our Nineteenth Corps. with the
Sixty-sixth and Twenty-fourth Divi-
sions, with the Fiftieth, Eighteenth
and Eighth supporting them. were.
after fearful losses in rear guard ac-
tions, unable to hold the crossings
of the Somme and the enemy passed