The post of honour : stories of daring deeds done by men of the British empire in the great war

vo

THE

POST OF
HONOUR

RICHARD WILSON

m

Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

THE POST OF HONOUR

NURSE CAVELL WITH HER FAVOURITE DOGS.

THE

POST OF HONOUR

STORIES OF DARING DEEDS
DONE BY MEN OF THE BRITISH
EMPIRE IN 'THE GREAT WAR

TOLD BY

RICHARD WILSON

1917

LONDON & TORONTO
J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ........ 9

THE VICTORIA CROSS 12

CAPTAIN GRENFELL AND THE CHARGE OF THE LANCERS . 16

BRITISH SAILORS WHO KNEW HOW TO DIE ... 19

SOME OF THE FIRST V.C.'s 21

THE SPIRIT OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY .... 28

THE MESSENGERS 30

THE STORY OF CORPORAL HOLMES ..... 33

THE MEN OF THE FIRST LINE ..... 36

LIEUTENANT LEACH AND SERGEANT HOGAN ... 42

WILSON, O'LEARY, AND MARTIN-LEAKE ... 45

THE CANADIAN SCOTTISH ...... 48

THE CANADIAN SPIRIT ...... 52

THE ADVENTURES OF THE " KENT " . ~. . 57

THE LANCASHIRE LANDING 62

COMMANDER UNWIN AND THE Two MIDSHIPMEN . . 67

ANZAC . ^, ;*' 73

SUBMARINES IN THE DARDANELLES .... 78

WARNEFORD AND THE ZEPPELIN ..... 83

SMITH AND FORSHAW : Two HEROES OF GALLIPOLI . 87
THE STORY OF EDITH CAVELL . . . . .90

JACK CORNWELL, THE BOY WHO " CARRIED ON " . . 97

HEROES OF Loos ....... 100

HOW MOORHOUSE BROUGHT IN HlS REPORT . . . IO4

LORAINE'S FIGHT IN THE AIR ..... 105

"A GLORIOUS BAND". *. . . . . .108

THE WORK OF THE MINE-SWEEPERS . . . . 115

" THE PADRE " 121

LIEUTENANT ROBINSON AND THE ZEPPELIN . ... 124
THE CANADIANS AT VIMY RIDGE . . . . .129

HEROES OF A HOSPITAL SHIP 13?

ALONG THE " V.C. WALK " ... Vx. » *37
MIDSHIPMAN GYLES AND THE GERMAN BOARDERS . .146

How MAN MADE AN EARTHQUAKE . . . . 149

"WHEN CAN THEIR GLORY FADE?"' . . . . 155

" THE HEART OF A LION " . . . . . . 157

AUTHOR'S NOTE

THE author has used a large number of
sources — newspapers, official reports,
private letters and diaries, as well as
books — in gathering the facts for these
simple stories. Acknowledgments have
been made wherever it was possible to
trace the source, and indulgence is
asked if through inadvertence or in-
ability to find the original report any
requisite acknowledgment has been
omitted. Very meagre particulars of
most of these brave deeds are at present
available, for the British V.C. does not
talk of his exploits. But such facts as
are actually known ought surely to be
given the widest possible publicity,
especially in the schools of the Empire.

If I should die, think only this of me,
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England."

Rupert Brooke.

" Will you at least try, if I am killed, not to let the
things I have loved cause you pain, but rather to get
increased enjoyment from the Sussex Downs, or from
Janie singing folk-songs, because I have found such joy
in them, and in that way the joy I have found can con-
tinue to live."

Letter to his Mother, from a young British
officer who was killed in action.

O ye who fell, mistake not our warm tears,
We would not wish you back lest we should see
Your souls denied by undistinguished years."

Charles Vincent.

INTRODUCTION

IT is often said that " the post of danger is the
post of honour." The post of danger is given
to the bravest, and the knowledge that much
depends upon him often nerves him to the
doing of dauntless deeds.

The record of valour which the Great War
gave to history is the finest in the memory of
mankind. The knowledge of science which men
had won made fighting much more terrible than
it had ever been before ; but still the post of
danger was eagerly sought by those men who
could echo the words of King Harry of England :

" If it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive."

Many brave deeds were also done in that
great struggle by men who had no idea that
they were heroes. They just did their duty as it
came along without any thought of honour or
fame. They were like Jack Cornwell, the boy
hero of the Battle of Jutland. They were " just
carrying on."

These deeds of daring were done by men, and
even by women, in the armies of all the fighters —
and among the Germans too. Each army had

9

io THE POST OF HONOUR

its ever-increasing band of heroes, until the
numbers seemed to pass beyond counting* It
was a sad world during that war time, but it
was a brave world as well.

Among the bravest were the soldiers of
Britain, This does not mean only the soldiers
of the British Isles, It means the soldiers of
the British Empire, It includes men from
England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the
islands of the sea. It also includes natives of
India, for many brave deeds were done by the
men from that far-off land, who came so willingly
to help their Emperor who was also our King,

What is a brave deed $* Was it brave of
Robert Clive to climb to the top of Market
Drayton steeple in his boyhood 4 We smile at
the story, but somehow we feel that the act was
not what we should call brave.

It was daring, fearless, and a fine test of
steady nerve. But it was not brave or heroic.
Why i What was wanting to make it a matter
for praises' The call of duty, I think, and I
imagine that you will agree with me.

The deed was not done in the course of duty or
to help some one in peril. If the boy's daring
had saved the life of a child we should hail
him as a hero. A brave deed is a deed done in
forgetfulness of self and at the call of duty.

THE POST OF HONOUR n

In the Great War thousands of such deeds
were done which were never reported* Only
now and again a heroic action was brought to
the notice of those whose business it was to set
it down and to ask the King for a reward. No
story of the Great War, however long, will ever
tell of all the heroes*

The stories which are collected in this little
book are only isolated instances. They are types
or examples. But I have tried to tell of those
which have some special lesson to teach us. Each
of the heroes whose story is told here had a
message for all those who were to follow them.
It will be well to ask at the end of each story
what this lesson was.

One word more, before we begin our stories.
It is not true that a brave man feels no fear.
Some of the bravest deeds on record have been
done in secret fear and trembling.

A story is told of a great leader who always
inwardly felt great fear when he was going into
action. One day when this dread came upon
him, he said to himself, " Ah, you are trembling,
are you t But you would tremble more if you
knew where I was going to take you to-day ."

Such a man is the bravest of the brave ; for
he must conquer himself as well as the enemy.

THE VICTORIA CROSS

THAT man is proud indeed, with the proper
kind of pride, who has the right to use the letters
V.C. after his name and to wear the medal
known as the Victoria Cross. For this is the
highest honour that can be won by any man in
the British fighting services.

The Victoria Cross is made of bronze, and the
picture shows you the exact shape of the medal.
It is that of a " Maltese " cross, so called because
it was the badge of the company of Christian
warriors known as the Knights of Malta.

Hundreds of years ago, in the time of the
Crusades, these knights fought against the Turks
who held the Holy Places in Palestine and tried
to drive them out. You see, then, that the chief
medal of our Army and Navy reminds us that
we belong to a Christian country, and one which

13

THE POST OF HONOUR 13

ought always to fight on the side of justice and
right.

It was the good Queen Victoria who gave
orders for the first Victoria Crosses to be made,
as the name of the medal will always remind us*
She saw that there was no decoration that could
be given to her soldiers and sailors who had done
very brave deeds. There were many of these
brave men who had fought for her and for their
country in the Crimean War which was fought
about sixty years before the Great War broke
out.

The Queen, therefore, gave careful instruc-
tions for the designing and awarding of the new
medal. It was to be made from the metal of
cannon captured in the Crimean War. In the
centre of the bronze cross was to be the figure of
a lion standing on guard above the royal crown ;
and under the crown there was to be a scroll
bearing the simple inscription, " For Valour/'

The ribbon attached to the medal was to be
blue for the Navy and red for the Army. On
the clasp there were to be two branches of laurel,
which were to signify that the wearer had been
a victor in the fight ; for the laurel branch has
been for long ages the sign of victory in the arts
of peace as well as of war. The Cross was to
hang from the clasp on a support made in the
shape of a very broad capital letter V,

14 THE POST OF HONOUR

The first Victoria Crosses were presented by
Queen Victoria herself at a review in Hyde
Park in London, Not long afterwards the Cross
was won in the Indian Mutiny by a young
officer who was afterwards to become famous
all over the world and to be known as Lord
Roberts,

Lord Roberts died in France during the early
part of the Great War, though he was too old to
be in command of our troops. But his winning
of the V,C, has always acted as an example to
brave soldiers, and the simple story of what he
did may well be told here once more.

He was a lieutenant when he won the Cross, and
was fighting in the Indian Mutiny which broke
out in 1857, The rebels had gathered together
in a certain Indian village ; and General Grant
received orders from his commander-in-chief,
Sir Colin Campbell, to drive them out. He took
Roberts with him in the force which was to
carry out this piece of work ; and although the
rebels had several guns and fought with great
bravery, they were at last driven out of the
village.

While this stern work was going on, Roberts
saw two sepoys running away with a British
flag. This was a sight to fire the blood of any
British officer, and the young lieutenant did not
pause to consider what he should do. He rode

THE POST OF HONOUR 15

swiftly down upon the two men, drawing his
sword as he came near to them. The men turned
and faced him, each with a musket in his hands,
Roberts reined in his horse and raised his sword.
At that moment the barrel of a musket was
pushed close to his face.

There was a sharp click — but no discharge.
The cap had missed fire and at the same moment
the sepoy carrying the standard was struck to
the ground with a blow from Roberts' sword.
As the man fell, the young officer deftly snatched
the flag from his dying grasp. The other man
dropped his musket and made off at full speed.

Once again Roberts put spurs to his horse to
take a further share in the pursuit of the rebels.
Some distance away he met with two more
sepoys standing at bay, each armed with a
musket to which a bayonet was fixed. Not only
Roberts but the flag was once more in danger,
for it was two against one and the native soldiers
were very skilful with their weapons,

Roberts set his teeth and rode straight forward,
sword in hand. His attack was so direct and
furious that the two men were thrown off their
guard. In a moment one of them lay stretched
upon the ground and the other had joined once
more in the quick retreat.

i6 THE POST OF HONOUR

CAPTAIN GRENFELL AND THE CHARGE
OF THE LANCERS

IT was at Mons in Belgium that the British
soldiers first met the Germans, They were out-
numbered by three to one ; and they were
therefore forced to fall back till fresh troops
could be brought up to their assistance*

But they put up a glorious fight as they fell
slowly back to a better position for making an
advance ; and the story of Mons and afterwards
is so full of accounts of brave deeds that it is not
easy to choose from among them.

The name of Captain Grenfell, however,
stands out boldly on the roll of honour ; and the
story of his winning of the Victoria Cross is one
of the finest in the history of the British Army,

At half-past ten one morning, the Second
British Cavalry Brigade received a welcome
order. They were to " charge for the guns " as
the Light Brigade had been ordered to do at
Balaklava in the Crimean War, The order was
received with the greatest glee, for the troopers
had waited for three days listening to the roar of
the guns but taking no part in the great fight,

The men were the gth Lancers, i8th Hussars,
and 4th Dragoons, On they rode, singing,
shouting, cheering; but they had not ridden

THE POST OF HONOUR 17

far before some of the riders dropped from their
saddles while their horses galloped away. The
rest set their teeth, gripped their lances more
tightly and urged on their horses until the
thunder of the iron-shod hoofs seemed to
drown that of the German guns*

All at once, a merciless fire broke out from
a number of machine-guns which had been
cleverly hidden on their flank, about 150 yards
away* The withering fire swept their close-set
ranks and men and horses fell in scores ; but
there was no faltering among the rest. Onward
they rode, careless of the ceaseless hail of bullets
and of the shells which now burst round them
from the heavy guns ahead.

At last they reached the German battery, and
what happened there is thus described by a
German soldier : —

' We were outside Mons in open country/' he
said, " with a clump of hills before us, when a
troop of howling, yelling men with lances came
racing round a hill and then straight for us. Your
artillery and your infantry, yes, they are like
ourselves and we can fight them, but these
lancers ; — ach !

' We were four to one of them, but in a flash
they were on us and through us ! And there
were not more than fifty of them. Every one
of them speared a man — I got this in the shoulder

i8 THE POST OF HONOUR

— and some of our horses went over. Before we
could re-form or get ready, they came dashing
back, yelling like furies, and they went through
us again. This time they stayed with us longer,
, , , I will never meet them again, please you ! "

The stern work was over, but the British
cavalry had paid a heavy price to silence the
German guns. The men who were left now
looked about for cover, and soon found it behind
a railway embankment ; but they also found in
this place a company of men of the Royal Field
Artillery whose guns had been knocked out of
action.

Captain Grenfell was among the surviving
officers of the gth Lancers, but he had been
wounded in the thigh as well as in one hand.
Weary and hurt as he was, the news that British
guns were in danger of capture roused him to
further efforts. Without a moment's delay, he
rode off into the fire zone to make observations.

Having satisfied himself that the guns could
be drawn off he came back — at a slow pace, in
order to give courage to his men. Then he asked
for volunteers for the job, and got them too, for
British soldiers always answer to the call to
" save the guns," " It's all right/' he said
simply, " they can't hit us. Come along ! "

The men loosed their horses and followed the
captain on foot. In a few minutes they set off at

THE POST OF HONOUR 19

the double heedless of the flying bullets and
bursting shells, and came at last to the first guns
which they quickly hauled out of danger. They
went back again and again until all the precious
guns were safe.

It was for his bravery on this day that Captain
Grenfell was awarded the Victoria Cross — one
of the first to be awarded in the Great War* At
a later period of the war he was killed in action*

BRITISH SAILORS WHO KNEW HOW
TO DIE

THE British Navy suffered several heavy losses
during the early stages of the war. Off the Isle
of May in the Firth of Forth the Pathfinder was
cruising about when an enemy submarine came
along, a torpedo was launched, and the cruiser
was struck and sank with great loss of life. The
men who were afterwards picked up had then
been in the water for more than an hour. About
a week later, however, the British submarine
Eg gave blow for blow by sinking a German
cruiser about six miles from Heligoland.

When the Pathfinder was struck the order
was given, " Every man for himself." In a few
moments the water was full of struggling
swimmers. One petty officer was a very strong

20 THE POST OF HONOUR

swimmer and did all he could to help others
who were not so strong as himself ,

As soon as he found himself in the water he
swam about among his mates helping them to
lay hold of spars and pieces of wreckage. In
time he got together a group of eleven men and
kept cheering them up and making them as
secure as he could. Some of them had only their
heads and shoulders above the water ; and four
of them sank while trying to raise themselves to
get a better hold.

Meanwhile several boats were racing across the
water to pick up the exhausted men. When they
came up, the poor fellows had to be dragged on
board ; and even the hardy and heroic petty
officer was too much spent to help himself*

Only a few days passed and our Navy suffered
a still heavier loss. The three cruisers Aboukir,
Hogue, and Cressy were on patrol work in the
North Sea and were steaming along three miles
apart, through a choppy sea. All at once the first
cruiser was seen to reel and then settle down
sideways. She had been struck by a torpedo.

The Cressy and the Hogue immediately closed
in to save life while the men on the sinking ship
tried to lower one of their boats. But they were
not able to do so, and they ran or slid over the
hull of the vessel into the water.

Just as the Aboukir was heeling over, the

THE POST OF HONOUR 31

Hogue was struck in two places. The great ship
reared up in the water like a charger upon its hind
legs, and quivered all over* Then she settled
down, and sank in a few minutes, leaving the
greater part of her crew in the water. But,
strangely enough, as she went down, she righted
herself, and two of her boats becoming detached,
floated from her. The boats were soon filled and
were the means of saving many lives,

It was now the turn of the Cressy, which had
come up and was standing by for rescue work.
She was struck by two torpedoes and sank
almost at once. Two Dutch ships and a British
trawler picked up as many men as they could
crowd on board and made for the English coast.
The total loss on the ships was 1500 men.

Even in this terrible disaster, the men of the
British Navy were " ready, aye ready " when
all that was now asked of them was that they
should die like heroes,

SOME OF THE FIRST V,C,'S

WHEN the Great War broke out in August 1914
the Victoria Cross had not been conferred for
ten years. But it was not long before the news-
papers began to report one deed after another
of " signal valour and devotion performed in
the presence of the enemy ,"

22 THE POST OF HONOUR

The heroic spirit of the British Army and
Navy was as strong as ever ; and, of course, the
greatness of the struggle gave our men more
chances of performing deeds of heroism than
they had ever had before.

During the first five months of the war,
twenty-eight Crosses were awarded ; this was
a large number, for the Cross is never given
without a great deal of careful consideration*
One hundred were awarded during the first
eighteen months. Let us see how some of these
first Crosses were won, and how the earlier
fighters set the example to all the rest.

In a military retreat or " withdrawal " it is
important to place as many obstacles as possible
in the path of the foe ; and as soon as bridges
have been safely crossed they must be destroyed*

It will readily be seen that the engineers who
carry out this work of destruction have a very
dangerous task to perform. They are the last
men to leave the scene of action, and their
destructive work holds up the pursuit.

In an advance the engineers go first, in a
retreat they stay last ; so that, on the whole,
this " arm " of the forces is always in the post
of danger, which is the post of honour.

Near the end of the first month of the war,
Lance-Corporal Jarvis of the Royal Engineers
won the V.C. for a piece of work which was

THE POST OF HONOUR 23

carried out under a persistent and steady fire* He
went out alone in a boat on the River Jemmapes,
and worked steadily for an hour and a half in
fixing and firing charges for the destruction of
a bridge.

The bullets whistled about his ears, and the
shells burst all round him on the bridge and
below it ; but the brave fellow worked coolly
oh until his task was finished — and properly
finished too — and then got away unharmed. His
devotion to duty had been of great value to his
own side in a way which does not need further
explanation.

The L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery
is now known all over the world for its gallant
stand at the beginning of September 1914,

Field-guns and machine-guns were pounding
away at this battery at a range of no more than
600 yards. All the officers fell, dead or wounded,
and the men looked round for directions. Then
Sergeant-Major Dorrell took charge of one gun
and continued to serve it steadily until all the
ammunition was used up.

Sergeant Nelson took command of another,
and although severely wounded, kept grimly to
his task until the shells had all been fired, when
the shattered battery was relieved. Its steadiness
had been of the greatest use in the engagement ;
and the two men who had thus proved their

24 THE POST OF HONOUR

right to lead were not only given the V.C, but
were made commissioned officers*

About a fortnight later, Bombardier Horlock
of the Royal Field Artillery won the Cross by a
wonderful display of fortitude, persistence, and
a kind of disobedience a little akin to that of
Lord Nelson at Copenhagen, His battery had
not been long in action when a shell burst under
his gun and he was wounded in the right thigh,
He was told to go to the hospital, but went first
to a dressing-station where he was bandaged
and sent on to the rear. But he went back to the
battery and five minutes later was hit again,

For a second time he came before the doctor,
was given first aid, and was then placed in charge
of an orderly who was told to take him to the
field-hospital farther back. On the way Horlock
told his companion that there were many poor
fellows who needed help much more than he did,
and that he could find his way alone with perfect
ease.

The orderly fell into the trap, and no sooner
had he gone out of sight than Horlock limped
back again to his battery and went on serving
his gun, A little later, he was wounded in the
arm, but, brave as he was, did not dare to face
the doctor for the third time. He stayed with his
comrades until the end of the day, and was at
last picked up and taken to hospital.

THE POST OF HONOUR 25

Drummer Bent of the East Lancashires was
the kind of soldier who is " good at need,"
ready for any job which comes his way, and the
more dangerous the work the better worth doing.
The man who brings up the ammunition to the
firing line seems to be merely a kind of porter ;
but when his work is carefully considered he is
easily seen to be very important indeed. And
when he does that work in the open under
heavy fire without the excitement of taking a
hand in the fighting, he is surely among the
bravest of the brave. And this was the kind of
work which first drew attention to Drummer
Bent, who was only twenty-two years of age.

Having learnt that the oft-repeated sentence
" every bullet has its billet " is merely a silly
saying, Bent was quite ready to face fire on
another occasion. Several wounded men were
lying in the open and he went out to bring some
of them under cover. This heroic action alone
was worthy of the highest reward, for it showed
that disregard of self which is the root of all true
heroism ; but Bent was to do still more than this.

One dark night in November, a portion of his
regiment was holding a certain position of some
importance. The enemy made a fierce attack
and the three officers in charge were struck
down. Then Bent took command and, under
his cool direction, the position was held until

26 THE POST OF HONOUR

relief came* The young soldier had nobly
earned the Cross which he afterwards received.

You will remember how Indian troops came
to the help of Britain in the Great War and how
some of them fought very bravely in Northern
France, It is said that there was great rejoicing
in India when news reached that country that
two of the native soldiers had won the Victoria
Cross.

These were Naik (z*e* Corporal) Darwan
Sing Negi and Sepoy Khudadad. who were the
first soldiers of India to receive the highest
military honour that it was in the power of their
Emperor to grant.

Naik Darwan Sing Negi was in action one
night in late November near Festubert in
France. Certain trenches had been taken by the
enemy and his regiment was given the task of
recapturing them. This was a very difficult
piece of work* for it meant hand-to-hand
bayonet fighting in narrow passages half filled
with water* where a fighter had little elbow-room
and. if he went first in an attack, could get very
little help from his comrades*

The Garhwal Rifles* to which the Corporal
belonged* rushed to the attack with fierce shouts
and flashing eyes. Darwan Sing Negi was
wounded more than once* but he stuck to his
work with grim valour* fighting his way foot

THE POST OF HONOUR 27

by foot along the narrow passages, and striking
terror into the hearts of his enemies*

When the stern work had been well done, the
company fell in and it was found that the
Corporal was very badly wounded ; but he
received his reward a little later at the hands
of King George himself, who first visited the
British lines in December 1914.

Sepoy Khudadad was fighting in Belgium
and was one of a machine-gun section which
was told off to support the 5th Lancers. The
place in which he fought was heavily bom-
barded by the enemy and the machine-gun
company suffered greatly. In a short time one
of their two guns was put out of action.

The six men who manned the second gun
fought with splendid bravery until the Germans
rushed the position in great numbers and struck
down five of them. Sepoy Khudadad saw his
chance to escape, but stayed behind for a time
in order to make his gun useless before it fell into
the hands of the enemy. Then he slipped away
to a place of safety, to the great surprise of the
Germans, each of whom probably thought that
some one else had secured him! He was, however,
very badly wounded ; and when King George
came over to France the Indian hero was too
ill to receive at his hands the Cross which was
afterwards given to him in London.

28 THE POST OF HONOUR

THE SPIRIT OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

THE old story of Sir Philip Sidney might well
be written in letters of gold upon the wall of
every school in the Empire* It will be re-
membered that he fought at Zutphen in Eastern
Holland during the reign of Queen Elisabeth,
and that he was mortally wounded in the thigh
with a musket-balL The immortal tale is told
in the following words by his friend, Fulke
Greville : —

44 Being thirsty with excess of bleeding, he
called for drink which was presently brought
him ; but as he was putting the bottle to his
mouth, he saw a poor soldier carried along, who
had eaten his last at the same feast, casting up
his eyes at the bottle. Which Sir Philip per-
ceiving, took it from his head before he drank,
and delivered it to the poor man with these
words, * Thy necessity is yet greater than mine/ '

Over and over again the brave fighters on the
Western Front showed that the spirit of Sir
Philip Sidney still lived and that it survived
under conditions of horror and misery such as no
soldier of Queen Elizabeth ever saw. Discipline
and self-denial showed themselves in situations
where the most severe judge might well forgive
a man for thinking only of himself and his

THE POST OF HONOUR 29

pressing and immediate needs* Here is one
incident of the retirement from Mons,

Major Fawcett was in charge of two ambulance
wagons and a water-cart, and saw with pity and
anxiety that the poor wounded soldiers were
suffering untold agonies owing to their long
ride over rough and uneven ground. He there-
fore made up his mind to call a halt in order
that the men might be refreshed with some
beef-tea. The wagons were drawn up by the
wayside, and the Major rode ahead to find some
cottage or farm where the water might be boiled,

A few minutes after he disappeared from sight,
a company of infantry came along. The men
were weary, footsore, thirsty, and indescribably
dirty ; and as soon as they saw the water-carts
drawn up by the side of the road, they crowded
round them eager to quench their burning thirst.

Then an officer rode up to them and explained
the situation. He said that there was very little
water left in the carts and that it was badly needed
for the wounded men in the two ambulances,

44 I am thirsty myself/' he said, 4t and I'm
awfully sorry for you fellows, but you see how it
is ; the wounded must come first/'

The reply was worthy of Sir Philip Sidney :
" Quite right, sir ; we didn't know it was a
hospital water-cart." Then the thirsty men
turned away and went on with their march.

30 THE POST OF HONOUR

There was the same Sidney spirit in Lieu-
tenant Wynn of the Yorkshire Light Infantry, of
whom one of his men wrote after the officer had
died : " He was a gentleman and a soldier. The
last day he was alive we had got a cup of tea in
the trenches, and we asked him if he would have
a drink. He said, ' No, drink it yourselves : you
are in want of it/ And then with a smile, he
added simply, * We are to hold these trenches
to-day/ '* Self-denial and pride in duty ! These
were the marks of British officers and men in
that time of fiery trial.

THE MESSENGERS

SOME of the bravest and most daring of our men
were those who carried the messages or dis-
patches ; and many thrilling stories can be told
of their adventures. One of the most exciting is
that of four men of the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

A certain section of ground of about a quarter
of a mile in width was swept by a fierce and
continuous German fire. On either side of this
open space were British troops, one section of
which was in great danger of being surrounded
by the enemy. The British officers on the other
side saw the danger and wished to warn the
company and instruct them to make a certain
movement which would prevent disaster.

THE POST OF HONOUR 31

The buglers were ordered to give calls of
warning, but these were either unheard in the
din or were not properly understood. There
was no way open but across that fire-swept space,
and when other methods of sending warning had
been tried and had failed, it was decided to send
a dispatch carrier*

A call was made for volunteers for the danger-
ous task, and every single man in the company
expressed his willingness to go. This was more
than was wanted so coins were quickly produced,
spun in the air, and by this boyish method the
volunteers were thinned down to the number
required. Then the men who had won the
honour stepped forward.

The first in the line was given the message and
made a desperate dash through the hail of bullets.
He ran for a short distance, then tumbled over,
and lay still. Two others advanced and com-
menced the race with death. One of them
stopped to lift his wounded comrade, and the
other ran on, only to fall in a few moments —
dead.

A fourth man rushed out and raced across
the zone of death. The bullets flew round him
and his comrades watched him with tense
anxiety as he seemed to dodge them until he
came to a point at a short distance from the
British trenches. Then he fell and lay still.

32 THE POST OF HONOUR

But the men in the trench had seen him and
guessed that he had some message for them ;
otherwise he surely would not have set out on
that desperate race with death, A number of
them sprang forward as one man, eager to go to
his help. They leapt " over the top " and com-
menced their own gallant race. In a few moments
every man of the little party was wounded. But
by this time the messenger was on his hands
and knees crawling slowly and painfully towards
the British cover.

Then a second rescue party came out, in spite
of the bullets which seemed to fall thicker than
ever, and in a short time they came up with him
and were able to draw him into safety. The
battalion was saved, for the required movement
was instantly made which rendered the German
efforts of no avail.

Dispatch carriers on motor bicycles had many
great adventures during those stirring days, and
many narrow escapes from death, while numbers
of them made the last great sacrifice in the per-
formance of their dangerous duty. One of these
men was the means of saving a whole French
regiment which was in close touch with a
British force.

It was necessary to carry a warning to the
French not to venture along a certain road
where there was a German ambush. Signals

THE POST OF HONOUR 33

were tried by men who paid for their daring in
going out into the open by meeting their death
from the bullets of German marksmen. The
British were hidden in a wood, and when the
signallers had failed to carry the necessary warn-
ing, a motor-cyclist sped out from the cover and
raced at breathless speed along the road. He
had not gone far before he was hit and tumbled
over with his machine on top of him. A second
messenger followed, but in a short time he too
went down. A third man came out and began
the race which he won after marvellous escapes.
The message was safely delivered to the French
officer, and the company of our Allies was saved.
The machine and clothes of the last messenger
were riddled with bullets but he himself was
quite unhurt !

THE STORY OF CORPORAL HOLMES

ALL true hearts go out to the man who risks his
life to save a comrade. There were numberless
instances of this supreme act of unselfish courage
in the Great War ; and one of the best of the
earlier stories is that of Corporal Holmes.

He belonged to the 2nd Battalion of the
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and he
won the Cross for rescue work under heavy fire.

c

34 THE POST OF HONOUR

He was only twenty-three years of age when his
great chance came. Let him tell his own story l :—

4 We were at Le Gateau and the order had
been passed to reinforce us at 1 1 a,m, ; but the
men were delayed, and we were still on the spot
at 4,30 in the afternoon* Then the order to retire
was given, but this did not reach my own parti-
cular detachment* We went on for another half-
hour, and then one of our officers said that we
must get back if there were to be any more of us
left, for the Germans were very close to us and in
much greater force,

44 Just as I was jumping out, I saw a wounded
man on the top of the trenches, and noticed that
he was a comrade, * For Heaven's sake, Freddie,
save me if you can ! ' he said, I looked at him
and my heart stood still ; for at that moment I
had little hope of saving myself, let alone any-
body else,

' Then I thought I must have a try, somehow.
So I picked him up. But my equipment hurt
him, for he was badly wounded. So I slung it
off as fast as I could, gave him the fireman's
hold, and somehow carried him about 200 yards,
with shrapnel spraying round us all the time.
I thought over and over again that I was done,
but I had to go on,

44 After a bit we came to a few houses, and at

1 As reported in the Daily Graphic, with acknowledgments.

THE POST OF HONOUR 35

the door of one of them a young woman was
standing* When she saw my burden she said,
' Put him in here/ and I did so. I rested a few
minutes and then went back towards the firing
line. At first I saw nobody, but very soon I
made out the Germans coming on in extended
order. All the time shells were coming from
their batteries behind. I reached the crest of a
hill and saw a gun with its horses isolated.

44 All around the gunners were lying — dead as
far as I could see. But another man, a trumpeter,
was not dead ; so I took him up and stuck him
on the limber. Then I started to drive off the
gun.

" By this time the Germans had seen me and
were advancing, shooting at me as they came. I
struck at the horses with my bayonet, and off we
went, and I never slackened until the sound of
the German guns had died down. Then the
horses dropped from exhaustion, and I found
that the trumpeter was gone. I have never heard
of him again.

" At the moment a few artillerymen came up,
and I handed over the gun ; and they took
charge of me too. And that's all there is to it.
Lots of others deserve the V.C. as much as ever
I did, and a good deal more."

The reader must not take this modest hero at
his own value.

36 THE POST OF HONOUR

THE MEN OF THE FIRST LINE

IT was the pick of the British Army which was
selected for the work of the firing line. Among
these men there were deeds done daily and at
times almost hourly which were deserving of
the highest reward. And only a small number
of these deeds of daring and devotion were ever
reported to those whose duty it was to recom-
mend the granting of medals. Apart from the
actual fighting it was a severe trial of strength,
nerve, and endurance to stay for any length of
time in the front system of trenches at all.

Let us never forget the heroism of endurance
in paying our tribute to the heroism of " the
crowded hour of glorious life/'

During the first winter months of the war the
life in the trenches which were made across open
country was almost unbearable ; and it was only
made possible by continual use of the pumps.
Within and without the ditch men sank to the
knees and sometimes to the waist in water and
slime, A few shelters of corrugated iron were
set up here and there which gave a little pro-
tection and made possible the lighting of a fire.

One of the civilian visitors to the Western
Front thus described the trench system : —

44 The trenches are immense labyrinths, miles

THE POST OF HONOUR 37

in extent, branching in every direction, a guide
being always required in entering their mazes.
Unpleasant surprises crop up at every point.
The sniper is a constant danger, and cover
from the enemy's bullets is scanty enough, I
myself passed through one of the communica-
tion trenches behind a long double wall of sand-
bags from 3 to 4 feet high,

* This trench runs in serpentine fashion for
miles through fields, roads, villages, houses,
bedrooms, the latter mostly in ruins though
much of the furniture is still there. The height
of the sand-bag wall renders it advisable to
proceed in a stooping fashion, bent almost
double,

" Many of the passages cannot be safely used
by day, I saw in one place the body of a horse
which had lain in the same position for a long
time ; and yet it could not be taken away, for
it was certain death for any one to attempt to
move it,

" An officer said to me, * If you are tired of
life try to move it/ Through this dreadful lane
of death soldiers were constantly passing and
re-passing, perspiring, laughing, joking, and
teasing one another ; but the officers in charge
did not joke. They were responsible for the lives
of these merry, thoughtless boys, and many a
growl was heard as a specially daring private

38 THE POST OF HONOUR

failed to take due care of the life that was too
precious to be thrown away to no purpose, " l

Between the front-line trench system of the
British and that of the Germans was the open
space often spoken of as " No Man's Land/'
Across this space there was incessant firing of
rifles and machine-guns, throwing of bombs and
hand grenades, and the firing of bombs from
trench mortars.

The attacks and counter-attacks on the
trenches were of a grim character such as defies
description ; and the horror of the work was
increased by the use of chlorine gas and flame-
throwers. The Germans first began to use the
dreadful gas round about Ypres, and the brave
Canadian troops were some of the first to feel
its deadly effects. The use of the gas by the
Germans in one of their attacks upon our
trenches is thus described : —

* When the gas cylinders were opened, the
thick green mist came rolling towards the para-
pet from the enemy's empty front trench, several
hundreds of yards away. It looked like vapour
rising from a marsh, and the wind was strong
enough to carry it rapidly towards the parapet,

" The battalion had time to load and fire two
rounds through the screen of gas before it came
pouring over the sand-bags, penetrating into

1 From the Sphere, with acknowledgments.

THE POST OF HONOUR 39

every crevice of the dug-out, and choking the
men who lay there. It was so thick at first that
objects three feet away could hardly be seen,"

At a later date the Germans began to make
attacks under cover of flame-projectors. The
liquid used was a mixture of petrol and kerosene
and was thrown towards the trench in such a way
that it was fired by an electric spark as it left
the tube. Such were some of the horrors of
trench life which were borne without complaint
day after day by the men who held the post of
honour, the long front line facing a clever and
determined foe.

It may seem difficult to believe that there was
a funny side to this dread business of death,
ruin, and hatred. Yet there were many humour-
ous incidents which were not missed by our
cheery soldiers. One story tells of a poor private
who had toothache very badly and was sitting by
the roadside like the old woman who " went to
the market her eggs for to sell," By came — not
" a pedlar " but a shell which exploded in the
sufferer's vicinity, but did not hurt him.

In fact it proved of great benefit to him ; for
he was so much " shocked " that he instantly
lost his toothache.

On the first of April 1915 an Allied airman
flew over the aerodrome of the French town of
Lille which was in German hands. He dropped

40 THE POST OF HONOUR

not a bomb but a football. The Germans ran
for cover and watched the " bomb " strike the
earth and then bounce to a great height !

They watched carefully to take notes for the
Kaiser on the new " postponed " fuse. Only
when the ball had rested for some time quite
peacefully on the ground did they come out to
read the inscription with which it was furnished,
namely— ' April Fool ! "

The flying men on both sides in the fight on
the Western Front had a great deal of respect
for each other ; and in some cases courtesies
were exchanged between them which remind us
of the olden days of chivalry.

If, for example, a machine was brought down
within either of the opposing lines, it was the
custom for the captors to drop a weighted letter
over the enemy positions giving information
to the fate of the pilot and the observer.

One day, one of these letters fell within the
British lines. It told the men of a certain section
of the air service that one of their pilots had died
the day before. The men at once prepared a
wreath which was taken over the German lines
on a fast monoplane. The machine was fired
at by the Germans as usual ; but the British
pilot flew low and was able to drop the wreath in
a suitable spot, whence it was carried by the
Germans to the dead pilot's grave.

THE POST OF HONOUR 41

During Christmas time in 1914 a very strange
thing happened. At one part of the line on the
Western Front the Germans came out of their
trenches and met some of the British to wish
them the compliments of the season ! Small
gifts were exchanged and there was some sing-
ing and merriment* Then the men went back to
their trenches and the cruel war went on*

Stories are told of other instances of friendli-
ness between the men whose business it was to
kill each other as quickly as possible* It is said
that during a lull in one battle a tin was set up on
a branch half-way between the two opposing
trenches in order that the men on both sides
might try their skill in a sniping match*

There are several instances of football matches
being arranged between men on the opposing
44 international " sides* In one case, the players
were ready, but a ball could not be found. In
another, all was ready to begin when the British
colonel forbade the play, evidently placing no
trust in the goodwill of Germans, and being
anxious for the safety of his men. In a third
instance the match actually came off and the
British team was beaten by one goal.

At one point some British soldiers took their
enemies some hot cocoa on a bitter wintry day*
The shivering men would not drink it until the
" Tommies " had first tasted it themselves !

43 THE POST OF HONOUR

LIEUTENANT LEACH AND SERGEANT
HOGAN

THESE two gallant officers belonged to the
Manchester Regiment which fought with special
bravery on the Western Front* The former was
only twenty when he won the V.C., in company
with Sergeant Hogan who had seen service in
the South African War.

The Manchesters were stationed at Festubert
not far from Ypres and, near the end of October,
their trenches were fiercely bombarded by the
Germans and then rushed with the utmost
violence. One morning, just before day began
to break, and at the time when the courage of
most men is at its lowest, the enemy made an
attack in great numbers.

They climbed over the parapet of the first
trench and the British were forced to fall back
into the second, where they were quite able to
hold their own. By this time the massed attack
of the Germans had spent itself, and the Man-
chesters prepared to drive them out of their
front trench as soon as they could.

At about nine o'clock, Lieutenant Leach left
the second trench and crept out to discover what
the Germans were doing. What followed may
be partly gathered from his own very modest
account which was afterwards published : —

THE POST OF HONOUR 43

;< I found that they had occupied three out of
four of the traverses. At eleven o'clock I went
again and found that they had occupied the lot.
Later, I called for Sergeant Hogan and for ten
volunteers. I took the first ten men, and we
crawled along the communication trench, which
led into the right of the advance trench.

" Our idea was to push the Germans as far to
the left as we could and then wait for them to
attempt to get back to their own lines, and shoot
them. After some time we managed to push
them to the left traverse.

" As we crawled along we had to climb over
the bodies of dead or wounded Germans.
Gradually we drove the others along until they
were in the left traverse as far as they could go.
I was surprised then to hear a voice call in
English, * Don't shoot, sir ! ' and there was one
of my own men who had been with me in the
morning. He told me that the German officer
had sent him to say that they wished to surrender*

" We went round the corner, and there were
the officer and about fourteen Germans on their
knees with their hands up crying * Mercy ! '
I told them to take their equipment off, and
then run into our main trench. This they did,
and I was surprised that their own friends
did not snipe them for surrendering. Twenty
wounded Germans also joined the others.

44 THE POST OF HONOUR

" I found that the Germans had captured
two of my men in the early morning, and the
German officer, who could speak English, had
told them that they would have a good time
when they were sent to Berlin as prisoners/'

The lieutenant's story does not make it clear
what was the nature of the " push " which was
applied to the Germans to bring them in a
huddled heap to the end of the left traverse.
He really employed a very clever ruse which
completely deceived the enemy.

He and his companion left the rest of their
party some distance behind them and went
forward alone to drive the Germans along the
winding trench which they knew had a blind end.
When they came to a square corner Leach put
his right hand round and fired at the Germans
without exposing his body, which a man with
a rifle could not do. Meanwhile, Hogan, who
was a little way behind him, was watching the
parapet to ward off attacks from above.

When the two men had cleared one section
in this manner, they took up their stand at the
next corner where Leach repeated the treatment ;
while Hogan raised his cap on the end of his
rifle to show his friends how far progress had
been made, and prevent the trench being swept
by their fire. The whole operation showed re-
markable coolness as well as daring and resource.

THE POST OF HONOUR 45

WILSON, O'LEARY, AND MARTIN-
LEAKE

BEFORE the outbreak of the Great War, George
Wilson was selling newspapers in the streets of
Edinburgh, He had already served as a private
in the Highland Light Infantry, and, being in
the Reserve, was called out at the beginning of
the great struggle. In a very short time he was
fighting in France with his old regiment.

In the middle of September 1914, the H.L.I,
were hard at work trying to check and drive back
the Germans not very far from Paris. During
the fighting in one quarter, some of our men
were greatly worried by a German machine-gun
which was posted in a wood ; and Private Wilson
made up his mind to do what he could to silence
the gun.

Taking another private with him, he set out
on his errand. The two men were able to come
quite close to the enemy's position, and then, all
at once, Wilson's comrade fell over with a bullet
in his body.

This did not check Wilson in the least, and
he went on alone. After a while he was able
to find cover behind some trees. Here he was
quite hidden, and had a good view of the gun
which had worried his mates.

46 THE POST OF HONOUR

From this position he picked off, one by
one, the entire crew of the machine-gun which
included an officer and six men. Then he ran
forward and took over the gun, together with a
supply of ammunition. For this piece of splendid
work Wilson received the Victoria Cross, which
he well deserved.

His exploit was somewhat like that of Michael
O'Leary of the Irish Guards, except that the
latter captured two machine-guns single-handed.
He was a lance-corporal when the great chance
came to him, and the story of how he won the
Cross is told by his own quartermaster-sergeant
in the following words : —

44 My company was ordered from our trench
to keep up a hot rifle and machine-gun fire
across the German trenches and points of cover*
After the rain of bullets and shrapnel had been
kept up for twenty minutes, No. i Company
was let loose on the left. They came out of the
trenches with a yell, bayonets fixed, and went
for the enemy at the double. They had from
100 to 150 yards to travel, and they went at a
tidy pace, but were easily outstripped by O'Leary.
He never looked to see if his mates were coming,
and he must have done pretty near even time
over that patch of ground.

" When he got near the end of one of the
German trenches, he dropped, and so did many

THE POST OF HONOUR 47

others a long way behind him. The enemy had
discovered what was up* A machine-gun was
O'Leary's mark. Before the Germans could
manage to slew it round, and meet the charging
men, O'Leary picked off the whole five of the
machine-gun crew.

" Then leaving his mates to capture the gun,
he dashed forward to the second barricade
which the Germans were quitting in a hurry and
shot three men. O'Leary came back as cool as
if he had been for a walk in the park, and with
two prisoners/' The prisoners were taken be-
cause O'Leary's shot was exhausted!

A soldier or sailor cannot win the V.C. a
second time ; but if a man who holds the medal
does another very brave deed he is given an
extra clasp. This distinction was awarded to
Captain Martin-Leake of the Royal Army Medi-
cal Corps for continuous bravery during the
early months of the war.

In our very proper admiration for the fighting
men, we are a little apt to overlook the work of
that branch of the army to which Captain
Martin-Leake belonged ; and this is somewhat
unjust.

No section of the British forces did better,
more skilful, or more heroic work than the
Medical Corps. After a fight, parties of stretcher-
bearers would be quickly on the scene no matter

48

how great was the danger to themselves. Many
of these brave men were struck down while
engaged in this work of mercy.

The wounded were tenderly lifted, placed
upon stretchers and given first-aid. They were
then, without the loss of a moment, taken in
motor ambulances from a collecting station to
the base hospitals far away from the firing line.

Captain Martin-Leake had won his Cross in
the South African War for great bravery shown
in tending the wounded under fire ; and while
engaged in this splendid work he had been
wounded no less than three times.

He did the same kind of work in the fighting
during the Great War. Over and over again, he
went out into the open, careless of shell and rifle
fire, to bring in the wounded or render first-aid.
Some of the men whom he rescued had been shot
in storming the enemy's trenches, and lay quite
near to the parapets ; but the brave captain
brought several of them back from the very
grasp of the foe.

THE CANADIAN SCOTTISH

AT times during a battle a body of comrades seem
to act together as one man. Their spirit and
discipline are so good and they each forget
themselves so completely in the effort of the fight

THE POST OF HONOUR 49

that the foe cannot stand before them. When a
brave effort of this special kind is made, Crosses
are not granted, but the name of the battle is
worked on the flag or colours of the regiment.

Never was such a distinction better earned
than by the Canadians at Ypres.

In the spring of 1915, the Germans were
making desperate efforts to get to Calais, as a
step on the road to London. They were so eager
to get there that they began to use poison gas
against our men and their friends, the French
and Belgians.

The Canadians were among the first to feel
the effects of that horrible, choking, blinding
gas. The use of it gave the Germans an advan-
tage at first ; and it seemed likely, for a time,
that they would be able to make a way through
the British lines. It was the Canadians who
stepped into the gap and helped to save Calais.
The people of Britain and the Empire can never
forget that splendid service.

At another time there was a desperate fight
in a wood near Ypres from which the Canadian
Scottish drove the Germans one moonlight
night. The story, as told by an officer, forms
another fine page in the history of the British
Army. Here it is : —

" It was just a few minutes before midnight
when we got to a hollow which was about 300

D

50 THE POST OF HONOUR

yards from the wood* The moon came out now
and then, but we could have done without her,
for farm buildings were blazing all round. The
fire from the Germans in the wood had now
ceased, and we had a spell of silence that could
be felt*

" Whispered orders were given to fix bayonets
and were obeyed in a flash. Our coats, packs, and
everything were dropped and we advanced in
light order. When we reached a low ridge in
full view of the wood, a storm of fire was loosed
upon us from the undergrowth skirting the
wood. At once the word was given to charge,
and on we rushed, cheering, yelling, and shouting,
straight for the foe.

" At first they fired too high, and our losses
were small. Then some of our men began to
drop, and the whole front line seemed to melt
away, only to be instantly closed up again.
Cheering and yelling, we jumped over the
bodies of the wounded and tore on. Of the
Germans with the machine-guns not one escaped,
but those inside the wood stood up to us in fine
style.

44 The struggle became a dreadful hand-to-
hand conflict ; we fought in clumps and batches,
and the living struggled over the bodies of the
dead and dying. At the height of the conflict,
while we were steadily driving the Germans

THE POST OF HONOUR 51

before us, the moon burst out. The clashing
bayonets flashed like quicksilver, and faces were
lit up as if by limelight,

" Sweeping on, we came upon lines of
trenches, which had been hastily made and
could not be well defended. All who held out
were bayoneted ; those who gave in were sent
to the rear/'

The officer spoke modestly as all British
heroes do ; but no words could convey a full
idea of the desperate character of the fighting
on that moonlight night. The Canadians knew
perfectly well what depended upon them in that
frantic struggle round about the poor battered
town of Ypres ; and they nobly performed the
duty laid upon them.

Remember that these men were not fighting,
directly at least, for the safety of their own
homes, which were thousands of miles away in
peaceful Canada ; nor for their wives and
children, mothers, or sweethearts, who had sent
them out so bravely from their homes in the
western land. They might have stayed at home,
and no one would have had any right to call
them slackers or shirkers.

But they did not stay at home. The " Old
Grey Mother " of them all was in danger — the
Britain to whom it was their pride to belong.
So they came racing across the seas as quick

52 THE POST OF HONOUR

as steam could bring them ; and after some
months of training in the Old Country, they
went out to fight and win and die,

THE CANADIAN SPIRIT

WHEN the Canadian troops arrived at the
Western Front Sir John French wrote of them,
' The soldierly bearing and the steadiness with
which the men stay in the ranks on a bleak, cold,
and snowy day are most remarkable/' Other
leaders spoke of their high spirits and love of
fun ; others again of their cleverness in finding
out new ways of doing things, and, later, of
tricking the enemy.

The men from overseas soon became com-
rades with the Britons from the Motherland,
" The British Tommy," wrote a young
Canadian, " is splendid. He is alive to his finger-
tips. He is full of devices to deceive the enemy ;
he knows all kinds of tricks ; he hasn't a mean
streak in him, and he's a first-class fighting man.
He uses his brains. It has been a revelation to
me to find him as he really is,"

Briton and Canadian, therefore, were prepared
to think the best of each other ; and the feeling
of brotherliness with which they began their stern
work carried them shoulder to shoulder through
many a terrible day and yet more terrible night.

THE POST OF HONOUR 53

The Canadians, after their custom, treated
their officers in a free-and-easy manner which
seemed at first somewhat strange to the ordinary
British soldier. But when the time for duty
came there was no difference between Cana-
dian and British discipline. But there was
always a standing dispute among Canadian
officers and men in the heat of action as to
who should go first into the stiffest part of
the fight.

At one battle a Canadian captain was leading
his men in single file through a dangerous place,
when a non-commissioned officer stepped for-
ward and said, " I beg your pardon, sir, but
bomb-throwers always go first." Then he ran
on ahead before the officer could speak to order
him to go back.

There are numberless stories of Canadian
pluck and resource. In one engagement, Lieu-
tenant Campbell, leading a small number of men,
made his way into the front trench of the
Germans, and passed along for some distance
until he was held up by a barricade. They were
under very heavy fire, and in a short time only
two of the party were left, namely, the lieu-
tenant and Private Vincent.

The two men, however, kept on fighting.
They had a machine-gun, but it was useless
because they had no tripod to stand it on. So

54 THE POST OF HONOUR

Vincent stooped down and the officer strapped
the gun upon his back. It was worked with its
human tripod for some time, but at last a
German bombing party entered the trench and
Campbell was wounded to death. Vincent, how-
ever, succeeded in dragging the gun away to a
place of safety.

Our men were, naturally enough, very anxious
to prevent their guns from falling into the
enemy's hands and being used against them-
selves. A British gun, lost near Ypres, was
afterwards recovered in a surprising manner.

One bright morning a German aeroplane was
seen circling gracefully over the headquarters
of a British division. Soon the shrapnel was
bursting round it ; but the airman flew too high
to be hit, and he and his pilot seemed to the
thousands of watchers to be thoroughly enjoying
the risks of their morning flight.

Then a British machine appeared at some
distance away, and it was not observed by the
German airmen until it was close upon them.
The enemy turned to escape but the sound of an
aerial machine-gun soon told the watchers that
the fight had begun. The German made a
spirited reply, until his gun went wrong and his
pilot was wounded. Then his machine fell
rapidly to the ground and came to earth not far
from the Montreal Battalion, while the British

THE POST OF HONOUR 55

machine rose again to avoid the attentions of
the German gunners*

The German airman was able to get clear of
the wreckage of his machine and creeping to the
Canadian trench gave himself up, saying that
his pilot was dead* Our men were anxious to
capture the machine but the German gunners
were equally anxious to pound it to pieces* The
Canadians, however, were able to gather the
fragments of the wreck, and among them found
the machine-gun which had been lost near
Ypres some six months before*1

It was a French-Canadian officer, Major Roy,
who performed one of the bravest deeds of the
early part of the war in Flanders. A huge shell
from a trench-mortar fell into a trench full of
men. The gallant major picked it up to hurl it
over the parapet, but his foot slipped and the
shell exploded as he held it ! There was little
doubt that with men like these the Canadian
spirit would carry the troops of the Dominion
very far, as indeed it did, in the months of terror
and glory which were to follow*

A young Canadian, Private Smith, was merrily
singing a song during a bombing attack by some
of his comrades when a mine exploded near him

1 The story is fully told, with many others of great interest, in
Canada in Flanders, Part II., by Lord Beaverbrook. (Hodder
and Stoughton.)

56 THE POST OF HONOUR

and he was almost completely buried in the
falling earth. When he had dug himself out he
found that he had lost his rifle and looked about
to find some useful work.

He was soon made aware that the supply of
bombs was running short, and the idea struck
him that he might crawl round among the dead
or wounded bomb-throwers and collect the
bombs which they had not used.

Without wasting a moment, he moved care-
fully round on hands and knees and made his
collection, hanging the bombs at various points
on his own person. The missiles were duly
delivered by the smiling " carrier/' to the great
delight of his comrades who cheered him on in
his very useful but risky work. He made five
collections in all and safely delivered his precious
burden to the men who were attacking the
German trenches. His clothes and cap were
riddled with bullets, but he was not hit, because,
as he explained, he kept always " on the move."

At last he could find no more bombs, and his
company was forced to fall back before the
terrible German fire. One of the bombing
party was seen wounded, standing on the parapet
of the German front-line trench. He had thrown
every bomb he carried, and then weeping with
rage at being unable to do more, he flung earth
and stones at the enemy until the end came.

THE POST OF HONOUR 57

THE ADVENTURES OF THE KENT

THE long and glorious history of the British
Navy contains many a story of a fight against
great odds* We think with pride of the little
Revenge which fought fifty-three Spanish ships,
and only gave in when its gallant captain Sir
Richard Grenville was wounded to the death*
And this story of the time of Queen Elizabeth is
only one out of many in the records of our Navy,

Now it was a splendid and glorious thing for
Sir Richard Grenville to fight so bravely. But
it would have been a foolish and cruel thing if
Queen Elizabeth had ordered him to fight single-
handed against ten, or even five, Spanish ships.

In much the same way, it would be a splendid
thing if two of our ships were to fight half a
dozen Germans which had caught them un-
awares. But it would be very foolish of the
rulers of our Navy to allow such a thing to happen
if it could be helped. They must make as sure
as they can that any group of our ships will not
be outnumbered, or meet with an equal number
of vessels of a newer type and carrying heavier
guns.

Both these things happened off the coast of
Chile in South America on November i, 1914*
On that day four German cruisers met three

58 THE POST OF HONOUR

British cruisers and a battle took place. The
German ships were of a newer type and carried
much heavier guns than the British, so that the
latter were " outclassed " ; and though the
British fought with great bravery against the
heavy odds, two ships were lost.

A strong British squadron was at once got
together and placed under the command of
Admiral Doveton Sturdee. It was sent off in
secret, and people at home knew nothing about
it until news of victory came.

Turn to the map of South America and find
out the group of islands known as the Falklands
which lie off the south-east coast. These islands
are part of the British Empire and at Port
Stanley, the chief town, there is an important
wireless station.

A message was sent from London to the
governor of the Falklands to the effect that a
German squadron was cruising near, and might,
at any moment, make a raid upon the islands.
The German ships, under Admiral von Spee,
did indeed come to the Falklands intending to
destroy the wireless station and take possession
of the islands. But they found Admiral Sturdee
awaiting them, and on December 8th the Battle
of the Falklands was fought.

Sturdee in the Invincible gave the signal, —
" God save the King/' The firing began shortly

THE ENEMY CKUISER WAS ABOUT TO SINK.

60 THE POST OF HONOUR

after noon at a range of about nine miles. When
night had fallen four of the five German ships
lay at the bottom of the ocean, and two thousand
of the enemy had died in doing their duty. The
other enemy warship, the Dresden, made her
escape* The loss on the British side was only
eight men.

In connection with this battle the story of the
cruiser Kent is worth preserving, while one of
the stokers won the praise and reward of his
leaders for a deed of coolness and bravery. The
Kent was ordered to chase and engage one of
the German cruisers and set out on the trail.
But before long she found herself running short
of fuel.

This fact was reported to the captain and
though it was a very serious matter he was not
put out. ' * Very well then/' he said, " have a go
at the boats/' The word was passed along, and
some of the men unslung the boats and broke
them up with hatchets and crowbars. Then the
pieces were thickly smeared with oil and carried
below to the stokers whose stock of coal was
now almost at an end. Soon the ship's boats
were biasing in the furnaces and the Kent raced
along.

But this was not enough. Still more fuel was
needed, and officers and men cast their eyes
around in search of something more that would

THE POST OF HONOUR 61

burn. Some one pointed to the wooden ladders ;
and in a few moments they had been taken down
and sent below to the stokers*

Other men wrenched off the doors of cabins
and ward-rooms. Young officers ran laughing
to their cabins, and brought out chairs, tables,
chests of drawers, and other pieces of furniture.
These were quickly passed below. The stokers
worked with a will and by and by a hearty cheer
told them that the German was being over-
hauled.

Then the guns began to speak and after a
brisk exchange the enemy cruiser was seen to
be on fire and about to sink. She hauled down
her colours, whereupon the Kent ceased firing
and closed in to save life if possible. But the
German ship heeled over and went down like a
stone, only twelve men being rescued by the
British.

While these exciting things were happening
Sergeant Mayes showed coolness and bravery
which saved the lives of many of his comrades
and probably saved his ship. A shell burst and
set fire to some powder charges in the bomb-
proof shelter. A flash of flame went down the
hoist into the passage leading to the place where
the shells were kept. Sergeant Mayes picked up
a charge of powder and threw it into the sea.

He then got hold of a fire-hose and flooded

62 THE POST OF HONOUR

the shelter, in this way putting out the fire in
some empty shell bags which were burning.
These things were done in a few seconds, but
they were indeed fateful moments ; for the
firing of the magazine was the cause of the loss
of more than one gallant vessel during the
Great War.

THE LANCASHIRE LANDING

AGAIN and again in our fighting history, a
regiment acting as one man has performed a
" deed of signal valour and devotion in the
presence of the enemy/' such as is required for
the winning of the Victoria Cross. There is,
however, as we have seen, no V.C. for a regiment j
but in one case at least during the Great War a
regiment selected by vote the names of those
men among them who were thought most
worthy to wear the Victoria Cross.

The First Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers
landed on Beach W in the Gallipoli Peninsula
on April 25th, 1915 — a day to be marked and
remembered by all lovers of heroic deeds.
And having won immortal glory by their
valour they — or the survivors from among them
— selected for the V.C. three of their number,
namely Private Keneally, Sergeant Richards,

64 THE POST OF HONOUR

and Captain Willis* The story of the landing,
however, concerns the whole regiment.

Beach W was in a bay enclosed by hills
through which a narrow gully running down to
the sea opened out a break in the cliffs. The
Turks had expected a landing on this beach,
and had made every possible preparation to repel
the invaders. There were mines in the sea and
mines on the land. At the edge of the water
there was a thick fence of barbed wire.

There were trenches and gun positions on the
slopes overlooking the beach ; and the guns
were so cleverly hidden that the gunners on
our warships, even when helped by the airmen,
could not find them out. Behind each heap of
sand and each tuft of brushwood a Turkish
sniper was concealed.

" So strong, in fact/' wrote the British general,
Sir Ian Hamilton, " were the defences of Beach
W that the Turks may well have thought them
impregnable. And it is my firm conviction that
no finer feat of arms has ever been achieved by
the British soldier — or any other soldier — than
the storming of those trenches from open boats
on the morning of April 25."

Very early in the morning, the Lancashires
under Major Bishop were embarked in boats
from the cruiser which had brought them to the
scene of action. As soon as they were ready,

THE POST OF HONOUR 65

the British battleships began a terrific bom-
bardment of the Turkish positions* This lasted
for an hour, and at six o'clock eight lines of
four cutters, each drawn by a small steamboat,
made for the beach. When shallow water was
reached, the steamboats cast off and the cutters
were rowed towards the shore* Meanwhile,
the enemy had made no sign.

But as the first boat grounded upon the beach,
a furious fire was opened upon it from rifles,
machine-guns, and pom-poms* Of the first line
of fearless men who advanced upon the barbed-
wire hedge along the shore nearly all were swept
away* There was a pause, and the watchers on
the ships asked each other, " Why- are our men
resting t " not knowing that most of the brave
fellows had found the last great rest of all*

But the pause was only for a few moments* In
a very short time the Lancashires were hacking
doggedly at the bristling hedge of wire* Mean-
while, others of their comrades had been able to
land on some rocks at the end of the bay ; and
a few had already found out some of the Turkish
machine-gun positions and had accounted for
the men who held them. Others had got round
the ends of the wire hedge and were now steadily
replying to the enemy's fire.

But the struggle on the open beach was still
going on. Captain Willis and a few men were

E

66 THE POST OF HONOUR

able, after desperate efforts, to break a way
through the wire and then ran forward to take
cover behind a sandbank* When the men looked
at their rifles they found the barrels and locks
clogged with sand ; but they coolly set to work
to clean them, while the bullets whistled and sang
around them* At last the rifles were ready for
use and they did good service while other men
of the Lancashires were engaged in landing on
the beach*

The newcomers worked their way through or
round the ends of the barbed-wire fence, and
Captain Willis then led the charge upon the
enemy's trenches* The Turks fought with great
gallantry, but the Lancashires drove them from
their first line and gradually worked up to higher
and higher positions*

All this was done in the face of a withering
fire from the Turkish machine-guns and pom-
poms ; and the enemy also exploded several
land mines without checking the steady advance
of our brave fellows. Just before ten o'clock
that morning more men were landed, and by
this time no less than three lines of enemy
trenches were in British hands above Beach W*

Sir Ian Hamilton afterwards wrote : 4<i It was
to the complete lack of the sense of danger or of
fear in this daring battalion that we owed our
astonishing success in this quarter*"

THE POST OF HONOUR 67

But no words can convey in the least degree
the fierceness of the struggle which took place
that morning, or the dogged character of the
effort of the Lancashires to gain a footing on the
beach. During the Great War men rose to such a
height of heroism that deeds of wonderful daring
became matters of daily routine. One unhappy
result of this was that people at home took brave
deeds for granted, and forgot to do honour to
those who had done such great things for their
country.

COMMANDER UNWIN AND THE TWO
MIDSHIPMEN

ON Beach V of the Gallipoli Peninsula another
method of landing men was used, A collier
named the River Clyde was filled with soldiers
and run ashore, after a landing had been tried in
the ordinary way and had failed. Wide openings
had been made in the sides of the vessel from
which gangways were slung on ropes to give the
men passage either to the shallow water or to
flat boats known as lighters which were to form
a kind of bridge to the beach. The River Clyde
was in charge of Commander Edward Unwin.
The first landing from small boats upon this

68 THE POST OF HONOUR

beach had been a disastrous affair. The men
were shot down as they landed, and very soon
the beach was strewn with dead and dying.
Many were killed or wounded before they could
leave the boats and the fire was so severe that
one boat with all its men was blown to pieces,
A few of the men who waded ashore were
entangled in the barbed wire and were shot
down as they struggled to get loose. Not a
single boat returned to the ships.

One seaman named Lewis Jacobs of the Lord
Nelson showed the utmost bravery in this dread
hour. Every other man in his boat had been
killed or wounded, but he pulled steadily for
the beach and then took out the pole to guide
the boat to a suitable landing place. He was last
seen standing among the dead and dying, going
steadily on with his work, carrying out an in-
vasion on his own account. Then he fell to rise
no more.

Meanwhile, the River Clyde had been run
upon the beach not far from some rocks, and as
soon as she came to a stop a terrific fire was
directed upon her from the Turkish trenches.

The vessel had grounded in water too deep
to allow the men to wade ashore, A bridge was
therefore formed with two lighters, but before
long it was broken by the strong tide which
swung one of the boats out of position.

THE POST OF HONOUR 69

Several bluejackets faced the heavy fire and
went ashore to get the boats into a suitable
position. One of them named Charles Williams
was in the water for an hour engaged in this
difficult task and was then shot down. He was
awarded the Victoria Cross after his heroic
death.

A number of the Munster Fusiliers now left
one of the openings in the side of the vessel, ran
quickly down the sloping gangway, and jumped
into the first lighter. They could not jump
across the space between the two lighters, so
some of them leapt into the water.

Many were instantly shot down. A few
reached the shore. Others scrambled upon the
second lighter which had now been swirled
by the current into a still more unfavourable
position.

Matters were becoming truly desperate when
Cpmmander Unwin leapt into the water, which
took him up to the waist, and set to work with
a few others to try to make the bridge more
useful. Among the little party were two mid-
shipmen named Drewry and Malleson who
stuck to their desperate task with a cool bravery
beyond all praise.

After working hard for some time, Commander
Unwin began to feel the effects of the cold water
and was forced to go back to the shelter of the

70 THE POST OF HONOUR

ship* The doctors attended to him, wrapping him
in hot flannels, giving him hot drinks and
rubbing his limbs to restore the circulation. As
soon as he was somewhat recovered, he returned
to his work, and was helped again by the two
midshipmen who showed a cheery disregard
for shot and shell.

Midshipman Drewry was wounded in the
head, but, in spite of this, he went on with his
work. He made two attempts to swim from one
lighter to the other in order to carry a line across
the gap, but he was not able to carry out his plan,
to his great disappointment. Then Malleson took
the line in hand, and swam with it to the second
lighter.

This was a piece of very useful work, for a
fresh lot of men were now able to reach the
beach. Meanwhile, the fire from the Turkish
guns was becoming hotter and hotter, but it
was now met by a terrific bombardment from the
guns of the British warships, including the
Queen Elizabeth.

More men and still more men came out from
the River Clyde and ran down the gangway to
the lighters. After a short time the current once
more swung the second lighter aside and the line
broke. Malleson swam across with the rope,
but was not successful in joining up the two
lighters. Again he tried, and again he failed*

MALLESON SWAM ACROSS WITH THE ROPE.

72 THE POST OF HONOUR

Meanwhile Commander Unwin had been for
a second time through the doctors' hands in
order to have his bullet wounds attended to*
When this had been done he came up on deck
and saw that a number of men who were still
alive were lying helpless half in and half out of
the water* He ordered out a lifeboat and set out
to try to save them* A few of the men were
picked up before the brave commander was
obliged to give up his work. He was now almost
fainting from weariness and was forced to go
below again to be attended by the doctors.

The Turks now concentrated their fire upon
the bridge to the shore and any man appearing
upon it was at once shot down. Our men were
therefore ordered to remain under cover, and
they spent the rest of the day listening to the
pattering of the leaden hail upon the steel sides
of the ship. When darkness had fallen, the
troops were able to disembark and found some
shelter on the beach as well as in the ruined
houses of a village not far away.

THE POST OF HONOUR 73

ANZAC

THIS word is worthy of careful examination. It
means rather more than most words do, and it
is one of the most honourable names in the
British Empire,

The word is made up of the initial letters of
the following words, all except one which does
not greatly matter : Australian (and) New
Zealand Army Corps, The name Ansac was
given to that part of the coast of the Peninsula
of Gallipoli on which the Australians and New
Zealanders landed on the same day as the Lanca-
shires made their -landing farther to the south.
And in time the name Ansacs was given to the
Australians and New Zealanders alike. It was
a convenient short term for them.

They were a merry lot of men, * We are
having an iron time/' one of them wrote home,
44 we live in an iron ship, sleep on an iron floor,
have nothing to eat but iron rations, and now, to
crown all, I hear we are commanded by a fellow
called ' Iron * Hamilton,"

The various operations of April 25, 191 5, are
known as the Battle of the Landing, and the
attack delivered by the Anzacs was by far the
greatest of all. The force numbered some 12,000
men and the place chosen for the landing was
one of the most difficult on that rocky coast. The

74 THE POST OF HONOUR

assault is one of the most heroic in the records
of the British Army. A single body of men
seemed to act as one, and won everlasting fame
not only for themselves but for the nations to
which they belonged.

The landing was to be made with the help of
a squadron consisting of five battleships, one
cruiser, eight destroyers, a seaplane carrier, a
balloon ship and fifteen trawlers carrying supplies
as well as a number of transports. Some of the
men were carried on the battleships, and to these
was given the honour of making the first landing.

The ships left their base on the afternoon of
the 24th and steamed all night with lights out.
At one o'clock they were all collected about five
miles from the place where the landing was to
be made. It was a bright moonlight night, which
was rather unfortunate, for it gave the sentries
on the slopes above the bay a warning which
they were not slow to act upon.

At one o'clock the men on the battleships were
silently roused and were served with a hot meal.
They were very quiet and steady but cheery,
and quite confident that they could give a good
account of themselves in the coming fight. It
was, indeed, a severe trial of strength, skill, and
nerve power which lay before these brave
colonials. They were not like the Germans or
even the British regulars who had been trained

THE POST OF HONOUR 75

for fighting over a long period. Yet these men
from the farms and pastures as well as from the
towns of the Southern Land had been selected
for the post of honour on that great day.

As soon as the meal was finished, orders were
given to lower the boats. These included not
only the cutters but also the steam picket boats
which were to tow them to the beach. In a very
short time the men had embarked to the number
of 1500 and the boats were towed towards the
shore. The battleships were cleared for action
and steamed closer in.

It was a few minutes before five o'clock when
the first boats drew near to the shore above
which towered a lofty cliff with a winding path-
way leading from the beach to its right flank. At
that moment a light was seen on shore which
proved to be a signal, for a few minutes later a
rifle volley rang out followed by the sound of a
machine-gun, and a number of men in the lead-
ing boats fell dead or wounded. The landing of
the Ansacs was to be disputed.

This reception was exactly what the men
needed to nerve them to their attack. A body of
Turkish soldiers was seen advancing to meet
them. Without waiting for the word of command
they sprang from the boats into the shallow
water, and ran to meet the foe. " Their maga-
zines were not even charged/' we read, " so they

76 THE POST OF HONOUR

just went in with cold steel, and I believe I
am right in saying that the first Ottoman Turk
since the Last Crusade received an Anglo-Saxon
bayonet in him at five minutes after five a.m.
on April 25. It was over in a minute. The
Turks in the first trench were bayoneted or ran
away and a Maxim gun was captured. Then the
Australians found themselves facing an almost
perpendicular cliff of loose sandstone." 1

Half-way up the face of this cliff was a second
trench, from which a steady fire was now pouring
from rifle and machine-gun. The face of the
precipice was dotted with short bushes and
behind each of these pieces of scrub a marksman
was concealed. The fire from the enemy was
directed not only upon those men who had
already landed but also upon those who were
now being brought from the transports.

The men at the foot of the cliff threw their
packs to the ground, charged their rifles and set
out on their desperate climb. In about fifteen
minutes they were in possession of the second
line of trenches and the Turks were on the run,
or rather on the climb, to the top of the lofty
cliff. The men were so full of eagerness that
some of them pressed too far and were cut off
from the main attack.

1 From Despatches from the Dardanelles, by Mr. Ashmead-
Bartlett (Newnes), with acknowledgments.

THE POST OF HONOUR 77

Meanwhile the battleships were bombarding
the Turkish positions and were receiving such a
heavy fire in return that the landing was greatly
checked. The beach was very narrow and soon
became crowded to such an extent that the men
got in each other's way and there were more
casualties than there would have been in more
open country. But there was no quenching the
spirit of the men. One eager Australian fell over
a cliff 100 feet high and was picked up little the
worse for his fall. A man from New Zealand
was seen going down a deep hollow and was
warned that there would probably be a mine at
the bottom. He laughed and called out, " Then
you can catch me as I come up."

A dressing station protected by sandbags had
been set up on the beach, and when the wounded
had been given first-aid they were quickly con-
veyed to the ships. The men showed wonderful
courage and cheerfulness. " I saw some lighters
full of bad cases," wrote one who was there,
" as they passed the battleships. Some of those
on board recognised our vessel as the ship they
had left that morning ; whereupon, in spite of
their sufferings and discomforts, they set up a
cheer which was answered by a deepening shout
of encouragement from our crew."

By the afternoon of that great day the Anzacs
found themselves in a strong position above the

y8 THE POST OF HONOUR

beach for which they had won immortal fame.
Their first task was accomplished. They had
invaded Gallipoli, and had fixed themselves
ready for the next stage in the stern work, which
was not long delayed ; for the Turks soon
attacked in force, but were unable to move the
Anzacs from their position.

SUBMARINES IN THE DARDANELLES

WE heard so much during the war about German
submarines that many people forgot that we had
under-water craft of our own. If the German
fleet had come out from the harbours of Kiel
and Wilhelmshaven they would have learnt a
little about the number and efficiency of the
British submarines, as well as about the chivalry
of their commanders.

The British submarines had a better chance
to show what they could do at the Dardanelles ;
and some of the bravest deeds of the naval war-
fare were done in this quarter. Take a large map
of Europe and find out the Dardanelles, the Sea
of Marmora and Constantinople ; and remember
that at the time we are now considering a British
fleet was lying off the entrance to the straits
known as the Dardanelles.

THE BlI PASSING UNDER THE MINES.

8o THE POST OF HONOUR

Remember, also, that the strait was strongly
guarded on either side by a number of Turkish
forts, while mines were laid in the water all
around. The distance from the entrance of the
Dardanelles to Constantinople is about 230 miles,

One day the British submarine En, under
Lieutenant-Commander Nasmith, set out on a
voyage to Constantinople, where there were
several Turkish troopships carrying men who
were to be sent to fight us in the Gallipoli
Peninsula, This little boat had to pass under or
round the mine-fields ; to dodge the Turkish
destroyers ; to avoid being detected by the guns
of the shore batteries ; and to be prepared to
spend long hours under water.

All these things were done, and a great deal
more, so much, indeed, that it is difficult to
believe that one little boat could do so much.
It was the means of destroying a Turkish gun-
boat, two troopships, one powder-ship, and three
storeships, while it drove another storeship ashore.
Then the plucky little En set out for home and
passed safely through the most difficult part of
the return journey. But even yet its daring work
was not completed ; for it returned to tor-
pedo another Turkish troopship! The brave
and resourceful commander well deserved the
Victoria Cross which was granted to him by
King George,

THE POST OF HONOUR 8z

The British submarine Bn had an even more
adventurous journey in the same quarter. In
the month of December of the first year of the
war the British fleet was waiting for a fitting
time to bombard the forts at the entrance to
the Dardanelles ; and in order to pass the time
of waiting Lieutenant-Commander Norman D.
Holbrook set out on a voyage of adventure.

There was a large mine-field at the entrance
to the Straits consisting of several rows of mines.
The Bn dived under these mines and came
safely within the straits. Then a torpedo was
fired at a Turkish battleship named the Mes-
sudiyeh, and in a very short time the vessel heeled
over and then settled slowly down. Meanwhile
the periscope was sighted from the batteries on
the shore as well as by the torpedo boats which
were patrolling the Straits, and in a very short
time the shells were hissing around it. But it
dodged them cleverly, and after sighting the
battleship so as to make quite sure that it was
really sinking, the Bn set out on the return
journey.

It was now so much harried by the Turkish
guns from various quarters, that it was forced
to keep under water as much as possible. At
one part of its journey it was submerged for no
less than nine and a half hours. Then the com-
pass got out of order, and the boat was driven

F

8a THE POST OF HONOUR

about in the strong undercurrents of the Straits*
Sometimes the men could feel it grating upon
the bottom ; then it would be suddenly carried
near the surface and every man held his breath
while he waited for a mine to go off. But passing
through all the dangers, the little craft at last
reached " home " in safety, to be given a warm
reception by men and officers of the Allied fleets.
Lieutenant Holbrook was awarded the V.C. for
this daring deed, while every other man in the
submarine was given a medal. On the following
day the Bg tried to rival the exploit, but was soon
detected and was forced to come back.

In one of the actions against the Turks the
Inflexible was hit in the foremast by a shell.
Several of the men in the control station at the
top of this steel tripod mast were badly wounded
by the explosion ; and those on the deck began
to make preparations for bringing the men who
had been hurt down from the control.

As they looked upward, they saw to their
astonishment that one of the wounded men was
already tackling the problem. He had taken on
his shoulders one of his comrades who was more
hurt than himself and was carrying him down
the steel ladder attached to one of the legs of the
tripod.

After him came another carrying a second
wounded man in a similar manner, and after a

THE POST OF HONOUR 83

painful and perilous descent both the carriers
reached the deck in safety. It must not be for-
gotten that the rungs of the ladder were coated
with greasy soot from the smoke of the funnels ;
and they were therefore by no means secure
resting places for the feet of wounded men so
heavily burdened as these brave rescuers were.

WARNEFORD AND THE ZEPPELIN

ONE Sunday night in the early part of June 1915,
a Zeppelin airship paid a visit to the East Coast
of England. It sailed over a wide area and
bombs were dropped in various places. As a
result of this visit several people were killed
and a number were badly hurt.

About twenty-four hours later, a Zeppelin
was sighted on the coast of Belgium by two
airmen, one British and the other French. The
airship was chased and the British aviator came
up with it between Ghent and Brussels.

He dropped bombs upon it which caused the
gas in the envelope to explode. The airship was
set on fire and fell to the ground and its crew of
about twenty-eight men were killed. It is most
probable that this was the airship which had just
paid a visit to England.

84 THE POST OF HONOUR

The British airman who did this splendid
piece of work was Flight Sub-Lieutenant
Warneford of the Royal Naval Air Service and
he was only twenty-four at the time. His machine
was a monoplane, and very small compared with
a Zeppelin, as can be seen in the picture.

The splendid deed was performed at a height
of about 6000 feet above ground. The Zeppelin
was flying lower than usual as it was nearing its
hangar or shed. This gave Warneford his chance
to get above it, and after that his work was a
matter of careful aim. It really took only one
bomb to fire the envelope, and then there was
no hope for the Zeppelin.

The gas in the envelope exploded with such
force that it made Warneford's machine turn
completely over.

This somersault in the air emptied one of the
petrol tanks ; and the airman, righting his
machine, saw that he must go down to fill it
from the supply kept in another part of the
machine. Meanwhile, the bullets from German
rifles were flying all round him. He was, of
course, in enemy country and near the town of
Amandsberg.

In the open country outside of the town he
saw a piece of waste land which seemed to be
lonely and deserted. Down he planed to this
spot and set to work at breathless speed to fill his

£

WARNEFORD AND THEtZEPPELIN.

86 THE POST OF HONOUR

tank while the Germans were racing to the place
to try to capture or kill him.

At last all was ready and he took his seat in
the machine. It rose into the air just as a
number of Germans came in sight and began to
fire at it. But no shot took effect, and the plucky
airman made his way in safety to the French lines.

There were many people watching this
famous fight in the air, which took place over
the town about four o'clock in the morning.
Here is the story of the fight as told by one of
these spectators :

44 The airship was flying over Amandsberg
and attempting to escape the two airmen by
descending. A great number of civilians watched
the fight.

44 Obviously, the Zeppelin had already had a
skirmish with its pursuers, as it was slightly
listing to the left side. Shots were exchanged
with the two airmen, one of whom was daring
enough to approach close to the airship in an
attempt to fly over it.

44 After a sudden bold swoop this airman was
seen to drop some explosives on the Zeppelin
which was at once wrapped in flames. The
balloon covering was now fiercely burning, and
after some minor reports and one big explosion,
the airship dropped upon the convent school
of Amandsberg. The nuns tried to bring the

THE POST OF HONOUR 87

children to a place of safety, and two sisters who
had rushed into the street with little ones in their
arms were badly hurt,

44 The Zeppelin crew were all killed and only
the framework of the great airship remained*
The streets of the town were at once closed, and
the people were ordered indoors. The British
airman finally disappeared in a north-easterly
direction/'

Not long afterwards Warneford was killed
while flying near Paris in an aeroplane of a new
type which was being tested. It was a sad ending
to what promised to be a useful career, but the
fame of the young airman V,C. was already
made ; and boys who love adventure will always
be proud to read the story of the first Briton
who was able, single-handed, to bring down a
Zeppelin,

SMITH AND FORSHAW : TWO HEROES
OF GALLIPOLI

SECOND-LIEUTENANT SMITH of the East Lan-
cashire Regiment was engaged in the fighting
against the Turks in Gallipoli. He was in the
act of throwing a grenade when it slipped from
his hand and fell to the bottom of the trench. At

88 THE POST OF HONOUR

the moment there were several officers and men
quite near to him.

Smith shouted out a warning and gave a jump
which landed him clear of danger. Then he saw
that the other men would not be able to get into
cover. Without a moment's hesitation, therefore,
he jumped back into the trench and flung him-
self upon the grenade. He was at once killed
by the explosion, but the rest of the men were
uninjured.

" Possibly/' wrote Smith's commander to
the young man's father, " he thought he could
extinguish it ; more likely he gave up his own
life to save others from death and injury. What-
ever his thoughts may have been, his act was
one of bravery such as I, personally, have never
heard surpassed.

' There was only one result possible. I am
afraid no decoration can make up for the loss of
your only son, but the explanation must make
you the proudest man in England, when every
one reads the story and couples the memory of
his name with that old and honoured phrase
* A soldier and a gentleman.' '

Lieutenant Forshaw hailed from the same
part of England as the brave young officer of
whom we have just read. He belonged to the
Manchester Territorials, and he won the Cross
in trench fighting against the Turks. His station

THE POST OF HONOUR 89

was at an important corner which was to be held
at all costs ; and in holding it Forshaw showed
what is perhaps a higher form of courage than
impulse — that of stern unflinching endurance.

By his spirit and example he encouraged his
men to hold their own against repeated and
savage attacks of the enemy. He set them an
example of heroism by his cool disregard for
danger. At the end of 24 hours' continuous
fighting his men were relieved ; but he offered
to go on directing operations, and his offer was
accepted.

For another 17 hours he repeatedly threw
bombs at the enemy, lighting the fuses with a
cigarette. He was choked by acid fumes, bruised
by fragments of shell, and scarcely able to lift
his arm for weariness, but he " stuck it " until
the position was safe,

14 It was due to his personal example, magnifi-
cent courage and endurance," said his superiors,
44 that this very important corner was held,"
When a brave man is in a tight place of any
kind he will do well to remember " Forshaw's

corner,"

90 THE POST OF HONOUR

THE STORY OF EDITH CAVELL

THERE is a lofty, snow-clad peak in the Canadian
Rockies which is known by the name of Mount
Edith CavelL It was named in the year 1915 to
enshrine the memory of a noble woman who laid
down her life for the love of humanity. She was
an English patriot, but, as we shall see as we go
on with her story, she was much more than that,

Edith Cavell was a hospital nurse who was
trained in London and went to Belgium in 1900
to take charge of a training school for nurses in
a suburb of Brussels. She threw herself into her
work with great devotion and in a few years made
it a real success. Then the war began and the
Germans marched into Brussels as victors ; but
Miss Cavell was allowed to stay at her hospital.

The Germans seemed to know that she might
be useful even to their own men ; and they were
not mistaken. The course of events brought
many German wounded to Brussels and these
men received the same care as the Belgian
wounded. All hurt or sick men were the same
to Edith Cavell, and her one aim was to get them
well again.

After the retreat from Mons and from Namur,
a number of French and English soldiers were
cut off from the main army and were left behind

THE POST OF HONOUR 91

in Belgium* These men hid themselves in the
woods or in the ruins of shattered towns, watch-
ing for an opportunity to escape either into
France or Holland. Some of them were captured
by the Germans, and many were shot at once
without any form of trial. Others were taken
care of by the country people and many stories
could be told, and probably will be told in the
future, of the adventures of these refugees in
their own land.

There were many Belgians, too, who had been
left behind after the earlier battles of the war,
and these poor fugitives in their native land had
the same experiences. Some were taken and
instantly shot ; others were dressed in civilian
clothing and given work on the land, and when
the chance came were helped across the frontier
into Holland. Many were shot by the German
guards as they made their last dash for freedom
across the barbed-wire fence which marked off
Holland from Belgium.

There was constant movement among the
English, French, and Belgians to get away.
Many of them had been brought into touch with
Miss Cavell at one or other of her hospitals and
they seem to have begged for her help. She had
means of helping them and she did not hesitate
to use them. She did not count the cost to her-
self. Here were men who, if taken, would most

92 THE POST OF HONOUR

probably be shot out of hand. What could a
good woman do but help them to escape $* She
would thereby break the German military law,
but she would be faithful to the higher law of
kindness.

It was afterwards told against her by the
Germans that she helped 130 men to leave
Belgium. We do not know whether this number
is correct, but if it were halved the record would
still be a proud one.

After a time the Germans began to be sus-
picious of Miss Cavell. Spies were ordered to
watch her. One of these men, it is said, went to
ask her to help him to leave the country ; she
listened to his story, promised to help him, and
then in accordance with his " duty " he betrayed
her to his higher officers. She was made a
prisoner on the 5th of August 1915.

In the military prison she was closely confined
and no one was allowed to see her. She was con-
sidered a most dangerous person, as indeed she
was when it was a question of mercy and pity
before obedience to a brutal law. The Germans
tell that she made no effort to hide or excuse
the fact that she had helped men to escape from
the country. She had acted as she did, knowing
full well that she was breaking the rule of the
Germans. It was said that she fully expected to
be caught some day and to suffer punishment,

THE POST OF HONOUR 93

but that she thought it would take the form of
imprisonment for a time.

There was living in Brussels at this time a Mr*
Brand Whitlock who was American Minister,
that is to say, he was in charge of American
affairs in Belgium, As soon as he heard that
Miss Cavell had been arrested, he wrote to the
German officers and did all he could to get a
fair trial for the lady. The Germans said that no
one would be allowed to see Miss Cavell, but
that she should have a trial in accordance with
the soldier's law.

Mr. Whitlock was told that Miss Cavell had
said that she was " guilty " ; that she had hidden
in her house French, English, and Belgians who
were anxious to get away from Belgium ; and
that she had given them money and other help,
sometimes providing guides to conduct them to
the frontier.

Her trial began on the yth October, and
thirty-four other prisoners were tried with her.
The language used in the court was German,
and when a question was put to Miss Cavell it
was translated into French, with which she was
familiar. She was allowed to have a lawyer to
speak in her defence, but she did not see him
until the day of the trial, so that his help was of
no great service to her. She had, however, con-
fessed her " fault/* so that it did not matter*

94

She probably thought of cases in English military
history where women had been found guilty of
military offences and had been imprisoned ; and
the punishment seemed light when she thought
of the young lives that she had saved and of the
mothers and sisters and sweethearts who would
bless her name until their dying day*

Perhaps she was as much surprised as were
many other people when she was sentenced to
die* Before sentence was passed upon her she
was asked why she had helped soldiers to go to
England, She replied quite simply that she
thought if she had not done so they would have
been shot by the Germans ; and she considered
she only did her duty to her country in saving
their lives. The order of the court was that she
should be shot the next morning at two o'clock.

During the following evening the American
Minister made almost frantic efforts to save her
life. He was nobly helped by the Spanish
Minister, but all their efforts were of no avail,
Mr, Gahan, the British chaplain in Brussels,
was, however, allowed to see Miss Cavell in
her prison,

" I found her/' he afterwards wrote, " per-
fectly calm and resigned. She said that she
wished her friends to know that she willingly
gave her life for her country and said, * I have
no fear nor shrinking ; I have seen death so

THE POST OF HONOUR 95

often that it is not strange or fearful to
me/

44 She further said, ' I thank God for this ten
weeks' quiet before the end. Life has always
been hurried and full of difficulty* This time of
rest has been a great mercy* They have all been
very kind to me here* But this I would say.
standing as I do in view of God and eternity.
I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must
have no hatred or bitterness towards any one/

44 We sat quietly talking until it was time for
me to go. She gave me parting messages for
relations and friends. Then I said, 4 Good-bye/
and she smiled and said, * We shall meet again/ "

Next morning she was shot. The place of her
burial was kept secret, for the Germans feared
that the Belgians would make it a rallying place
for rebellion. In this way they showed that they
knew they had acted not only inhumanly but
foolishly.

The execution of Edith Cavell roused great
anger throughout the world, except of course in
Germany. British and French soldiers fought
with greater courage with her name upon their
lips. From every civilised country came pro-
tests against the shooting of a woman whose
only military offence was that she had followed
the promptings of a tender heart.

Her story was told in every British school and

96 THE POST OF HONOUR

the Education Minister of France gave orders
that the teachers of Paris should also tell it to
their pupils, ' The great and sublime figure
of Edith Cavell," he said, " stands forth among
the black horrors of the war as a living image of
outraged humanity." Her death and the way
it was regarded in Germany reminded the Allies
once again that in fighting Germany they were
fighting barbarism and the spirit which aims at
" success " at any price.

In our just anger at the executioners of this
noble lady let us not miss the true lesson of her
splendid life and her heroic death.

She loved England first as became an English-
woman. That was made quite clear in all that
she said and did. She loved the friends of
England too — all those who were fighting for
the same great cause. That also was perfectly
clear.

But mark once more that noble utterance
spoken on the last evening of her life, " This I
would say, standing as I do in view of God and
eternity, / realise that patriotism is not enough.
I must have no hatred or bitterness towards
any one/'

We know that she had helped German
wounded and had shown them all the care and
tenderness that the sight of a suffering man
could arouse in her. She did this, not because

THE POST OF HONOUR 97

she had any desire to help the rulers of Germany
whose ways she hated, but because the men were
human beings.

Her kindness to German wounded and her
last words which are twice quoted above were
her woman's protest against the folly and the
wickedness of all war. She could put aside with
a quiet smile the pompous military rule which
laid down that certain things were to be done
because men were living in a state of war. She
followed a higher rule, the law of pity and of
mercy, remembering the words of the great
poet of her beloved country :

" Earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice."

JACK CORNWELL, THE BOY WHO
44 CARRIED ON "

ONE day, in the summer of 1917, a group of
people were standing before a large picture
which was hung upon the wall of one of the
rooms in the Royal Academy.

The painting showed a wounded sailor-boy
standing on the deck of a warship near the shield
of a naval gun while shells were bursting all
round him, and the gun's crew were lying dead
or wounded at his feet.

" What did he do < " asked a lady after look-

c

98 THE POST OF HONOUR

ing closely at the picture for some time, " Oh/'
said a gentleman who was with her, " he just
stuck it, you know*" That was all that the boy
had done, " just stuck it " at the post of honour,
although hurt so cruelly that he afterwards died.

But his simple action had been enough to
rouse the admiration of the whole British Empire,
to win for him the Victoria Cross, and to afford
an example to every boy and man in the British
Navy, There were many brave deeds done in
the Battle of Jutland, but when Admiral Beatty
afterwards made out his report it was John
Travers Cornwell whom he picked out as at
least one glorious example.

The boy won his Cross at the Battle of Jut-
land Bank, which began in the afternoon of
Wednesday, May 3ist, of the year 1916, This
fight was one of the most important naval battles
of the Great War and might have been as
momentous as Trafalgar if the Germans had not
retired when Admiral Jellicoe came up to the
aid of Admiral Beatty with the Grand Fleet,

We can form some idea of the terrible nature
of the battle from the British losses. These
included six of the larger ships and eight
destroyers, as well as a large number of brave
British sailors. But the German losses were
very much heavier, both in ships and men.

One of the British ships engaged in the fight

THE POST OF HONOUR 99

was H.M.S. Chester , the crew of which included
the boy John Travers Cornwell, whose age was
about 1 6£ years* He belonged to a party whose
duty it was to work one of the guns, and during
the first part of the fighting he received a very
bad wound*

But he stayed at his post in a most exposed
position, and went quietly on with his work
though the men of the gun crew fell* one by one,
dead or dying around him. He was hurt again
and again, but he did not give up. He stood
waiting for orders with the speaking tube at his
ears, until the fight was over, when he was taken
tenderly below.

His captain afterwards wrote of him to his
mother : — " The wounds which resulted in his
death were received in the first few minutes of
the action. He remained steady at his most
exposed post at the gun, waiting for orders* . . .
He felt that he might be needed — as indeed he
might have been — so he stayed there, standing
and waiting under heavy fire, with just his own
brave heart and God's help to support him*"

After the battle the boy was taken to a hospital
at Grimsby, He was attended with the greatest
care, but his wounds were too severe to be cured.
Cornwell had indeed been " faithful unto
death."

Before he died some one asked him what he

ioo THE POST OF HONOUR

and his mates were doing during that terrible
time, u Oh," said the dying boy, " we were
just carrying on,"

HEROES OF LOOS

LET us begin with a heroine if only to remind
ourselves that it was not only the British who
showed the most wonderful heroism on the
Western Front, but the French also, not exclud-
ing the French women and girls. When the
British re-took the French town of Loos in the
autumn of 1915, they found a ready helper in a
French girl of seventeen years named Emilienne
Moreau, who had lived there during the German
occupation.

She shared the work which women did so
nobly during the Great War, that of nursing the
wounded. This was done under the most trying
conditions, for the fighting was still going on
and all was din and confusion around her. In
spite of the heavy bombardment, some of the
people of Loos had stayed behind in their
shattered houses ; and one of the first duties of
our troops on entering the town was to carry
terrified women and children into places of
cover.

Emilienne Moreau did more than tend the
wounded. She took a hand in the fighting,

THE POST OF HONOUR 101

young as she was* The Germans fought every
foot of the way, but she helped them to go.
She killed no less than five of them by throwing
hand grenades and using a revolver* At a later
date she was decorated by a French general with
the Military Cross, which might be described as
the V.C. of France.

The fighting in this quarter was marked by the
usual deeds of heroism which one had come to
expect from British troops. At one place the
British attacked, but were forced to fall back.
They took shelter behind a parapet, and when
they had time to think of what had happened,
Captain Kerr of the R.A.M.C. looked over the
top of the barrier and saw two wounded men
lying in the open. The enemy were at close
range and were firing heavily ; but Captain
Kerr took the hero's chance, jumped over the
parapet, and brought both the men to a place of
safety.

Our men were gassed in this engagement, and
some of the most heroic and desperate fighting
was done by soldiers suffering from the effects
of the hideous yellow cloud. The King's Own
Scottish Borderers were shaken by the gas and
seemed to waver in their trenches. Piper Daniel
Laidlaw saw this and at once jumped upon the
parapet, careless of his life.

Then he marched up and down, blowing his

102 THE POST OF HONOUR

pipes with great vigour. The men lifted their
heads* The sound of the pipes seemed to rouse
them to fresh efforts. They leapt from the ditch
'* over the top " and rushed to the attack as if
driven by madness. But a bullet found Piper
Laidlaw and he fell wounded. His work was
done, however, and he lived to receive the
Victoria Cross as a reward for his bravery.

Meanwhile, officers and men in every part of
the field were " carrying on " in the most
wonderful way. Lieutenant Hollwey's business
was to lay a telephone wire and to do so under
heavy fire. He had not gone far before he was
wounded in the leg. He took little notice of the
wound and went steadily on with his work, until
another bullet fractured his leg. Then he lay
down and waited for no less than sixteen hours.
Men were so desperately busy all round him
that he refused to be helped while more im-
portant work was to be done.

Sergeant Wells immediately took charge of his
platoon when the officer in command had been
killed, and the men followed him to within a
short distance of the German barbed wire. As
they ran across the open, many were killed and
wounded, and when Wells was last seen he was
shouting to his men to pull themselves together
and rush the German line. The fire was, how-
ever, too severe, and the men were forced to take

THE POST OF HONOUR 103

cover ; but the brave sergeant had done all that
man could do and had given his life as an offer-
ing to duty*

The Germans had laid mines under the church
tower of Loos and shells were bursting round it.
At any moment the mines might explode and
bring down the masonry upon the heads of our
men. So Major Blogg of the Royal Engineers
went forward through the storm of shells, found
the fuse and cut it in two.

Many heroic deeds were done amongst the
barbed wire in that battle. At one place the
Royal Warwicks were stopped by an entangle-
ment when they were near to the first line of
German trenches. It was daylight and the men
were in a very exposed place while shells and
bullets whistled round them. Then Private
Vickers stood up in his place and coolly cut the
wire in several points so that his comrades were
able to force their way through.

So the " great game " went on until Loos
was finally and completely in British hands,
after a brave resistance by our determined foes.

104 THE POST OF HONOUR

HOW MOORHOUSE BROUGHT IN HIS
REPORT

THE railway at Courtrai was a very important
part of the German lines of communication ;
but it was not out of reach of the Allied airmen.
Orders were sent out that the line at this place
was to be destroyed and W. B. R. Moorhouse
was chosen to do the work*

His machine was a biplane and he was to go
alone so as to be able to carry as much ammuni-
tion as possible* The risks did not trouble him,
for he was of the type of airman that asks for
risk as a kind of spice to the adventure*

Off he flew, and before long he came within
sight of the junction at Courtrai. After a while,
he switched off his engine and descended to a
height of about 250 feet above the ground. By
this time he had been sighted by the German
gunners and riflemen, and at this low altitude
he made an easy mark.

Carefully guiding his machine to a position
above the railway points, he let fall a large bomb.
It hit the mark at which he aimed and he knew
that he had done enough damage to delay the
German movements for some time. Then he
began to think about his return.

He turned the nose of his machine skywards

THE POST OF HONOUR 105

and began to climb. Up, up he went, while the
bullets whistled and the shells burst around him.
But one of the bullets found its mark. He was
struck in the thigh and it was not long before he
knew that his wound would cost him his life.
But he had his report to make and he pulled
himself together for the last effort.

It was hard to go on that lonely journey.
Blood was flowing from his wound, and twice he
felt everything turn black and cold sweats break
out upon him* But he stuck gamely to his task
and managed somehow to keep the control of his
craft.

The distance back to his own lines was about
forty miles, and in spite of his wound he landed
easily and without mishap. Then he made his
report to those who had sent him out, and only
just in time ; for it was necessary to carry him
off to the hospital, where he died after a short
time. The Cross was afterwards awarded to him
for this feat of endurance and courage,

LORAINE'S FIGHT IN THE AIR

THE airmen might be described as the " eyes of
the army/* They go up over the enemy's lines
and find out what is going on ; then they come
back — if they escape the guns of the enemy —
and make their reports to the British officers.

io6 THE POST OF HONOUR

One day in November 1915, Captain Robert
Loraine set out with an observer to do some
work of this kind. He was well used to the task
and had found out many things of great use to
the commanding officers.

After a time he saw an enemy machine ahead
of him and moved quickly within range. Both
machines opened fire at the same moment,
and blazed away at each other for some time.
Then Loraine's gun and that of his companion
both got out of order, and the two men were at
the mercy of the Germans.

But only for a short time ; Loraine's com-
panion managed to get his gun to work again,
and kept up a brisk reply to the German fire.
All at once the German " bus " dived, and
Loraine dived after it. Then a flame leapt up
from the enemy aeroplane and in a moment it
was falling to the earth, a burning wreck.

Loraine rose once more and in a few moments
saw another German plane ahead of him. His
observer was by this time almost frozen, but the
two men took the risk and chased the new foe
with the intention of giving battle. The German
paused as if to make off, then accepted the
challenge, and the battle was joined.

It lasted for about five minutes, and then the
German pilot was hit and the second machine
fell to the ground. By this time Loraine's

THE POST OF HONOUR 107

observer was feeling very much warmer and
ready to deal with any number of enemy aircraft.

All at once, however, the engine of the British
machine gave out* There was nothing for it but
to come down to earth and that within the
German lines ! This was done without mishap,
and then the two men pushed their machine
towards the British lines, keeping a sharp look-
out meanwhile for enemy snipers,

By and by they came to the place where the
second German aeroplane had fallen. They found
that the pilot was dead and his companion very
severely wounded, Loraine stayed long enough
to take from the German machine all that might
prove useful to himself, and then set out again
to take his " prisoner " to hospital. The strange
little party reached the British lines without
further adventure and the German was soon in
the hands of the British Red Cross,

He was carefully tended, and when he had
been made as comfortable as possible he asked
how soon he would be taken to be tortured !

Loraine's adventure was typical of the kind
of work that went on in the air during all the
operations of the Western Front. As in the days
of King Arthur of olden story —

" Every morning brought a noble chance."

io8 THE POST OF HONOUR
44 A GLORIOUS BAND "

" The Son of God goes forth to war,

A kingly crown to gain ;
His blood-red banner streams afar :
Who follows in His train < "

THE words of the old soldiers' hymn must often
have come into the minds of our brave men as
they fought and died to win freedom for the
world* And, indeed* they were doing no less
than this ; for all men knew that if the Germans
were not beaten there would be no more real
freedom for mankind*

There was one day in the month of September
of the year 1916 when the King granted no less
than twenty Victoria Crosses. Some of them
could not be worn by the brave men who had
won them for they had been " faithful unto
death " ; and their medals were sent to those
whom they had left behind to mourn for them
and to rejoice when they forgot their sorrow
that they had died so nobly.

The newspaper on the following morning was
a matter for gladness and sadness ; for it con-
tained a splendid record of heroic deeds which
made one feel proud to be a Briton,

There was the brave story of Major Loudoun
Shand of a Yorkshire regiment. He led an attack
upon an enemy trench and his men were met by

THE POST OF HONOUR 109

such a severe machine-gun fire that at first they
were dazed and hesitated* But the major leapt
first upon the parapet of the trench, and then
turning helped some of his men to scramble up.
The others followed and then fought bravely and
well, the major calling words of cheer to them
as they pressed on, driving the foe before them.

Then he received a fatal wound, " Prop me
up," he said to one of his men, and they sup-
ported him against the wall of a trench. There
he sat, bleeding to death ; but his voice was
heard loud and clear to the last, urging and cheer-
ing on his men, that they might play their part
as he himself had done.

Then there was Lieutenant Gather of the
Royal Irish Fusiliers, who seemed to covet
honour as some men wish for gold. After a
severe fight he searched the wide space between
the front lines of trenches which was known as
14 No Man's Land/' looking for wounded men.
All the time the space was swept by the guns of
the enemy and at each step he risked his own
life.

But on he went, searching, and listening for
the groans of the wounded. He found three
men and brought them in, one after the other.
Then he gave up the task for it was midnight and
even he needed rest. But at eight o'clock the
next morning he was at work again.

no THE POST OF HONOUR

He brought in yet another man who had
spent the night in the open, wounded and lonely ;
and he carried water to others though the ground
was again swept by the enemy's terrible fire. At
half-past ten that morning he went out yet again
to carry water to a wounded man, and this time
he was killed*

" Greater love hath no man than this ; that
a man lay down his life for his friends/'

Second-Lieutenant Bell of a Yorkshire regi-
ment found that a certain machine-gun troubled
his company greatly during an attack* So he crept
up a trench with two other daring men. rushed
across the open under heavy fire, and made for
the machine-gun. The gunner was shot and the
three men then threw bombs at the gun until it
was completely wrecked. A little later Bell met
his death in the course of duty, and laid down
his arms like a " very gallant gentleman/'

Sergeant-Major Carter of the Royal Sussex
was eager to be in the post of honour. With a
few men as keen as himself he worked his way
to the enemy's second line of trenches. The
men were all forced back to the first line, but on
the way they captured and destroyed a machine-
gun which was worrying their comrades. Then
Carter looked about for more work and was soon
busily engaged in carrying wounded men to
places of safety. As he was performing this work

THE POST OF HONOUR in

of mercy he was mortally wounded and died in
a few minutes.

Corporal Sanders of a West Yorks regiment
was another eager spirit who was cut off with a
company of thirty men from the rest of the
regiment* He quickly placed his men so that
they could defend themselves. Then he made
up a bombing party and urged his little band to
hold out at all costs and not to give themselves
up as prisoners.

The men remained in their position during
the whole of the next night, and on the follow-
ing morning they were attacked by the enemy.
The Germans made two bombing attacks in
strength, but both were beaten off. Sanders' men
held out all that day, and were not relieved until
they had stood their ground for no less than
thirty-six hours.

During all that time the men had neither food
nor water. The water in their bottles was given
to the wounded in the true British manner, which,
you may remember, was followed by Sir Philip
Sidney. The corporal brought back nineteen
of his party to the British trenches when at last
he was relieved.

Gunner Cooke of the Australian Infantry
showed that he was a true son of Britain, able
to fight and to die with the best. He was ordered
with his gun and gun-team to a very dangerous

ii2 THE POST OF HONOUR

part of the line. Putting his horses to the gallop
he quickly took up the position allotted to him.
He came under heavy fire, as he had expected,
and his men soon fell around him one by one. At
last he was the only man left, but he " stuck it "
like a hero, working his gun single-handed and
doing good shooting. Then he was observed
and help was at once rushed out to him. His
friends found him dead at his post, one more
hero of the glorious band who counted honour
first and left safety to take care of itself.

Private Faulds, of the South African Infantry,
went out with a bombing party under Lieu-
tenant Craig which tried to rush forty yards of
open ground between the two front trenches.
The men at once came under very heavy rifle
and machine-gun fire, and several of them were
almost instantly killed or wounded. Lieutenant
Craig was badly hurt and lay midway between
the trenches in open ground.

Faulds was now back in his own trench, and
looking out saw the officer lying on the ground.
Without the loss of a moment, he leapt over his
own parapet followed closely by two comrades as
unselfish as himself. It was full daylight and
the open space between the trenches was still
swept by heavy fire ; but the wounded officer was
carefully lifted and carried safely " home."

Two days later Faulds performed a similar

THE POST OF HONOUR 113

act of unselfish heroism* At this time the fire
across the open space between the trenches was
so severe that stretcher-bearers were not allowed
to go out to pick up the wounded, as it meant
certain death for them. But Faulds leapt over
the parapet, picked up a man, brought him safely
in, and then carried him for half a mile to
a dressing station. Private Jackson, of the
Australian Infantry, did similar work of the
noblest kind, and even went out to help in bring-
ing men under cover after one of his arms had
been blown off !

Private McFadzean belonged to the Royal
Irish Regiment and gave an example of the most
devoted courage and readiness ever reported in
the annals of was.

One day he was in a trench with a number of
his mates and was opening a box of bombs
before an attack. The box slipped down in the
crowded trench, some of the bombs fell out, and
the safety pins of two of them were dislodged.
When the pin is out the bomb goes off after a
certain fixed time.

Without a moment's hesitation, McFad^ean
threw himself on top of the bombs. There was
a loud explosion and the brave man was blown to
pieces ; but he had fallen in such a way that
the explosion spent itself in killing him only.
Another man was injured, but McFadzean's

H

ii4 THE POST OF HONOUR

devotion had saved the lives of all the men in
the trench.

Then there was Drummer Ritchie of the
Seaforth Highlanders who, without instructions,
climbed upon the parapet of the enemy's trench
and sounded the " Charge " under heavy
machine-gun fire. He did not do this because he
wished to make a stirring picture, but because
the men with him, having lost their leaders, were
beginning to waver and fall back. The sound of
the drum-beat rallied them once more and they
sprang forward to the attack as though following
the lead of the bravest of officers. The same
drummer afterwards showed great coolness and
courage in carrying messages from one company
to another across the fire-swept " No Man's
Land/'

Private Veale of the Devon Regiment heard
that a wounded officer was lying between the
two front trenches. He went out in search of
him, and found him lying amidst growing corn
about fifty yards from the enemy's line. The
wounded man was too heavy for Veale to carry,
but he dragged him to a shell hole, went back to
his trench for water, and at the risk of his life
took it out to the wounded man.

When he came back again he asked for help
to carry the wounded man in and two of his
comrades volunteered to go out with him. One

THE POST OF HONOUR 115

was killed in a few moments and the fire was so
severe that the other men went back to await
a better opportunity. At dusk, Veale and two
others went out yet again, and saw an enemy
patrol approaching. Veale ran back and brought
out a Lewis gun with which he covered his
companions while they brought the wounded
officer " home."

These are only a few episodes out of number-
less examples. —

44 They bowed their necks the death to feel.
Who follows in their train i "

THE WORK OF THE MINE-SWEEPERS

THE British Isles are surrounded by very shallow
seas in which are taken enormous quantities of
fish that are good for food. In the work of
catching these fish large numbers of men are
employed, especially in the North Sea fishing-
ground known as the Dogger Bank, where the
water is very shallow.

These North Sea fishermen come from the
East Coast counties not only of England but
also of Scotland, right away to the most
northerly parts. Their work is very hard and
dangerous, but it makes them strong, brave,
self-reliant, and able " to go anywhere and do

n6 THE POST OF HONOUR

anything/' It is from the families of such men
as these that we get most of our merchant sailors
and the " Jack Tars " of our great Navy*

When the chiefs of our Navy wanted men and
boats for mine-sweeping and for catching sub-
marines they turned to our North Sea fishermen.
They took great numbers of the fishing trawlers
and their crews and set them to perform these
very dangerous tasks. Some of them were sent
far away to the Eastern Mediterranean on the
same duty. Other trawlers were drawn from the
West Coast fisheries, and the men of Devon
share with the men of the Eastern counties the
credit for much dangerous work well done.

Two of these trawlers would set out side by
side to " sweep " the sea in a part where mines
were supposed to have been laid. A rope was
attached to the vessels and when a mine was
brought to the surface it was exploded by gun-
fire. The aeroplane was often of great use in
work of this kind. It ought not to be necessary to
insist on the dangerous character of this work.
It required all the courage which might have won
the V.C. and this was shown during every hour
of the day and night. As a West Country skipper
said one day, as he stood on the bridge of his
trawler in the Eastern Mediterranean, " What
would King Garge 'ave done without these 'ere
trawlers t " What indeed t

THE MINE-SWEEPERS.

u8 THE POST OF HONOUR

4 These "ere trawlers " were also largely used
for netting submarines. The nets used were made
of steel and some of them were about a hundred
miles long I They were run out from trawler to
trawler so as to make a kind of open-work steel
wall below the surface of the water* Each trawler
carried a gun both fore and aft; and when a
submarine was caught in the net it was raised
to the surface and promptly dealt with by the
expert naval gunners who had been allotted to
each trawler or by an attendant destroyer or
seaplane,

A well-known writer and poet tells a story
which shows what dangers the submarine
hunters were called upon to face :

14 On a few occasions, the hunters have them-
selves been trapped. Three men, taken off a
trawler by a submarine, endured an eighty hours'
nightmare under the sea that shattered the mind
of one and left lasting traces on the other two.
Again and again, revolvers were put to their
heads and they were ordered, on pain of death,
to tell all they knew of our naval plans.

4 They saw a good deal of the life on a German
submarine and noted that the German crew on
this boat at any rate were very 4 jumpy/ too
jumpy even to take a square meal. They
munched biscuits at odd moments at their
stations.

THE POST OF HONOUR 119

" On the third morning they heard guns
going overhead, and watched the Germans
handing out shells to their own guns. Finally
a torpedo was fired and they heard it take effect.
Then they emerged into the red wash of dawn,
and saw only the floating wreckage of the big
ship that had been sunk ; and amongst the
wreckage a small boat. They were bundled into
this ; told they were free to go to England or
Nineveh ; and the submarine left them — three
longshore fishermen, who had passed through
the latest invention of the modern scientific
devil, two who could still pull at the oars, but
the other too crazy to steer/' x

Here is a skipper's account of his exciting
experience in a mine-sweeper off the entrance
to the Dardanelles :

" One night we went with lights out up to
the Narrows. They let us get right in and as
we turned round to take our sweeps up, one of
our number was blown up. Then they peppered
us from each side from i| to 2 miles.

4 We heard cries for help. I said, * We shall
have to do the best we can and go back and pick
up/ There was no waiting, no saying, ' Who
shall got* As soon as I called for volunteers

1 Mr. Alfred Noyes in the Daily Telegraph, with acknowledg-
ments.

120 THE POST OF HONOUR

three jumped in* I kept the vessel as close as I
could to shelter the boat. I did not think any
would come back, but they did come back. No
one was hit and I said, ' Now well get the boat
in/ Just as we got the boat nicely clear of the
water, along came a shot and knocked it to
splinters.

14 I shouted, 4 All hands keep under cover as
much as you can/ and I got on the bridge and
we went full steam ahead. I could not tell you
what it was like with floating and sunken mines
and shots everywhere. We got knocked about,
the mast almost gone, rigging gone, and she was
riddled right along the starboard side. One of
the hands we picked up had his left arm smashed
with shrapnel/* *

14 I am afraid," said an English statesman in
the House of Commons, " that I cannot do
justice to all that I feel about the work of these
men. It is little known to the public. They do
not work in the presence of great bodies of men,
to admire and applaud them for their gallantry.
Small crews in stormy seas suddenly brought
face to face with unexpected peril, they never
seem to me to fail. No danger, no difficulty is
too great for them. The debt of this country to
them cannot be counted."

1 From the Times History of the War, with acknowledgments.

THE POST OF HONOUR 121

' THE PADRE *'

THE army or navy chaplain was usually known
as " the padre/* and the use of the familiar name
(which means " the father **) shows how these
brave men had won the hearts of the soldiers.
This is not surprising for the chaplains were not
only to be found at " the back of the front/* but
shared many of the dangers faced so bravely by
the fighting men of the first line.

4 We have a chaplain/* wrote one, "who comes
up into the front line every day no matter how
dangerous and rough things may be ; in fact
he always makes for the most dangerous places
on principle.

u One day, during a very hot bombardment,
instead of leaving the trenches, the ' padre/
as he is called, strode up and down the line,
cheering and helping. . . . All the men worship
him. I shall try to find out his name, but at
present he is 4 the padre/ the simplest, finest
gentleman I have ever met, and he has stood
the test/*

The presence of a man whose religion made
him absolutely fearless must have been very
helpful to those whose duty it was to do the
fighting. One of the chaplains, at least, laid
down his life while engaged in this work of

122 THE POST OF HONOUR

encouragement* He was in the danger zone for
some time doing all he could to cheer his men.
Then he made his way to the ambulance car and
sat down near to it to say good-bye to some of
his comrades, for he was going home for a time
on leave. Suddenly a great shell burst close by
and he was so badly wounded that he died shortly
afterwards.

Another chaplain, the Reverend Edward Noel
Mellish of Deptford, won the V.C. for deeds of
great heroism. Our men had made a push and
had captured a portion of the German front
trench. But the German fire made the space
between the two lines a very field of death. For
three days there was heavy fighting in this
quarter, and there were many casualties among
the British soldiers.

The chaplain took upon himself a duty which
was not part of his regular work. He had watched
man after man fall wounded in that fire-swept
belt of land, and he made it his business to go
out to help them. During the first day he
brought in no less than ten men who had been
wounded. As soon as he reached them he did
what he could to dress their awful wounds and
to revive them. Three men were killed as he
tended them. But he brought in the others to a
place of safety.

That night the company to which he was

THE POST OF HONOUR 123

attached was relieved and another took its place*
But the chaplain did not leave his post* During
the next day he went on with his work and
brought in no less than twelve men ! When
night had fallen on the third day, he got together
a party of volunteers and led them out to rescue
the wounded. Many poor fellows were brought
into a place of safety*

Chaplain Parham won the Military Cross for
work of a similar character in Gallipoli during
August 1915* He was attached to a brigade
which took part in an attack on the Turks at
Suvla during which the shrubs on the battlefield
were fired by shells* With the help of his servant
he rescued many wounded men and carried them
to a place of safety beyond reach of the flames*
On the next day he got together from his own
brigade a party of volunteers to act as stretcher
bearers ; and the devoted little band did excel-
lent work in bringing in the wounded under
heavy fire.

Another chaplain, Father Finn, lost his life at
the Battle of the Landing on the 25th of April
1915*

u Father Finn/' wrote a correspondent* " was
one of the first to give his life in the landing at
Sedd-ul-Bahr* In answer to the appeals that
were made to him not to leave the ship (the
River Clyde), he replied, ' A priest's place is

124 THE POST OF HONOUR

beside the dying soldier/ whereupon he stepped
on to the gangway, immediately receiving a
bullet through the chest,

4 Undeterred, he made his way across the
lighters, receiving another bullet in the thigh,
and still another in the leg. By the time he
reached the beach he was riddled with bullets,
but in spite of the great pain he must have been
suffering he went about his duties speaking
words of consolation to the dying men. It was
while in the act of helping one of his men that
he was killed by the bursting of a shell/' l

LIEUTENANT ROBINSON AND THE
ZEPPELIN

WARNEFORD caught his Zeppelin in Belgium
because it was flying low just before getting near
to its shed. In the late summer of 1916, a young
English airman brought down another of these
airships when it was flying high over London to
avoid the fire from the anti-aircraft guns.

There were many air raids on the capital
during 1915 and 1916 and a great deal of damage
was done. The time chosen for these visits was
usually the dead of night, when there was no

1 From a letter published in the Times History of the War, with
acknowledgments.

THE POST OF HONOUR 125

moon and very little wind. People got used to
saying to each other, with a kind of thrill, " This
is a good night for a raid/' And at one time most
people went to bed fully expecting to be called
up some time after midnight for an adventure of
a kind which was quite new to London and to
peaceful England*

The authorities gave instructions to the
people what to do if a raid should take place.
They were very careful to tell them to keep
indoors and not to gather in crowds. But when
the airships came many people felt that they
must get out of the house to see what was
going on ; and one morning in September 1916
great crowds of Londoners saw a sight which
had never before been seen in the long and
varied history of the great city.

They saw a burning Zeppelin fall from the
sky like a meteor. And it was not until some days
later that they learnt that it had been brought
down by Lieutenant W. L. Robinson, who
received the Victoria Cross for his skill and
bravery, which were indeed of a very special
kind.

About midnight on Saturday, September 2nd,
London airmen were warned that Zeppelins
were on their way to the city. At once a number
of them went up in the pitch-black darkness
and circled round and round in search of the

126 THE POST OF HONOUR

" terror that flieth by night/' Lieutenant
Robinson was one of the number and all were
keen to do something great for the honour of
their corps. For the British airman does not
work to win praise for himself, but to make a fine
tradition for that branch of the military service
to which he belongs.

The airmen had been up for quite two hours
flying about among the darting searchlights
before the Zeppelins arrived. There were two
of the airships at first and it was known at the
time that others were on the way ; but the rest
did not appear for a reason which will be evident
when this story has been told.

The defenders of London relied upon three
things : (i) the large number of anti-aircraft
guns which had been placed on the high places
round about the city ; (2) the searchlights which
gave the gunners their chance to aim properly ;
(3) the airmen who had learnt a great deal about
this strange kind of fighting since Warneford
brought down the airship in Belgium.

The task of these airmen was a very difficult
one and they were exposed to more dangers and
risks than many people imagined. It was, in the
first place, a severe trial of strength and nerve-
power to remain in the air so long before the
Zeppelins arrived. Then they were in danger
from the guns of the airships which had often

THE POST OF HONOUR 127

sent aeroplanes toppling nose foremost to the
ground, while they usually carried only one
machine-gun apiece, as well as a small supply
of bombs*

It was further necessary that an airman should
rise to a very great height to get above a Zep-
pelin; for without getting some distance above
it he could not make any use of his bombs at
all. At this great height it is very cold even
on a summer morning, and this increases the
difficulty of the airman's task.

Moreover, it was a fight between the skill and en-
durance of one man against about twenty-eight,
which was the usual number of a Zeppelin crew,

Robinson was, however, equal to the task,
He boldly attacked the first monster which came
within his range, but had no success for several
reasons. So he turned to the other, and by skil-
ful management of his machine contrived to get
above it in such a position that he could drop a
bomb on the envelope. By this time many
thousands of people were gathered together in
the open spaces round about London ; but the
fight took place at such a great height that they
only saw the effect of Robinson's work.

What they saw, however, was stirring and
exciting enough. Suddenly a light appeared on
the Zeppelin, At first some of the watchers
thought it was the searchlight of the airship.

i28 THE POST OF HONOUR

But as they gazed they saw the light grow larger ;
and soon they were aware that the envelope of the
ship was in flames*

A tongue of fire swept up the structure which
then turned on end and fell to earth in a curve
like that of a meteor. And as it fell there rose
from thousands of British throats such a cheer
as man had never heard before. It was a sound
to be remembered to one's dying day ; a shout
of triumph mingled with awe and wonder, as
if men watched the very judgment of God.

The airship fell into a field at Cuffley, not far
from London, and it was fortunate that the
blazing mass did not come down in a crowded
district* It burnt for nearly two hours, watched
by a crowd of people, and every few moments
there was an explosion as the flames reached a
store of machine-gun cartridges.

There was some danger of greater explosions,
for the bombs might take fire at any moment ;
but this did not prevent the men who were
watching from trying to put out the fire. The
last of the flames were extinguished with water
from the village well. Such was the end of Count
Zeppelin's splendid ship, one of the fleet with
which he had vowed he would destroy London.

After a time the watchers saw an aeroplane
wheeling round in graceful flight above their
heads. It came to earth some distance away,

THE POST OF HONOUR 129

and the airman alighting, walked quickly to the
place where the wreck of the Zeppelin was lying*
He looked carefully at the wreckage and then
turned away. And no one knew at the moment
that this was Lieutenant Robinson himself.

THE CANADIANS AT VIMY RIDGE

THE Allies wished to clear the Germans from
the mining district of Northern France of which
Lens is the chief town. But their way was barred
by the enemy who held Vimy Ridge. In 1915,
the French tried to capture this ridge and fought
for it with desperate bravery ; but they were
not able to drive out the enemy from his strong
position. In the spring of 1917, the British took
up the task ; and it was the Canadians who
were the chief means of completing it.

Very careful preparation was made before the
fighting began. The British staff officers got
some plasticine and made a careful model of the
ridge and the places round about it. This model
was made to scale, chiefly from the observations
of the airmen. It showed the trenches, roads,
tracks, railways, and streams, as well as all the
ups and downs of the country.

Staff officers and those who were to lead in the
attack on Vimy Ridge spent many hours in
studying this model. Such careful plans were

i

130 THE POST OF HONOUR

made for the attack that when the fighting did
take place the losses on the British side were
light, sad as they were* After the ridge had been
won, the model was compared with the ground,
and was found to be wonderfully correct.

Vimy Ridge itself was a piece of ground about
600 feet above sea level at its highest point* The
Germans had turned it into a kind of fortress of
very great strength. The western face of the
ridge formed a more or less gentle slope, while
the eastern side was steeper* Away to the east
stretched a wide plain like a prairie ; and it was
in order to command this plain with artillery that
the British wished to take the ridge.

They knew well enough how heavy was the
task before them. The Germans had not held
the position for more than two years without
making the best of it as a means of checking their
foes. The slopes were cut up by lines of trenches,
one behind the other. The face of the hill had
been tunnelled deeply ; and in these tunnels
were large numbers of German soldiers who had
made themselves quite at home in their burrows.
They had very comfortable quarters in Vimy
Ridge, and thought they were going to stay there
for a long time. All over the slope guns of
various kinds were placed ready to fire upon an
attacking party.

It seemed madness to send any attacking

THE POST OF HONOUR 131

party against such a fortress* But the British
commanders knew their work and they knew
their men* They had a large store of munitions
which had been collected for a long time ; and
they had numbers of the newest and heaviest
guns placed in position for playing upon the
western face of the ridge*

Besides they had ready a strong force of some
of the best British troops, men who had seen
long service and who had learnt many lessons
in the art of war. Among these were some of the
brave Canadians who were to have the post of
danger for that great day,

The attack was made in the early hours of
Easter Monday, For some time before the word
was given to attack, the big guns had kept up a
terrible fire upon the slopes of the ridge. The
noise of the bombardment was deafening and
was quite sufficient to make the enemy crouching
in their trenches and tunnels quake with fear —
as indeed many of them did.

Speaking of this terrible gunfire, a German
prisoner afterwards said. 4< You English have
never been through such a bombardment. You
don't know what it means. We do. You'd have
to give in yourselves/' This fire had been kept
up by the British guns for no less than a fort-
night. Then the British leaders thought the time
had come for the bayonet attack.

132 THE POST OF HONOUR

At half-past five on Easter Monday morning
the word was given and the Canadians went at
once " over the top/' It was a wet morning, and
it was not long before they looked like scarecrows
in a prairie cornfield ; but they swung on laugh-
ing and cheering and joking. The rain was on
their backs which was to their advantage. " Our
first stretch/' said one of them afterwards, " was
about 600 yards of fairly level ground of what we
call ' No Man's Land/ Next we came upon a
maze of trenches in which we found nothing
but dead men and smashed guns.

44 Our first objective lay far behind these
trenches, and we reached there within an hour,
climbing all the way up a gentle slope. On our
left front stood a village, with a haystack stand-
ing in a field to the south of it. That haystack
was known to be a strongly prepared machine-
gun position/'

The speaker was wounded not long afterwards
and was carried off to the dressing station and
thence to London. He did not see the rest of
the fighting of that day. But he heard with pride
how his comrades had cleared the fortress of
Vimy Ridge of its German defenders ; how they
had pushed on in the face of machine-gun and
rifle fire and had done stern work with the
bayonet ; and how they had finished their work
completely before night came on.

THE POST OF HONOUR 133

The last point of the ridge to be captured was
known as Hill 145. Here the Germans had a
very strong machine-gun position, but after
stern fighting they were at last cleared out, and
the Canadians went on to finish their task.
They swept over the top of the ridge and down
the steep eastern slope, clearing away the last
parties of the enemy and taking many prisoners.

The fighting at Vimy was afterwards said to be
14 the most successful single day's work in all the
operations on the Western Front since the be-
ginning of the war," It was successful for three
reasons. First, because the artillery prepared so
well for the attack ; second, because the officers
had learnt their lesson from that useful little
plasticine model ; and third, because the
Canadians were among the bravest of the brave.

HEROES OF A HOSPITAL SHIP

FOR many months the steamer Lanfranc had
been employed in bringing wounded from
France to England ; . but one evening in the
spring of 1917 she fell a victim to a torpedo
launched by a German submarine.

She had a crew of more than a hundred, and
when she left France she had on board between

134 THE POST OF HONOUR

300 and 400 British wounded and about 160
Germans* Many of the latter were wounded and
were being taken to England for treatment*

The vessel was struck about half-past seven
in the evening when the sea was quite calm.
There was a crash which shook the ship from
end to end, and then a loud explosion. In a very
short time the engines stopped, and the ship
heeled over as if about to sink. Then she righted
herself and remained steady on the surface of
the water ; but the torpedo had done its work
and the ship was slowly sinking.

As soon as the crash of the torpedo was felt the
German prisoners were thrown into a panic of
terror. They rushed madly to the lifeboats, and
it was only by threatening them with revolvers
that the British officers were able to drive them
back. They were sternly told to wait their turn,
and knew that they must obey ; but some of them
showed the most abject fear and went down on
their knees to beg for mercy.

Meanwhile, the crew and the hospital staff had
quietly taken up their posts and begun the work
of rescue. The wounded who were too ill or too
maimed to help themselves were brought up on
deck and carried first to the boats. The others
remained on deck, and though many of them
were sadly crippled they tried to stand to
attention.

THE POST OF HONOUR 135

The vessel was slowly sinking and help had
been summoned by wireless. But as yet there
were no rescuers in sight and the first business
was to get as many as possible into the boats.
It was not, however, a matter of " every jnan for
himself," Among the British, at least, it seemed
to be " every man for his comrade," Those who
afterwards told the story of that perilous hour
said that they had never seen so many examples
of cheery helpfulness among British soldiers.

But this is not surprising, for the good com-
radeship of British soldiers is well known all
over the world. There is still greater praise due to
those men on the Lanfranc. They rose to the
greater height of heroism in showing pity and
mercy to the comrades of the men who had
attacked a hospital ship in defiance not only of
the rules of war but of the higher law of humanity,

It would have been almost excusable if in that
hour the British soldiers had turned upon the
Prussians or had at least shown some feeling
towards them. But instead of any sign of anger
or contempt we are told of the most gentlemanly
kindness and courtesy.

' The behaviour of our own lads," said a
British officer, " I shall never forget, , , . Those
who could lend a hand scurried below to help in
saving friend or enemy. One man whom I saw
had a leg severed and his head was heavily

136 THE POST OF HONOUR

bandaged. He whistled to a mate to come and
help a Prussian who was unable to move owing
to internal injuries. Another man limped pain-
fully along with a Prussian officer on his arm,
and helped the latter to a boat.

" It is impossible to give adequate praise to the
crew and staff. They were all heroes. They
remained at their posts until the last man had
been taken off. Some of them took off articles
of their clothing and threw them into the life-
boats for the benefit of some of the sick and
wounded. The same spirit showed itself as we
moved away from the scene of the outrage. I
saw a sergeant take his tunic off and make a
pillow for a wounded German. There was a
private who had his arms around an enemy
trying hard to make the best of an uncomfort-
able position."

The men were at last picked up by French
vessels and were quickly made as comfortable
as possible. It must not be forgotten that loss of
life was prevented by the splendid behaviour of
the men in this crisis. It is often quite as heroic
to stand steady as to dash forward into the " jaws
of death."

THE POST OF HONOUR 137

ALONG THE " V,C, WALK "

ON June 8th in the third year of the war the
London Gazette contained a list of no less than
29 names of officers and men to whom the King
had awarded the Victoria Cross* The stories of
" most conspicuous bravery " which followed
the names in this list showed that the coveted
Cross had never been lightly won. Heroism had
now become a habit, but British soldiers seemed
to have entered into a rivalry as to the amount
of bravery and endurance which they could show.

Take the example of Major Lumsden in his
determined efforts to bring away six captured
German field guns. At first it was necessary to
leave them in dug-out positions about 300 yards
in advance of the position held by our troops.
The enemy kept the captured guns under heavy
fire, but Major Lumsden undertook the duty of
bringing them within our lines. It ought not to
be necessary to dwell upon the high value of
such service.

He got together four artillery teams and a
small body of infantry, and led them out into
the open. In a short time one of the teams was
badly knocked about, so the major left the
others in a sheltered place and led the infantry
to the spot where the guns were hidden.

138 THE POST OF HONOUR

In defiance of rifle, machine-gun, and artillery
fire he managed to get away three of the guns,
which were then attached to the teams and
rushed back to our lines* After waiting for a
time until other teams could be brought out
Lumsden sent back two more guns, although the
enemy were now quite near to him and their
rifle fire was at very short range* Indeed the
Germans were able to make a rush and blew up
the breech of the last gun so as to prevent the
British from using it against them at a later time.
But Lumsden's men drove them back again and
the last of the six guns was brought in triumph
within our lines.

Then there was Captain Ball of the Royal
Flying Corps who had no less than forty-three
German aeroplanes and one balloon to his credit.
This officer's activity and resource in the air
were truly marvellous. On one occasion, when
flying alone, he fought six enemy machines, on
another five, and on another four, and in each
fight he brought down at least one of his
opponents.

One day the British airmen were engaged in
bombing an enemy train when one of their
pilots was forced to come down within the
enemy's lines. Lieutenant Macnamara saw
German horsemen approaching him and set out
to the rescue. He planed down under heavy

THE POST OF HONOUR 139

rifle fire, and in spite of a wound in his thigh
landed at about 200 yards from the damaged
machine. The pilot quickly climbed on to the
lieutenant's machine and an attempt was made
to rise.

Owing to his wound, however, Macnamara was
unable to keep his machine straight and it turned
over. As soon as it touched the ground, the two
men got out from the wreckage, set fire to it, and
ran to the first aeroplane, which they were able to
start. And although he was weak from loss of
blood the lieutenant was able to take the machine
a distance of seventy miles to the aerodrome.
For this gallant and adventurous rescue he was
awarded the Victoria Cross.

Sergeant Harry Cator, of the East Surrey
Regiment, was busily making secure the first
line which had been captured from the enemy,
but was greatly worried by a certain machine-
gun. One after another of his men fell dead or
wounded until the brave sergeant could endure
it no longer. So, with only one companion, in
full view of the enemy, and under heavy fire, he
went out across the open to attack the machine-
gun and put an end to the annoyance.

After a few steps across that fire-swept zone,
the sergeant's companion was killed ; but Gator
went doggedly on, picking up a Lewis gun and
some ammunition on the way. In time he came

140 THE POST OF HONOUR

to one end of the enemy trench and worked him-
self into a position where he could cover the
machine-gun which he had marked out for his
own* Nor was it long before the whole of the
gun crew as well as the officer were accounted
for. Then the sergeant went over to the gun,
put it out of action, and brought away the officer's
papers. But before he returned to our own lines
he went back to his Lewis gun and covered a
bombing party which was able to work along
the trench and to capture 100 prisoners and five
machine-guns.

Sergeant Sifton of the Canadian Battalion did
similar work during a trench attack. He charged
a machine-gun single handed, killing all the crew,
and then gave up his life in holding off an enemy
attack while his own platoon was gaining a
desired position. Another sergeant named
Steele of the Seaforths reversed the order by
carrying a machine-gun well in advance of our
line and was the chief means of keeping it intact
during a strong attack by the enemy.

Corporal Cunningham of the Leinster Regi-
ment was in command of a Lewis gun sec-
tion on the most exposed flank of our attack.
His men came under heavy fire and suffered
badly, and he was almost alone when at last he
was able to bring his gun into action. A party of
twenty Germans came on to the attack. Cunning-

THE POST OF HONOUR 141

ham worked off all his ammunition upon them
and then standing up in full view of the enemy
commenced throwing bombs. He was wounded
and fell to the ground, but picked himself up
and went on fighting until his bombs were
exhausted. Then he made his way back to our
lines with a fractured arm and other wounds.
He was taken to hospital, where he died a little
later from the effects of his wounds.

Corporal George Jarratt was one of the noble
army who during the war directly gave his life
to save others. He had been made a prisoner
with some wounded men and placed with them in
a dug-out. On that same evening the enemy
were driven back by our troops and the British
bombers began an attack upon the dug-outs, A
hand grenade fell into the hollow where Jarratt
was lying, and he deliberately placed his feet
upon it so as to break the force and direction of
the explosion that followed and save the men
who were lying at a little distance from him.
He succeeded in his intention, but received in-
juries from which he died before he could be
removed with the others who owed their lives
to his ready devotion.

Here is another war picture of a stirring kind,
the central figure of which was Private Michael
Heaviside of the Durham Light Infantry, In
the early dawn a wounded man was seen in a

142 THE POST OF HONOUR

shell-hole in No Man's Land about forty yards
from the enemy's line. He was making signals
of distress and holding up his empty water-
, bottle.

It was impossible at the moment to send out
a stretcher party, for this particular spot was
unusually " unhealthy "; but Heaviside at once
volunteered to carry food and drink to the
wounded man, in spite of the heavy fire. So he
set out on his heroic errand and managed to
reach the shell-hole unhurt to find the wounded
man almost mad with thirst and suffering great
pain from a severe wound. He had lain there for
four days and three nights and the arrival of
Heaviside was the means of saving his life.
Later in the day the rescuer was able to finish his
work of mercy by taking out a stretcher party and
bringing the wounded man into a place of safety.

There are many stories of thirst on the battle-
field, but few so touching and appealing as this.
Surely our men will never forget that early dawn
and the faint cries from the figure in the shell-
hole weakly waving a water-bottle as a signal of
dire distress. The scene would make a splendid
subject for a great painter.

Private Jensen of the Australian Imperial
Forces suddenly appeared before a party of
45 Germans behind a barricade which also
sheltered a machine-gun. He had a bomb in one

THE POST OF HONOUR 143

hand, and taking another from his pocket with
his other hand he drew out the pin with his
teeth. With both arms raised he threatened the
party of cowering men before him and managed
to convey to them the fact that they were sur-
rounded. By this bold front he induced the party
to surrender. He then sent one of his prisoners
to another party of Germans " with orders to
surrender/* which, strange to say, were promptly
obeyed.

Meanwhile, another party of British troops
came up and began to fire upon the captured
Germans, not knowing that they had surrendered.
Thereupon Jensen stood on the barricade re-
gardless of danger and waved his helmet to
prevent unnecessary slaughter of his prisoners.
Then the Australian's company of captives was
brought in, to the great delight of his comrades,

Second-Lieutenant Baxter of the Liverpool
Regiment spent two nights engaged in the very
useful and dangerous work of cutting barbed
wire before the German trenches. He was so
close to the enemy's line that he could hear the
men speaking ; but as he went on with his work
he held a bomb in his left hand, ready to throw
at the first sign that he had been discovered.

On one occasion, his bomb slipped and fell
as he was cutting the wire with his left hand.
He picked it up although he knew that it might

144 THE POST OF HONOUR

explode at any moment, for the pin was out, un-
screwed the base plug, took out the detonator,
and smothered it in the soil. In this way, at the
risk of losing his own life, he prevented an alarm
being given and saved many lives among his own
party.

When all was ready, Baxter led the left wing
of the storming party and was the first man to
leap into a German trench. He spent some time
in bombing dug-outs and then he was lost sight
of. He was given up as dead and the V,C. was
afterwards handed to his relatives,

Lance-Corporal Welch of the Royal Berkshire
Regiment won the coveted medal not only for
bravery but also for making good use of his wits.
He was first of a party to leap into a trench
which was captured largely owing to his dogged
fighting. Four of the Germans got away and
raced across country at breakneck speed, Welch
leapt out of the trench and gave chase with an
empty revolver in his hand. Under the influence
of the weapon the men were persuaded to give
themselves up. What they said when they learnt
that the revolver was unloaded is not reported.

Private White of the Royal Lancashire Regi-
ment made excellent use of a telephone wire
and won the V,C, by his skill and resource. An
attempt was being made to cross a certain river
with three British pontoons — flat -bottomed

THE POST OF HONOUR 145

boats used for transport or for placing end to
end to form a bridge. The boats came under
very heavy fire and the men of the first two were
bowled over one after the other* The third in
which White was standing fared no better, and
when it reached mid-stream every man except
himself was either dead or wounded*

White now found that he was not able to
control the pontoon single-handed ; so he tied
a telephone wire to the forepart* jumped into
the water and towed the boat to the shore* In
this way he saved the life of an officer and
brought to the other side of the river a number
of rifles as well as valuable stores*

There were countless instances of the capture
of machine-guns by men who rushed forward
from our ranks and shot the German gunners.
One of these daring men was Sergeant-Major E*
Brooks of the Oxford Light Infantry who on one
occasion was taking part in a raid on the enemy's
trenches.

The front rank was checked by a German
machine-gun at close quarters. Brooks was in
the second rank, but he made his way through
the first, rushed towards the gun. killed one of
the gunners with his revolver and the other with
his bayonet, and so terrified the rest of the crew
that they made off without loss of time. Then
Brooks turned the German machine-gun on the

146 THE POST OF HONOUR

retreating foe, and used it with good effect for
some time. When he had done all the useful
work he could do, he carried off the gun to the
British lines.

MIDSHIPMAN GYLES AND THE
GERMAN BOARDERS

MODERN naval guns are of very long range;
and in most of the fights on the sea the enemy
ships were several miles apart.

In the Battle of the Falklands the fighting was
at a range of about nine miles. When the Battle
of Jutland Bank began Beatty's cruisers were
about eleven miles from the leading ships of the
Germans. When the Queen Elizabeth was at the
Dardanelles her gunners said that they could
" land on a penny at 15,000 yards."

But in the little fight off Dover on the night
of April 30, 1917, British and German ships
came close together, and there was a struggle
with a boarding party as in the " good old days "
of the story books. Moreover, a brave British
boy played a very prominent part in this older
type of fighting.

Half an hour after midnight, two British
destroyers, Swift and Broke, came up with six
German ships of the same kind. The latter

THE POST OF HONOUR 147

opened fire at 600 yards and were instantly
answered by the Swift. Then Commander Peck
quickly made up his mind to ram the first
German destroyer and drove straight for her.

The Germans were steaming at high speed,
the night was pitch dark, and the Swift missed
her mark. But she torpedoed another enemy
boat and then went in hot pursuit of the first.
The German got away and without firing another
shot made off into the darkness with the Swift
after her at full speed.

Meanwhile the Broke (Commander Evans)
had launched a torpedo at the second boat, which
hit her. Then he swung round and rammed the
third boat at full speed. After that the fight was
at closest range.

The gunners of the Broke swept the decks of
the boat which had been rammed amidships.
The two remaining German destroyers opened
a heavy fire, and before long the crews of the
foremost guns of the Broke were reduced from
eighteen men to six. On the forecastle Midship-
man Donald A. Gyles was in charge ; and
though he had been wounded in the eye as soon
as he came on deck, he did all he could to keep
his guns in action.

Then a number of Germans climbed up over
the forecastle of the Broke and jumped down
upon her deck. They were rushing aft, shouting

148 THE POST OF HONOUR

loudly, when they were met by Gyles, revolver
in hand, and half blinded with blood from the
wound in his eye.

A big German seised him by the wrist and
tried to take his revolver from him, but a
well-aimed blow from a petty officer made the
man loosen his hold. He dodged round to take
the middy in the rear ; but a British gunner
promptly ran him through with his cutlass. Two
of the Germans then tumbled over and pre-
tended to be dead ; and in a few breathless
moments the rest were hustled over the side.
The " dead " men were then secured.

The Broke had now wrenched herself free
from the German boat, which was settling down,
and turned to ram another of the enemy
destroyers. She missed it, but as she swung
round she hit another boat with a well-aimed
torpedo. Then the German boats moved off
into the darkness, just as an unlucky shot found
out the boiler-room of the Broke and disabled
her main engines.

She moved off, however, as best she could,
towards a German destroyer which was on fire.
As she drew near, shouts for help were heard
which served to draw the Broke still closer.
Then the German treacherously opened fire ;
so also did the Broke ; and four rounds followed
by a torpedo quickly settled the enemy.

THE POST OF HONOUR 149

The whole fight lasted only about seven or
eight minutes. For his gallant share in it Mid-
shipman Gyles received the Distinguished Con-
duct Medal. He had been wounded not only in
the eye but also in the right leg and the right arm.

His story was modestly told to friends who
visited him in hospital. He had, like Sir Richard
Grenville, " only done his duty as a man is
bound to do." He was off duty and asleep when
the call came to take up positions for action, but
he did not take long to summon all his wits and
a little over.

The bursting of the shell which gave him his
first wound " floored him/' but he was quickly
on his feet again and undertook the loading of
the starboard gun. It was at this moment that the
" boarders " appeared, and " he guessed that
the reception they received would teach Germans
a lesson."

HOW MAN MADE AN EARTHQUAKE

ON the morning of June 7, 1917, the British
Prime Minister got up very early, as early as
three o'clock. He wished to hear an explosion
on the Western Front ; and although he was at
his home near London he heard it too ! For our

150 THE POST OF HONOUR

men had made an earthquake and had blown up
a hill which had been held by the Germans since
the earlier days of the war.

The high ground which gave the Germans
such an advantage in this part of the line was
known as Messines Ridge; and the men who
held it were fiercely determined not to lose their
position. Their officers had given very definite
orders on this matter. ' The enemy must not
get the Messines Ridge at any price" So ran the
stern command, and the defenders were assured
that strong forces were ready immediately behind
them to deal with any parties of their foes who
might succeed in " breaking through."

The British were equally determined to take
Messines Ridge and had planned to blow it tip
in order to clear the way for the advance of their
guns, to straighten out a part of the line near
Ypres and to gain command of the plain of
Lille. The preparation for the " earthquake "
took no less than a year !

Mines were driven deep down under the
German front-line trenches by men from the
coal districts of Britain as well as parties of stal-
wart Australians and New Zealanders. Their
plan could not have been quite unknown to the
Germans ; for they too dug mines towards the
British lines, and sometimes the parties of rival
diggers came quite close to each other.

THE POST OF HONOUR 151

But the extent to which the British were pre-
pared to go in " blasting " operations was not
realised by their foes.

When the long task of digging and tunnelling
was finished electric wires were placed in posi-
tion ; and it was arranged that the tons of
explosive packed away in the earth were to be
fired by the touch of a spring on a metal plate*
In a dug-out some distance behind the mines a
little group of men gathered together on the
night of the yth waiting for the moment at
which the spring was to be touched.

A few minutes before three o'clock on the
following morning the spring was touched, and
for a moment the watchers held their breath.
Then there was a deafening quivering sound
unlike any other that had been heard in the long-
drawn-out din of the fighting in this greatest of
all great wars. The earth opened, sending out
great tongues of flame and dense clouds of
smoke ; then came huge fragments of rock and
earth mixed with the bodies of Germans and
the wreckage of their first-line system of trenches.

British infantry were posted ready for the
advance. The shock of the explosion threw
many of them to the ground ; but in a very short
time they went forward with a mighty rush and
quickly captured Hill 60. There was now a
general advance along the line and in many

152 THE POST OF HONOUR

places the Germans were found to be too dased
to make any real resistance* Large numbers of
prisoners fell into our hands, ** This is more
than human nature itself can suffer/' said a
German officer to those who had captured him*

Among the prisoners were two German boys
of about seventeen, who had already been in the
firing line for about twelve months. A British
officer said to them, " You ought to be spanked
and sent home to your mothers," The boys
laughed merrily and one of them replied for
both, " That is what we should like, sir, if you
please/'

The man-made earthquake was of course a
preparation for the advance, not only of infantry,
but also of the artillery* The latter had been
specially anxious to move forward after the long
period of fighting in one quarter* The artillery
advance is thus described by one who saw it
and who speaks of it as an " historic incident,"
which indeed it was :

" An order passed along to all the batteries*
The gun horses were standing by* They were
harnessed to the guns* The limbers of the field
batteries lined up* Then, half-way through the
battle, the old gun positions were left behind
after two and a half years of warfare in one spot,

" The drivers urged on their horses* They
moved at a gallop and dashed up the slopes* The

THE POST OF HONOUR 153

infantry stood by to let them pass, and from
thousands of men, these dusty, hot, parched
soldiers of ours, there rose a great following
cheer, which swept along the track of the gunners
and went with them up the ridge where they
unlimbered and got into action again for the
second phase of the fight*" 1

The Battle of Messines was a victory for
patience. It showed also what men could do by
means of organising and planning with great
care. You will probably remember the little
plasticine model of Vimy Ridge, There was
another model made to help in the preparation for
the Battle of Messines, It was much bigger than
that made for Vimy, but it was built up with the
same care and it was closely studied by all who
were to take any part in guiding the men in this
tremendous battle. Of course, the airmen were
very useful in the work of making the model :
and a great deal of the credit for the success of
the operations at Messines is due to them.

Among those who fell in the attack delivered
after the great explosion was a well-known Irish
Member of Parliament, Major William Redmond.
He was a Nationalist or Home Ruler, and a
passionate lover of his native country, which he
ardently wished to see happy and contented.
In order to understand the full meaning of his

1 Philip Gibbs in the Daily Telegraph, with acknowledgments.

154 THE POST OF HONOUR

death we must recall what had been happening
in Ireland in recent years.

The British Parliament wished to give Home
Rule to Ireland and had, indeed, passed a Bill
to do so. The men of Ulster, however, did not
wish to have an Irish Parliament at Dublin ;
and there was a great deal of unhappy ill-feeling
between the two Irish parties on this matter. It
was Major Redmond's great desire that this
quarrel between Irishmen should be settled. He
felt and said that if he should die in battle it
might help to heal the breach between the men of
the two political parties and bring peace and
contentment to Ireland.

During the three nights before the battle, he
slept in a cellar under the chapel of a religious
house known as the Hospice not far from the
front line. He was very anxious to be allowed to
lead " the boys " of his regiment " over the top "
and had begged his superiors to allow him to do
so. After a good deal of hesitation, he was given
leave to charge at the head of his old battalion of
the Royal Irish Regiment.

He received the news with the joy of a school-
boy who has been promised an extra holiday.
44 Won't it be glorious/' he said, " to breast the
sand-bags t " Then he went up to the trenches
in the company of his servant, and when his men
saw him they set up a cheer. " Sir," said his

THE POST OF HONOUR 155

servant, ** this cheering is not good for you/'
:* I'm afraid/' said the major, with a twinkle in
his eye, " you're getting shell-shock already/'

The great explosion took place, and before
the burning earth had time to descend, Major
Redmond was " over the top " and the first man
in the regiment to face the awful scene. Before
long he fell, wounded in the leg and wrist, and
he was found lying on the battlefield by stretcher
bearers of the Ulster division. It was an Ulster
ambulance which carried him, wounded to the
death, from that awful field of battle ; and it
was men from Ulster who tended him in his
dying moments. So he did, indeed, give his life,
not only in an attempt to drive back the Germans,
but also to bring peace to Ireland.

" WHEN CAN THEIR GLORY FADE < "

WE have read a great deal in this little book
about the courage shown by men in the heat of
the fight. But it did not take the excitement of
attack or defence to rouse and sustain the courage
of our men. Nor were they less brave and cheer-
ful in weakness and in pain than they were on
the field of battle. Read the words of a doctor l
at the front : —

1 Quoted from a private letter published in the Times, with
acknowledgments.

156 THE POST OF HONOUR

44 We speak of brave men. Yes, these men are
brave ! If the people at home could see the
conditions under which our fellows fight, and
how they die, I swear that every head would
uncover to the colours of any regiment bearing
the name of a battle, because that name had been
won through the blood of real heroes.

" For example, some colours will have
' Marne ' upon them. I know what deeds were
done, what lives were given, what wounds were
received to have that one name so inscribed.
Believe me, the Victoria Cross is won over and
over again in a single day.

' They are brave. What if you were to see how
the wounded act after the excitement of a battle t
They suffer their wounds, great and small, with-
out a murmur ; they get their wounds dressed
and give consent to have their limbs amputated
just as if they were going to have their hair cut.

' They are gloriously brave. Men who have
been in the thick of the fight all day, seen their
chums wounded and killed, their own lives not
worth a second's insurance, still cook their food
and go off to sleep, and, most wonderful of all,
go back to the thick of it next day.

'It is Sunday. In the evening we had a
service in a barn. A great crowd of the officers
and men collected. The scene was very impres-
sive, with the place only lit with camp candles,

THE POST OF HONOUR 157

the soldiers rough and dirty with the work of
war, some of them just returned from the
trenches and others going there the same night
— some who in all probability would be dead
before another night came. The men sang
heartily, but when the prayer for dear ones at
home was being offered there were few dry eyes
among those brave men who faced death daily/'
The war made even little children careless of
death. Here is a pretty little story from Italy.
An Alpino came to a ruined house where three
little girls were plucking roses while shells
moaned and fizzed over their heads. They
offered him some of their flowers, and he
suggested they should go and stay with his
little daughter in Italy out of harm's way.
" Oh, no," they said, " thank you very much,
but papa is fighting near here — and besides, the
roses would all die."

« THE HEART OF A LION "

THE morning of Saturday, July yth, 1917, was
beautifully bright, a perfect English summer
morning with a cloudless sky. The people of
London made haste to finish the morning's
work, looking forward to as pleasant a week-end
as war-work and thoughts on war would permit.

158 THE POST OF HONOUR

But before they left their places of business
they had an experience which few quiet
Londoners had ever expected to pass through.
Something happened which for a time seemed to
blot out the light of the sun and which brought
death and destruction into the very heart of the
ancient city.

Suddenly the word was passed along, " An
air raid ! " and in many places there was a rush
for cover. The city had been raided before and
many lives had been lost among people in the
streets.

In a very short time the boom of the traffic
was hushed ; but now the boom of the guns was
heard and the terrifying crash of falling bombs.
For about twenty minutes the strange fight
went on. Then silence fell and people looked
out to see the enemy squadron of aeroplanes,

It consisted of about twenty machines which
kept in more or less close formation and could
be distinctly seen as if poised over the Thames.
At the height at which the squadron was flying it
looked like a covey of wild duck or geese flying
over a moor.

Londoners learnt later in the day how the
enemy was headed off and driven to the coast
after having caused a number of deaths and done
a great deal of damage. And a few days later
the story was told of Lieutenant Young of the

THE POST OF HONOUR 159

Royal Flying Corps who had, as his officer said,
" the heart of a lion/'

He was one of the British air squadron which
went up to chase off the enemy from what they
called " the fortress of London/' He flew almost
by himself right into the middle of the German
squadron, and both he and his observer at once
opened fire upon the enemy* The Germans
replied and Young's machine was literally pelted
with bullets on all sides.

But there was no retreat for the young British
airman, " He flew straight on/' wrote the officer
in command, " until he must have been riddled
with bullets* The machine then put its nose right
up into the air and fell over and went spinning
down into the sea from 14,000 feet/'

The brave boy was entangled in the wires of
his machine and though a patrol boat dashed out
to the rescue he could not be saved* The observer
shared the same fate and the same glory*

For it was a glorious death to die for the
mother city of the Empire and to fall upon the
sea which knits that Empire together, but which
no longer serves England

— " in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house
Against the envy of less happier lands."

IN^MEMORIAM
P. M. and A. C. ZX, killed in action, 1915*

LET pride with grief go hand in hand :
They join the hallowed hosts who died

In battle for their lovely land :
With light about their brows they ride.

Young hearts and hot, grey heads and wise,
Good knights of all the years foregone,

Faith in their England in their eyes,
Still ride they on, still ride they on !

By altars old their banners fade

Beneath dear spires ; their names are set
In minster aisle, in yew-tree shade :

Their memories fight for England yet.

Let pride with grief go hand in hand,
Sad Love with Patience side by side ;

In battle for their lovely land
Not vainly England's sons have died !

And well may pride this hour befit ;

For not since England's days began
More fiery clear the word was writ :

Who dies for England dies for Man !

HELEN GRAY CONE.

ENGLAND

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

D Wilson, Richard

6kO The post of honour

W635