World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
It was an awkward situation for the Londoners, but they formed a
defensive flank and sent some lads to help the troops who were attacking
the position. "Domine dirige nos" is the London motto, and there were
many London boys who had it in their hearts that day, and said with the
dear old Cockney accent, "Gord 'elp us." That was when the German
counter-attacks developed, but were smashed by gun-fire.
In all this fighting, as far as I can find, the Highland Territorials of
the 51st Division upon the left had the bloodiest fighting. They gained
their ground with difficulty, because a battalion of the Royal Scots was
badly held up by wire and bogs and machine-gun fire at a stream called
the Lekkerbolerbeek. They had to fall back, reorganize, and attack
again, which they did with splendid gallantry, and held their ground
only by most grim endurance, because the enemy counter-attacked them
violently all day long after the objectives had been gained.
The enemy's losses were certainly appalling to him. Officers in this
fighting, who have been through many of our great battles, tell me that
they have never seen before so many dead as lie upon this ground. In one
section of Pheasant Trench a hundred yards long there are nearly a
hundred dead. Before the attack our barrage rolled forward slowly, like
a devouring fire. Instantly all along the German line green lights rose
as SOS signals, but as the barrage swept on, followed by the Scots, the
lights went out. They rose again from the farther lines, and then those
ceased as the shells reached them. Only in the blockhouses and the
dug-outs down by the Lekkerbolerbeek were any Germans left alive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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