World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
This fine performance, typical of a great number of such deeds done in
the war by resourceful men of which nothing has been heard and perhaps
never will be, strikes me as being a very good illustration of doing
exactly those things which the enemy does not expect you to do.
Personally, I have always made a point of putting this principle into
practice. If the enemy is waiting for you to take the highroad, the
obvious thing, it seems to me, is to take to the fields, especially as
in bad weather, in a country like Flanders, there is very little
difference between the fields and the roads.
There is one interesting point which I may mention, and it is that so
far I have had no difficulty in finding petrol. Nearly all the Belgian
farmers use gas-engines, and their stores are very useful for motor
cycles. I need hardly say that I never saw any want of willingness on
the part of Belgian farmers to help the fighters who are doing their
best to get the country back for them.
At present I am not a bit useful as a fighting man, because when I was
going into the trenches I heard the ping of a German bullet and found
that blood was running down my arm.
When I was actually struck I felt only a numb sensation, and did not
for some time know what had happened; but later it was discovered that
the bullet had struck me between the wrist and elbow of the right arm
and had gone clean through, leaving a hole on each side of the arm.
Strange though it may seem, I felt little pain at any time, in spite of
the fact that one of the bones of the arm was broken, and I am glad to
say that this wound--and there have been an enormous number like it
since the war began--is making a first-class recovery, and I shall soon
be all right again.
A man does not go to war for fun, but there is a bright side to the grim
business, as I found when I reached a Belgian hospital. I spent three
very comfortable days there, and when I was sent off to England the
nurse who was attending me very gravely made me a little present, which
I as gravely accepted. She paid me three-halfpence! I did not know what
it meant, but I concluded that I had received the Belgian’s rate of
daily pay as a soldier, and his keep. I was perfectly satisfied, and I
hope my excellent nurse was the same.
CHAPTER XXII
EXPLOITS OF THE LONDON SCOTTISH
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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