On one occasion our observers had reported a large gathering of the
enemy at a place called Hiele Farm, about eight hundred yards from our
position and I had laid two guns on them when, through our telescope,
I discovered that it was a burial party assembled in a little cemetery
just behind the farm buildings and telephoned to the officer in charge
that I did not intend to shoot up any funeral. Within a few minutes
came word than an enemy sniper had shot and killed one of our most
popular stretcher-bearers and had also fired several shots into the
wounded man whom he was bringing in, killing him also. Then, without
hesitation, I ordered both guns to open up and we maintained an
intermittent fire on that place until long after dark. We could see
numbers of Germans lying about on the ground. I have never regretted
it.
Then, the day before Christmas, 1915, while the Twentieth Battalion
was occupying the front line and we were back in the redoubts of the
supporting line, I was up in the gun position at "S-P-7," the redoubt
just in rear of the point where the slaughter of November
twenty-seventh had taken place, when a boche shell dropped directly
in the dug-out which was my home when in the front line. It killed two
men, one I remember was named Galloway, and wounded several others. I
was so close that I could see everything that happened. One of the
wounded was in such bad shape that the only possible chance to save
his life was to get him back to a dressing station without delay. The
communication trenches were washed out and the only way was down that
ill-fated Devil's Elbow road. The officer in command called for
volunteers to carry the man out, remarking that, as it was Christmas
Eve, he did not think even a German would shoot at a wounded man or
unarmed stretcher-bearers. All hands offered to go and two were
chosen. The officer went with them and they started down the road. The
minute they reached the fatal bend, where they came in sight of the
German lines, a shot rang out and down went the first man. Another
shot and the second was down, while a third dropped the officer, who
was trying to assist the fallen. I could see each shot strike in the
water alongside the road and could tell just about the spot from
whence they came so, although we had absolute orders never to fire
from that position unless attacked, I immediately swung the gun around
and commenced to "fan" that particular spot, at the same time calling
to our signaler to get the Sixteenth Battery on the wire and call for
S. O. S. fire. (Each yard of enemy line is covered by the guns of some
one of our batteries which, when not firing, are kept "laid" on their
particular section of parapet.) Within a few moments the battery
opened up but not before at least a half dozen machine guns in our
front line had been hoisted upon the parapets and were ripping
Heinie's sand-bags across the way. During this proceeding the wounded
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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