Great Britain -- Defenses; Imaginary wars and battles
The enemy having broken down the defence at Enfield and cleared the
defenders out of the fortified houses, had advanced and occupied the
northern ridges of London in a line stretching roughly from Pole Hill, a
little to the north of Chingford, across Upper Edmonton, through
Tottenham, Hornsey, Highgate, Hampstead, and Willesden, to Twyford
Abbey. All the positions had been well reconnoitred, for at grey of dawn
the rumbling of artillery had been heard in the streets of those places
already mentioned, and soon after sunrise strong batteries were
established upon all the available points commanding London.
These were at Chingford Green, on the left-hand side of the road
opposite the inn at Chingford; on Devonshire Hill, Tottenham; on the
hill at Wood Green; in the grounds of the Alexandra Palace; on the high
ground about Churchyard Bottom Wood; on the edge of Bishop's Wood,
Highgate; on Parliament Hill, at a spot close to the Oaks on the Hendon
road; at Dollis Hill, and at a point a little north of Wormwood Scrubs,
and at Neasden, near the railway works.
The enemy's chief object was to establish their artillery as near London
as possible, for it was known that the range of their guns even from
Hampstead--the highest point, 441 feet above London--would not reach
into the actual city itself. Meanwhile, at dawn, the German cavalry,
infantry, motor-infantry, and armoured motor-cars--the latter mostly
35-40 h.p. Opel-Darracqs, with three quick-firing guns mounted in each,
and bearing the Imperial German arms in black--advanced up the various
roads leading into London from the north, being met, of course, with a
desperate resistance at the barricades.
[Illustration: THE BOMBARDMENT and DEFENCES of
LONDON
on Sept. 20^{th} & 21^{st}]
On Haverstock Hill, the three Maxims, mounted upon the huge construction
across the road, played havoc with the Germans, who were at once
compelled to fall back, leaving piles of dead and dying in the roadway,
for the terrible hail of lead poured out upon the invaders could not be
withstood. Two of the German armoured motor-cars were presently brought
into action by the Germans, who replied with a rapid fire, this being
continued for a full quarter of an hour without result on either side.
Then the Germans, finding the defence too strong, again retired into
Hampstead, amid the ringing cheers of the valiant men holding that gate
of London. The losses of the enemy had been serious, for the whole
roadway was now strewn with dead; while behind the huge wall of
paving-stones, overturned carts, and furniture, only two men had been
killed and one wounded.
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