The Invasion of 1910, with a full account of the siege of LondonLe Queux, William
Science
The Invasion of 1910, with a full account of the siege of London
Le Queux, William
Great Britain -- Defenses; Imaginary wars and battles
The 13th Division, under Doppschutz, were evidently advancing by the
main Doncaster road. Their advance guard, which had already occupied
Rotherham, had also seized the bridge which the invaders had neither
time nor material to demolish, and now swept on across it, although
exposed to a heavy onslaught from that line of the British position
between Tinsley and Brinsworth. Those sturdy, stolid Westphalians and
bearded men of Lorraine still kept on. Numbers dropped, and the bridge
was quickly strewn with dead and dying. Yet nothing checked the steady
advance of that irresistible wave of humanity.
Down the River Rother, at Kanklow Bridge, a similar scene was being
enacted. The railway bridge at Catcliffe was also taken by storm, and at
Woodhouse Mill the 14th Division, under Von Kehler, made a terrific and
successful dash, as they also did at Beighton.
The river itself was about an average distance of a mile in front of the
British position, and although as heavy a fire as possible was directed
upon all approaches to it, yet the Germans were not to be denied.
Utterly indifferent to any losses, they still swept on in an
overwhelming tide, leaving at the most not more than ten per cent. of
casualties to be dealt with by the perfectly equipped ambulances in
their rear. So, for the most part, the various regiments constituting
the divisions of the two German commanders found themselves shaken, but
by no means thwarted. On the west bank of the river, the steep slopes
rising from Beighton to Woodhouse gave a certain amount of dead ground,
under cover of which the foreign legions took refuge, in order to
dispose themselves for the final assault.
A similar state of things had taken place to the south. General Graf
Haesler had flung both his divisions across the river, with but little
opposition. The 15th, composed mainly of men of the Rhine, under Von
Kluser, crossed at Killamarsh and Metherthorpe Station, while the 16th,
under Lieut.-General Stolz, crossed at Renishaw, and, striking
north-easterly in the direction of Ridgeway, closed in as they advanced,
till at length they were enabled to be within effective reach of their
comrades on the right.
The German attack had now developed into an almost crescent-shaped
formation, and about noon Von Bistram, the commander-in-chief, issued
his final orders for the assault.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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