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
three hours I remained concealed there. Once I heard loud shouts and
then sounds of shots close by, and wondered whether any of our comrades,
whom I knew were in the vicinity, had discovered the Germans. Then at
last, just after sundown, I descended and carefully made my way out. For
a long time I wandered about until the dusk was deepening into night,
unable to discover my whereabouts. At last I found myself on the
outskirts of the wood, but hardly had I gone a hundred yards in the open
ere my eyes met a sight that froze my blood. Upon trees in close
proximity to each other were hanging the dead bodies of my five
comrades, including poor Tom Martin. They presented a grim, ghastly
spectacle. The Uhlans had strung them to trees, and afterwards riddled
them with bullets!
“Gradually, we were driven back upon London. Desperately we fought, each
one of us, and the personal risk of every member of our club, of any
other of the rifle clubs, and of the Frontiersmen, for the matter of
that, was very great. We were insufficient in numbers. Had we been more
numerous, I maintain that we could have so harassed the enemy that we
could have held him in check for many months. With the few thousands of
men we have we made it extremely uncomfortable for Von Kronhelm and his
forces. Had our number been greater we could have operated more in
unison with the British regular arms, and formed a line of defence
around London so complete that it could never have been broken. As it
was, however, when driven in, we were compelled to take a stand in
manning the forts and entrenchments of the London lines, I finding
myself in a hastily constructed trench not far from Enfield. While
engaged there with the enemy, a bullet took away the little finger of my
left hand, causing me excruciating pain, but it fortunately did not
place me hors-de-combat. Standing beside me was a costermonger from
Leman Street, Whitechapel, who had once been in the Militia, while next
him was a country squire from Hampshire, who was a good shot at grouse,
but who had never before handled a military rifle. In that narrow trench
in which we stood beneath the rain of German bullets we were of a verity
a strange, incongruous crowd, dirty, unkempt, unshaven, more than one of
us wearing hastily applied bandages upon places where we had received
injury. I had never faced death like that before, and I tell you it was
a weird and strange experience. Every man among us knit his brows,
loaded and fired, without speaking a word, except, perhaps, to ejaculate
a curse upon those who threatened to overwhelm us and capture our
capital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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