Great Britain. Army. Royal Tank Corps; Tanks (Military science)
the cab, and I could see the flash of each gun as it fired. By
this time I had passed behind a belt of trees running along a
roadside. I ran along this belt until level with the battery, when
I turned full-right and engaged the battery in rear. On observing
our appearance from the belt of trees, the gunners, some thirty
in number, abandoned their guns and tried to get away. Gunner
Ribbans and I accounted for the whole lot. I cruised forward,
making a detour to the left, and shot a number of the enemy, who
appeared to be demoralised, and were moving about the country in
all directions. This detour brought me back to the railway siding
N.N.W. of Guillaucourt. I could now see other Whippets coming up
and a few Mark V.’s also. The Australian infantry, who followed
magnificently, had now passed through the battery position which
we had accounted for and were lying in a sunken road about 400
yards past the battery and slightly to the left of it. I got out
of my machine and went to an Australian full Lieutenant and asked
if he wanted any help. Whilst talking to him, he received a bullet
which struck the metal shoulder title, a piece of the bullet-casing
entering his shoulder. While he was being dressed, Major Rycroft
(horse) and Lieutenant Waterhouse (Tanks) and Captain Strachan of
‘B’ Company, 6th Battalion, arrived and received confirmation from
the Australian officer of our having knocked out the field battery.
I told Major Rycroft what we had done, and then moved off again at
once, as it appeared to be unwise for four machines (Lieutenant
Watkins had also arrived) to remain stationary at one spot. I
proceeded parallel with the railway embankment in an easterly
direction, passing through two cavalry patrols of about twelve
men each. The first patrol was receiving casualties from a party
of enemy in a field of corn. I dealt with this, killing three or
four, the remainder escaping out of sight into the corn. Proceeding
further east, I saw the second patrol pursuing six enemy. The
leading horse was so tired that he was not gaining appreciably
on the rearmost Hun. Some of the leading fugitives turned about
and fired at the cavalryman when his sword was stretched out and
practically touching the back of the last Hun. Horse and rider
were brought down on the left of the road. The remainder of the
cavalrymen deployed to right, coming in close under the railway
embankment, where they dismounted and came under fire from the
enemy, who had now taken up a position on the railway bridge, and
were firing over the parapet, inflicting one or two casualties. I
ran the machine up until we had a clear view of the bridge, and
killed four of the enemy with one long burst, the other two running
across the bridge and on down the opposite slope out of sight. On
our left I could see, about three-quarters of a mile away, a train
on fire being towed by an engine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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