Great Britain. Army. Royal Tank Corps; Tanks (Military science)
“At 2 p.m. or thereabouts I again proceeded east, parallel to
the railway and about 100 yards north of it. I could see a large
aerodrome and also an observation balloon at a height of about 200
ft. I could also see great quantities of motor and horse transport
moving in all directions. Over the top of another ridge on my left
I could see the cover of a lorry coming in my direction; I moved
up out of sight and waited until he topped the bridge, when I shot
the driver. The lorry ran into a right-hand ditch. The railway
had now come out of the cutting in which it had rested all the
while, and I could see both sides of it. I could see a long line of
men retiring on both sides of the railway, and fired at these at
ranges of 400 to 500 yards, inflicting heavy casualties. I passed
through these and also accounted for one horse and the driver of
a two-horse canvas-covered wagon on the far side of the railway.
We now crossed a small road which crossed the main railway, and
came in view of large horse and wagon lines--which ran across the
railway and close to it. Gunner Ribbans (R.H. gun) here had a view
of south side of railway and fired continuously into motor and
horse transport moving on three roads (one north and south, one
almost parallel to the railway, and one diagonally between these
two). I fired many bursts at 600 to 800 yards at transport blocking
roads on my left, causing great confusion. Rifle and machine-gun
fire was not heavy at this time, owing to our sudden appearance, as
the roads were all banked up in order to cross the railway. There
were about twelve men in the middle aisle of these lines. I fired
a long burst at these. Some went down and others got in amongst
the wheels and undergrowth. I turned quarter-left towards a small
copse, where there were more horses and men, about 200 yards away.
On the way across we met the most intense rifle and machine-gun
fire imaginable from all sides. When at all possible, we returned
the fire, until the L.H. revolver port cover was shot away. I
withdrew the forward gun, locked the mounting and held the body of
the gun against the hole. Petrol was still running down the inside
of the back door. Fumes and heat combined were very bad. We were
still moving forward and I was shouting to Driver Carney to turn
about, as it was impossible to continue the action, when two heavy
concussions closely followed one another and the cab burst into
flames. Carney and Ribbans got to the door and collapsed. I was
almost overcome, but managed to get the door open and fell out on
to the ground, and was able to drag out the other two men. Burning
petrol was running on to the ground where we were lying. The fresh
air revived us, and we all got up and made a short rush to get away
from the burning petrol. We were all on fire. In this rush Carney
was shot in the stomach and killed. We rolled over and over to try
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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