The War Stories of Private Thomas AtkinsMilne, James
History
The War Stories of Private Thomas Atkins
Milne, James
World War, 1914-1918 -- Anecdotes
Half the horses of L Battery Royal Artillery got smashed, and we had
to bung our poor old tired ones to fill up. Only a few gunners were
left, but they stood by firing still and singing “Onward, Christian
Soldiers.” Then the Germans charged, and our gunners did a bunk, but
not before they had driven spikes into the guns so as to make them
useless to the enemy. They said they guessed they would get them back
in a day or two, and if they did they could repair them easy enough. The
Germans don’t know these tricks, and we can do them down any time: _A
Driver of the 4th Ammunition Column_.
Before the Dawn
I was given a map, and a message for my company officer. When I had
made my way in the dark to where the outpost should have been, I found
it had retired. I went to where I saw a picket posted, and noticed a
body of men. It was just getting light, and I thought I saw an English
officer. I put down my rifle and whistled. They immediately dropped
down and fired at me. I dropped into the grass, too, to bluff them into
thinking I had been “winged.” I crawled through a big turnip field, and
heard a general action commencing. I could hear people talking, but
not loudly enough to know whether they were English. So I hoisted my
cap upon a stick and called, “Hullo, West Kent!” Then shots came in my
direction, and, as it was getting lighter, I decided, as the best thing
to do, to make for our big guns. I crawled along the ground for nearly
two hours, and when I stopped for a short rest a bullet hit my right
arm: _Corpl. Drinkwater, West Kent Regiment_.
Rescued
In getting out of my trench I fell back, so injuring my back that I
could not move. I lay there, expecting every minute to be my last,
but it did not come. I took a bold front and looked over the trench
to see what was happening there. I saw that the Germans had taken a
sweeping curve to the right, and I saw the tail of them a long way off.
They seem to be driven along by their officers rather than led, for
the officers have their swords drawn. I laid down in the trench (my
comrades had evidently thought I was shot, as they took no notice of
me when I fell back into the trench) for two hours, looking now and
again to see if I could see any signs of our men. At last, after nearly
giving up hope, I saw a patrol of the 15th Hussars, and managed to
attract their attention, and they put me on a horse and carried me to a
French hospital in a village: _A Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment_.
A “Jelly Fish”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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