Told in gallant deeds : $b A child's history of the war — John Shaqi
Told in gallant deeds : $b A child's history of the warLowndes, Marie Belloc
History
Told in gallant deeds : $b A child's history of the war
Lowndes, Marie Belloc
World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile literature
During the passage across the Channel of our Expeditionary Force many
wonderful deeds of daring were done by our brave airmen. One such was
considered so remarkable as to be told in the official news later
despatched from the front, and it is, I think, difficult to beat for
cool courage.
During one of the airship patrols it became necessary to change a
propeller blade of one of the engines. The captain feared it would be
necessary to descend for this purpose, but two of the crew immediately
volunteered to carry out this difficult task in the air. Climbing out on
to the bracket, carrying the propeller shafting, they completed the
hazardous work of changing the blade 2000 feet above the sea.
It was a long time before some of us realised that not only England,
Scotland, and Ireland, but also the Greater Britain on which the sun
never sets, had gone to war. Gallant deeds are being performed every day
all over the Empire, and it is only by accident that we hear of some of
them. The War enormously increased their number.
Take, for instance, the magnificent courage shown by Mr. Saxby
Wellacott, the son of the Vicar of Totnes. This young man is not a
soldier but a civilian attached to the Public Works Department at Accra,
in West Africa. Yet he played an active part in the operations of the
Field Force which added Togoland to our Empire early in August. The
Germans put up a good fight. They mined the roads and railways and
electrified the wire entanglements; but it is also reported that they
used dum-dum bullets, which as you know is not fair fighting.
Mr. Wellacott, together with two French officers and thirty Senegalese
troops, advanced on a river called the Chra. The Germans blew up a
bridge and opened fire on the tiny allied force with three Maxim guns
and a couple of hundred rifles. The firing went on for two hours, and
Mr. Wellacott got left behind. He managed, however, to get back to his
motor-cycle, started it and rode it for five miles with a wounded man in
the side-car. Most wonderful of all, he succeeded in carrying the
motor-cycle over two bridges, though it weighed six hundredweight. At
last to his great joy he found the main column but rest was not for him
yet. The Allied forces had to fight all day the next day, achieving
victory the following morning.
The Germans were foolish enough to think when the war broke out that
there would be terrible trouble in Ireland, a rebellion in India, and
that the great Dominions—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South
Africa—would seize the opportunity to desert the Empire.
As a matter of fact, the very opposite of these things happened.
Irishmen of all parties rushed to enlist. A great wave of passionate
loyalty swept over India. Her Princes and her peoples poured out their
offerings of men and money. Regiments of magnificent native
soldiers—Rajputs, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Pathans—were granted the dearest wish
of their hearts, namely to fight shoulder to shoulder with our white
troops.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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