This stands as the most circumstantial account of the cutting-off of the Gordons that has come to hand among personal letters and accounts of the men who were there, and, unlike so many letters purporting to be from "the front," it bears the stamp of authenticity. A piper of the regiment corroborates it by saying that "the Germans came on in great masses, driving us back all the time." He tells of being left only with a revolver, his sword having snapped, after which he crossed a river, and made a stand in a church. "Eight hundred of us entered that church, the majority never to come out again, for the Germans' big 'Jack Johnsons' shelled us out." There was, apparently, an officer in charge, and when he saw how the shells were causing fatalities he gave the order for all men who could to bolt for the road and save themselves. "The people at home will not think any the worse of you, lads, for it," he is alleged to have said. According to the piper's account, some sixty or more got away to safety in one rush, in which he himself was wounded in the arm. The work of signallers has not come into much prominence in the fighting in France, but one of the signallers of the Gordons, at least, has had occasion to use his flags. It happened that his battalion had been in a tight corner for some time, and was running short of ammunition, in consequence of which the signaller was ordered by his company officer to signal to the Army Service Corps for a further supply. He stood up facing to the rear, and, raising his flags, signalled--"From Captain----" when the message was cut short by his arm being wounded in two places. As he was trying to bind up the wounds, another piece of shrapnel came along and lodged in the same arm. A good general account of the fighting is given by one non-commissioned officer who went out at the end of August, and was first engaged in the fighting which took place immediately before the advance from the Marne to the Aisne. Here the Gordons were engaged near a village held by the enemy, and under very hot fire. The British troops had a hard job in getting the Germans to leave their trenches, but eventually the artillery fire from the British guns proved too much for the Germans, who got up and ran. The Gordons reached the village after the enemy had fled, and were billeted there for the night--and in this connection the non-commissioned officer responsible for this account remarks that the German rifle fire is almost useless, though their machine-gun fire is good. "Besides, when once they think they are beaten they are off, and one can scarcely get at close quarters with them. Our party never got within half a mile of them."