WITH CAVALRY IN 1915

CHAPTER I.

January.

PAGES

General De Lisle and the 1st Cavalry Division Staff—Resting—Wet winter campaigning—Echoes of the Christmas truce—A would-be Hun prisoner—A visit to Furnes—A Belgian Officer's standpoint—Luncheon with Colonel Tom Bridges—The Belgian Army—Nieuport-les-Bains—The trenches along the Yser Canal—The ruined lighthouse in the sand dunes—Snow's 27th Division in the line in Flanders—Bad feet—Wrecked Vermelles—The devastation of "75" shells—"Le Sport"—General Robertson appointed Chief of Staff

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CHAPTER II.

February.

Army Service Corps vagaries—Motor cars at the Front—Poperinghe—French Chasseurs—The equipment of the French foot-soldier—Belgian peasants—Flemish fatalism—The selection of trench positions—A cavalry counter-attack—French Staff work—British Staff officers—A run to Ypres—Scenes in the old Flemish city—On duty in the Salient—The Menin Road—A humble shop in the shell area—Ypres shelled—Belgian funerals under fire—The trench-line—General De Lisle has a narrow escape—The ruined Cloth Hall and Ypres Cathedral—Disappearing mural paintings—An Irish giant-powder experience—Wonderful marksmanship of the French "75's"—The way to the firing line—Past "Cavan's House"—Under fire—Brigade Headquarters in a dug-out

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CHAPTER III.

March.

Through the mud to the trenches—French reserves in the woods—Hidden batteries—Unwise photography—Shrapnel too close for comfort—Chased by shell-fire—In Hooge dug-outs—Reminiscences of the first Battle of Ypres—A tour of the first-line trenches in the rain—Loopholes—Views by periscope—Sharpshooting—A mouthful of glass—Photographs in Zillebeke Churchyard—Calling down shrapnel fire—A scamper out of Zillebeke—Hooge at night—A mine explosion—Mixed plans—Storming the mine-crater—Amusing German prisoners—The London "'bus" abroad—A timely evacuation of a house in Ypres—General Haig's order before Neuve Chapelle—Heavy British gunning—The taking of the town of Neuve Chapelle—The failure to go on—The reasons—The blame—German attack on St. Eloi—Fine work by the Rifle Brigade—Territorials—Ploegsteert and the Ploegsteert Wood—A run from Kemmel to Dickebusch—A shell in La Clytte

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CHAPTER IV.

April.

Rumours—Lord Kitchener's visit—A horticultural joke—German hate manufactured in Lille—Red Cross assistance—The peculiar exploit of Mapplebeck of the Flying Corps—A joy-ride through Ypres and up the Menin Road—The commencement of the fight for Hill 60—The first coming of the German gas—The plight of the French Reservists—The magnificent work of the Canadian Division—In support of the French line—Tangled traffic on the road to Ypres—Shelled in Elverdinghe—Deadly howitzer shells—Poperinghe bombarded—Belgian refugees—The aviation park evacuated—The want of traffic organisation—The 200 Canadian heroes in St. Julian—Conflicting reports about the capture of Lizerne—International failure to coincide as to the results of battle—British infantry attacks to win back the lost ground—Children at play near a battle-field—Artillery work in modern warfare—An attack on Lizerne by British field guns and French Zouaves—The ethics of gun-fire—Lizerne proves a hard nut to crack—British counter-attacks along the salient line abortive—17-inch Hun shells—A big shell lights in a château garden—Shell plus chandelier—A car in a Belgian ditch—Billets in Wormhoudt—Welcome rest

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CHAPTER V.

May.

The shortening of the Ypres Salient—More Hun gas—Strange equipment for fighting the gas—The eve of Rawlinson's attack along the Fromelles road—Great hopes of winning through to Lille—The 1st Cavalry Division sent to Ypres—The French attack at Arras—The British horseshoe around Ypres—Through the ruined town of Potijze—Scenes of devastation—Under the shells—Awful smells—Streams of wounded—Shell-splinters—The G.H.Q. line—The St. Jean dug-outs—The hell of constant enemy howitzer fire—Preponderance of numbers of German heavy guns over British—The Auber ridge attack fails—Splendid examples of heroism among the wounded—The French attack fails to break through—Holding on at Ypres—Discovery of a dug-out at Potijze—The solitary old woman in wrecked Ypres—Wonderful pyrotechnic displays at night in the trenches—Blocked by shell and conflagration in Ypres—Unable to get through—An abandoned attempt at photography under bursting shells—A scared collie—The last inhabitants to escape from the ruins of Ypres—The "Princess Pat's"—A "Mother" gun and aeroplane artillery observations—General De Lisle given command of the eastern portion of the Salient—The remnants of the Northumberland Brigade—To bed by the light of the fires in Ypres—The composition of the Salient line on the night of May 12th

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CHAPTER VI.

May (continued).

The great German attack on May 13th—Twelve hours of Hun howitzer fire—Terrible and awe-inspiring spectacle—The niagara of shell-sound—Around impassable Ypres to Potijze—Close work by a coal-box—Through a black shell-cloud—The York and Durham "Terriers"—Bombarded in a Potijze dug-out—The shell-swept line—Colonel Budworth's wisdom and the German General's lost opportunity—The super-human work of the Queen's Bays saves the line—The Life Guards shelled from their trenches—Bits of position lost wholesale—Good work by an armoured car—Accurate and invaluable gunning by British Artillery—German attacks dispersed—Heavy casualties among the 18th Hussars—The splendid charge of the Blues, 10th Hussars and Essex Yeomanry—David Campbell's 6th Brigade holds a line of obliterated trenches—Reports of heavy losses—The remnants form a new line—A talk with two of the Blues on the battle-field—A plucky Essex Yeoman—Over 1,600 casualties in the two cavalry divisions engaged—A lost despatch case—In the "huts" near Vlamertinghe—An unnecessary run up the Menin Road at night—The flotsam and jetsam of a divisional relief in the dark—A cellar headquarters on the Menin Road—The position at Hooge—Cheery K.R.R. cyclists—A gunner's curious story—The composition of the Salient line on the morning of May 24th—In the thick of a Hun gas attack—The 28th Division lose their line—The 18th Hussars outflanked—A "Gas Diary"—The 9th Lancers hold the trench-line—Fine work by the York and Durham Territorials—The 15th Hussars win laurels—Gas everywhere—A shell demolishes an ammunition limber—A brave Cheshire sergeant—A wounded Tommy and his yarn—Huns refuse to take prisoners—A counter-attack by the Royal Fusiliers—D.S.O.'s and Military Crosses—18th Hussars casualties—Captain Grenfell and Captain Court of the 9th Lancers buried at Vlamertinghe—General De Lisle given command of the 29th Division and leaves France for the Dardanelles

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