Doran Company of
New York, with the title "In the Firing Line," (50 cents net.) Mr. A.
St. John Adcock collected a large number of letters sent home during the
last few weeks by English soldiers fighting in France and has arranged
them to form what is perhaps the most essentially human account of the
great war that has yet appeared.
Consider, for instance, the narrative of Private Whitaker of the
Coldstream Guards. He fought through the terrific four-day battle near
Mons, and his account of it follows. It must be remembered that the
British troops who took part in that battle had sailed from Southampton
only four days before:
You thought it was a big crowd that streamed out of the
Crystal Palace when we went to see the Cup Final. Well,
outside Compiegne it was just as if that crowd came at us. You
couldn't miss them. Our bullets plowed into them, but still
they came for us. I was well intrenched, and my rifle got so
hot I could hardly hold it. I was wondering if I should have
enough bullets when a pal shouted, "Up, Guards, and at 'em!"
The next second he was rolled over with a nasty knock on the
shoulder. He jumped up and hissed, "Let me get at them!" His
language was a bit stronger than that.
When we really did get the order to get at them we made no
mistake, I can tell you. They cringed at the bayonet, but
those on our left wing tried to get around us, and after
racing as hard as we could for quite five hundred yards we cut
up nearly every man who did not run away.
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