Men say that at times the lines seemed to waver and almost to break; that
the whole advancing force, small and scattered though it was, seemed to
bend backward as cornstalks in wind, but always they saw the colonel ahead
and recovered balance.
Colonel Birchall fell dead on the parapet of the German trench, but he got
what he had come after. His men were with him. There were seven hundred and
more dead and wounded in the battalion, but the trench was theirs and Fritz
was again begging for mercy.
There are stories, wonderful stories of stirring things done by the several
battalions, but it is not possible to give them in detail. Men made
undying names in this battle, names which will go down through the ages as
have the names of other British soldiers. There was Brigadier-General
Turner, who is now Major-General, of the Third Brigade. There was
Lieutenant-Colonel, now Brigadier-General, Watson of the Second Battalion,
who, together with Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie, now Brigadier-General, of the
Third Battalion, reinforced the Third Infantry Brigade. These two were of
the First Brigade.
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