Scenes Among Prisoners
“While we were at work a number of Germans who had stopped behind, and were hiding in shell holes, commenced a bombing attack on our right. But they did not keep it up long, for they hoisted a white flag (a handkerchief tied to a rifle), as a sign of surrender. I should think we must have made about twenty prisoners. They were very frightened. Some of them bunked into a sunken road or cutting which ran straight out from the wood in a southerly direction, and huddled together, with hands upraised. They began to empty their pockets and hand out souvenirs—watches, compasses, cigars, pen-knives—to their captors, and even wanted to shake hands with us! There was no other officer about at the moment, so I had to find an escort to take the prisoners down. Among the prisoners was a tall, distinguished-looking man, and I asked him in my broken German whether he was an officer. ‘Ja! mein Herr!’ was the answer I got. ‘Sprechen sie English?’ ‘Jah!’ ‘Good,’ I said, thankful that I didn’t have to rack my brains for any more German words; ‘please tell your men that no harm will come to them if they follow you quietly.’ He turned round and addressed his men, who seemed to be very grateful that we were not going to kill them! I must say the officer behaved with real soldierly dignity, and, not to be outdone in politeness, I treated him with the same respect that he showed me. I gave him an escort for himself and told off three or four men for the remainder. I could not but rather admire his bearing, for he did not show anything like the terror that his men did.
“I heard afterward that when Captain ——’s company rushed a trench more to our right, round the corner of the wood, a German officer surrendered in great style. He stood to attention, gave a clinking salute, and said in perfect English, ‘Sir, myself, this other officer and ten men are your prisoners.’ Captain —— said, ‘Right you are, old chap!’ and they shook hands, the prisoners being led away immediately. So you see there are certain amenities which are observed even on the bloodiest of battlefields. I believe our prisoners were all Bavarians, who are better mannered from all accounts than the Prussians. They could thank their stars they had Irish chivalry to deal with.
“There were a great many German dead and wounded in the sunken road. One of them was an officer. He was lying at the entrance to a dugout. He was waving his arms about. I went over and spoke to him. He could talk a little English. All he could say was, ‘Comrade, I die, I die.’ I asked him where he was hit and he said in the stomach. It was impossible to move him, for our stretcher bearers had not yet come up, so I got my servant to look for an overcoat to throw over him, as he was suffering terribly from the cold. Whether or not he survived the night I do not know.
“Our line was now extended across the sunken road and beyond the corner of the wood to our right. Darkness was coming on. Airplanes were hovering overhead, and shortly afterward our shells began to form a barrage in front. The Germans had evidently rallied, for we could see a long line of them coming up on our right, evidently from the direction of Leuze Wood. Our machine guns opened fire. The counter-attack was hung up, but the Germans must have dug themselves in for the night, for in the morning they gave us a good deal of trouble.
After the counter-attack had subsided, I was ordered to take my men and join up with the rest of the battalion on our right. There we spent the night in a trench. We must have been facing south. It was a miserable night we passed, for we were all very cold and thirsty. We had to keep digging. When morning broke it was very misty. We expected to be relieved at two in the morning, but the relief did not come till noon. Never shall I forget those hours of suspense. We were all hungry. The only food we could get was German black bread, which we picked up all over the place; also German tinned sausages and bully-beef. We had to lift up some of the dead to get at these things. Some of them had water bottles full of cold coffee, which we drank.
“We all craved a smoke. Fortunately, the German haversacks were pretty well stocked with cigarettes and cigars. I got a handful of cigars off a dead German, and smoked them all morning. Also a tin of cigarettes. His chocolates also came in handy. Poor devil, he must have been a cheery soul when living, for he had a photograph of himself in his pocket, in a group with his wife and two children, and the picture made him look a jolly old sport. And here he was dead, with both legs missing! The trench (between ours and the wood) was stacked with dead. It was full of débris—bombs, shovels, and what not—and torn books, magazines, and newspapers. I came across a copy of Schiller’s ‘Wallenstein.’