“Throughout the morning we continued to fight a rearguard action, but the steady march in retreat did not stop until 6 o’clock in the evening, when the British found themselves well out of range of the German artillery in a quiet valley.

“Here all the troops were ordered to rest and eat.  As they had been without food since the previous morning’s breakfast it was rather amusing to see the soldiers going into the turnip fields and eating turnips as though they were apples.

“At 8 o’clock all lights were extinguished, the soldiers were ordered to make no noise and the pickets pushed a long distance backward.  Long before dawn the troops were hastily started again and continued the retirement.

“By noon the enemy was again heard from and a large detachment was assigned the task of fighting to protect our rear.

WATCH DUEL IN AIR

“During the afternoon both the German and British armies watched a duel in the air between French and German aeroplanes.  The Frenchman was wonderfully clever, and succeeded in maneuvering himself to the upper position, which he gained after fifteen minutes of reckless effort.  Then the Frenchman began blazing away at the German with a revolver.

“Finally he hit him, and the wounded German attempted to glide down into his own lines.  The glide, however, ended in the British lines near my detachment, the West Kent Infantry.  We found the aviator dead when we reached the machine.  We buried him and burned the aeroplane.

“At dusk a halt was made for food, and as the Germans had fallen behind the English spent a quiet night.  At dawn, however, we found the Germans close to our heels, and several regiments were ordered to prepare intrenchments.  This is tedious and tiresome work, especially in the heat and without proper food, but we quickly put up fortifications which were sufficient to protect us somewhat from the artillery fire.

“It was not long before the German gunners found the range and began tearing up those rough fortifications, concentrating their fire on the British batteries, one of which was completely demolished.  Another found itself with only six men.  Both these disasters bore testimony to the excellent markmanship of the German gunners.

OFFICER, SPIKES THE GUNS

“As it became evident that we must leave these guns behind and continue the retreat, an officer was seen going around putting the guns out of action, so that they would be of no use to the Germans.  His action required cool bravery, because the Germans, having found the range, continued firing directly at these batteries.

“Things rapidly got hotter, and the commanding officer ordered a double-quick retreat.  We were not long in doing the retiring movement to save our own skins.

“I was wounded at this time by a Maxim bullet.  For a moment I thought my head had been blown off, but I recovered and kept on running until I reached a trench, where I had an opportunity to bandage the wound.  I rushed off to the ambulances, but found the doctors so busy with men worse off than I that I went back to my place in the line.”