Sir John French in one of his despatches records that during the action at Le Cateau on August 26th the whole of the officers and men of one of the British batteries had been killed or wounded with the exception of one subaltern and two gunners.  These continued to serve one gun, kept up a sound rate of fire, and came unhurt from the battlefield.

Another daring act is described by W.E.  Motley, R.F.A.  “Things became very warm for us,” he says, “when the Germans found the range.  In fact it became so hot that an order was passed to abandon the guns temporarily.  This is the time when our men don’t obey orders, so they stuck to their guns.  They ceased their fire for a time.  The enemy, thinking our guns were out of action, advanced rapidly.  Then was the time our men proved their worth.  They absolutely shattered the Germans with their shells.”

Some gallant stories are told of the Royal Engineers.  One especially thrilling, is given in the words of Darino, a lyrical artist of the Comedie Francaise, who joined the Cuirassiers, and was a spectator of the scene he describes.  A bridge had to be blown up, and the whole place was an inferno of mitrailleuse and rifle fire.  “Into this,” he relates, “went your Engineers.  A party of them rushed towards the bridge, and, though dropping one by one, were able to lay the charge before all were sacrificed.  For a moment we waited.  Then others came.  Down towards the bridge they crept, seeking what cover they could in their eagerness to get near enough to light the fuse.  Ah! it was then we Frenchmen witnessed something we shall never forget.  One man dashed forward to his task in the open, only to fall dead.  Another, and another, and another followed him, only to fall like his comrade, and not till the twelfth man had reached the fuse did the attempt succeed.  As the bridge blew up with a mighty roar, we looked and saw that the brave twelfth man had also sacrificed his life.”

During the long retreat from Mons the Middlesex Regiment got into an awkward plight, and a bridge—­the only one left to the Germans—­had to be destroyed to protect them.  This was done by a sergeant of the Engineers, but immediately afterwards his own head was blown away by a German shell.  “The brave fellow certainly saved the position,” writes one of the Middlesex men, “for if the Germans had got across that night I’m afraid there would have been very few of us left.”

Other daring incidents may be told briefly.  One of the liveliest is that of seven men of the Worcesters, who were told they could “go for a stroll.”  While loitering along the road they encountered a party of Germans, and captured them all without firing a shot.  “We just covered them with our rifles,” writes Private Styles; “so simple!” Sir John French relates a similar exploit of an officer who, while proceeding along the road in charge of a number of led horses, received information that there were some of the enemy in the neighborhood.  Upon seeing them he gave the order to charge, whereupon three German officers and 106 men surrendered!  On another occasion a portion of a supply column was cut off by a detachment of German cavalry and the officer in charge was summoned to surrender.  He refused, and starting his motors off at full speed dashed safely through.