CHAPTER XI.

FIERCE FIGHTING AT CHELMSFORD.

A despatch from Mr. Edgar Hamilton to the "Daily News," as follows, was

published on Saturday, 15th September:

"At Little Waltham I found myself close to the scene of action. About a

mile ahead of me the hamlet of Howe Street was in flames and burning

furiously. I could see the shells bursting in and all over it in perfect

coveys. I could not make out where they were coming from, but an officer

I met said he thought the enemy must have several batteries in action on

the high ground about Littley Green, a mile and a half to the north on

the opposite side of the river. I crossed over myself, and got up on the

knoll where the Leicestershires and Dorsets had been stationed, together

with a number of the 4.7-inch guns brought from Colchester.

"This piece of elevated ground is about two miles long, running almost

north and south, and at the top of it I got an extensive view to the

eastward right away to beyond Witham, as the ground fell all the way.

The country was well wooded, and a perfect maze of trees and hedgerows.

If there were any Germans down there in this plain they were lying very

low indeed, for my glasses did not discover the least indication of

their presence. Due east my view was bounded by the high wooded ground

about Wickham Bishops and Tiptree Heath, which lay a long blue hummock

on the horizon, while to the south-east Danbury Hill, with our big

war-balloon floating overhead, was plainly discernible.

"While I gazed on the apparently peaceful landscape I was startled by a

nasty, sharp hissing sound, which came momentarily nearer. It seemed to

pass over my head, and was followed by a loud bang in the air, where now

hung a ring of white smoke. It was a shell from the enemy. Just ahead

of me was a somewhat extensive wood; and, urged by some insane impulse

of seeking shelter, I left the car, which I ordered my chauffeur to take

back for a mile and wait, and made for the close-standing trees. If I

had stopped to think I should have realised that the wood gave me

actually no protection whatever, and I had not gone far when the

crashing of timber and noise of the bursting projectiles overhead and in

the undergrowth around made me understand clearly that the Germans were

making a special target of the wood, which, I imagine, they thought

might conceal some of our troops. I wished heartily that I was seated

beside my chauffeur in his fast-receding car.

"However, my first object was to get clear of the wood again, and after

some little time I emerged on the west side, right in the middle of a

dressing station for the wounded, which had been established in a little

hollow. Two surgeons, with their assistants, were already busily engaged

with a number of wounded men, most of whom were badly hit by shrapnel

bullets about the upper part of the body. I gathered from one or two of

the few most slightly wounded men that our people had been, and were,

very hardly put to it to hold their own. 'I reckon,' said one of them, a

bombardier of artillery, 'that the enemy must have got more than a

hundred guns firing at us, and at Howe Street village. If we could only

make out where the foreign devils were,' continued my informant, 'our

chaps could have knocked a good many of them out with our

four-point-sevens, especially if we could have got a go at them before

they got within range themselves. But they must have somehow contrived

to get them into position during the night, for we saw nothing of them

coming up. They are somewhere about Chatley, Fairstead Lodge, and Little

Leighs, but as we can't locate them exactly, and only have ten guns up

here, it don't give us much chance, does it?' Later I saw an officer of

the Dorsets, who confirmed the gunner's story, but added that our people

were well entrenched and the guns well concealed, so that none of the

latter had been put out of action, and he thought we should be able to

hold on to the hill all right. I regained my car without further

adventure, bar several narrow escapes from stray shell, and made my way

back as quickly as possible to Chelmsford.

"The firing went on all day, not only to the northward, but also away to

the southward, where the Saxons, while not making any determined attack,

kept the Vth Corps continually on the alert, and there was an almost

continuous duel between the heavy pieces. As it appeared certain that

the knoll I had visited in the forenoon was the main objective of the

enemy's attack, reinforcements had been more than once sent up there,

but the German shell fire was so heavy that they found it almost

impossible to construct the additional cover required. Several batteries

of artillery were despatched to Pleshy and Rolphy Green to keep down, if

possible, the fire of the Germans, but it seemed to increase rather than

diminish. They must have had more guns in action than they had at first.

Just at dusk their infantry had made the first openly offensive

movement.

"Several lines of skirmishers suddenly appeared in the valley between

Little Leighs and Chatley, and advanced towards Lyonshall Wood, at the

north end of the knoll east of Little Waltham. They were at first

invisible from the British gun positions on the other side of the

Chelmer, and when they cleared the spur on which Hyde Hall stands they

were hardly discernible in the gathering darkness. The Dorsetshire and

the other battalions garrisoning the knoll manned their breastworks as

they got within rifle range, and opened fire, but they were still

subjected to the infernal rafale from the Hanoverian guns on the hills

to the northward, and to make matters worse at this critical moment the

Xth Corps brought a long line of guns into action between Flacks Green

and Great Leighs Wood, in which position none of the British guns except

a few on the knoll itself could reach them. Under this cross hurricane

of projectiles the British fire was quite beaten down, and the Germans

followed up their skirmishers by almost solid masses, which advanced

with all but impunity save for the fire of the few British long-range

guns at Pleshy Mount. There they were firing almost at random, as the

gunners could not be certain of the exact whereabouts of their

objectives. There was a searchlight on the knoll, but at the first sweep

of its ray it was absolutely demolished by a blizzard of shrapnel. Every

German gun was turned upon it. The Hanoverian battalions now swarmed to

the assault, disregarding the gaps made in their ranks by the magazine

fire of the defenders as soon as their close advance masked the fire of

their own cannon.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF CHELMSFORD.

Position on the Evening of September 11.]

"The British fought desperately. Three several times they hurled back at

the attackers, but, alas! we were overborne by sheer weight of numbers.

Reinforcements summoned by telephone, as soon as the determined nature

of the attack was apparent, were hurried up from every available source,

but they only arrived in time to be carried down the hill again in the

rush of its defeated defenders, and to share with them the storm of

projectiles from the quick-firers of General von Kronhelm's artillery,

which had been pushed forward during the assault. It was with the

greatest difficulty that the shattered and disorganised troops were got

over the river at Little Waltham. As it was, hundreds were drowned in

the little stream, and hundreds of others killed and wounded by the fire

of the Germans. They had won the first trick. This was indisputable, and

as ill news travels apace, a feeling of gloom fell upon our whole force,

for it was realised that the possession of the captured knoll would

enable the enemy to mass troops almost within effective rifle range of

our river line of defence. I believe that it was proposed by some

officers on the staff that we should wheel back our left and take up a

fresh position during the night. This was overruled, as it was

recognised that to do so would enable the enemy to push in between the

Dunmow force and our own, and so cut our general line in half. All that

could be done was to get up every available gun and bombard the hill

during the night in order to hamper the enemy in his preparations for

further forward movement and in his entrenching operations.

"Had we more men at our disposal I suppose there is little doubt that a

strong counter-attack would have been made on the knoll almost

immediately; but in the face of the enormous numbers opposed to us, I

imagine that General Blennerhasset did not feel justified in denuding

any portion of our position of its defenders. So all through the dark

hours the thunder of the great guns went on. In spite of the cannonade

the Germans turned on no less than three searchlights from the southern

end of the knoll about midnight. Two were at once put out by our fire,

but the third managed to exist for over half an hour, and enabled the

Germans to see how hard we were working to improve our defences along

the river bank. I am afraid that they were by this means able to make

themselves acquainted with the positions of a great number of our

trenches. During the night our patrols reported being unable to

penetrate beyond Pratt's Farm, Mount Maskell, and Porter's Farm on the

Colchester Road. Everywhere they were forced back by superior numbers.

The enemy were fast closing in upon us. It was a terrible night in

Chelmsford.

"There was panic on every hand. A man mounted the Tindal statue and

harangued the crowd, urging the people to rise and compel the Government

to stop the war. A few young men endeavoured to load the old Crimean

cannon in front of the Shire Hall, but found it clogged with rust and

useless. People fled from the villa residences in Brentwood Road into

the town for safety, now that the enemy were upon them. The banks in

High Street were being barricaded, and the stores still remaining in the

various grocers' shops, Luckin Smith's, Martin's, Cramphorn's, and

Pearke's, were rapidly being concealed from the invaders. All the

ambulance waggons entering the town were filled with wounded, although

as many as possible were sent south by train. By one o'clock in the

morning, however, most of the civilian inhabitants had fled. The streets

were empty, but for the bivouacking troops and the never-ending

procession of wounded men. The General and his staff were deliberating

to a late hour in the Shire Hall, at which he had established his

headquarters. The booming of the guns waxed and waned till dawn, when a

furious outburst announced that the second act of the tragedy was about

to open.

DECREE

CONCERNING THE POWER OF COUNCILS OF WAR.

WE, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF EAST ANGLIA, in virtue of the powers

conferred upon us by His Imperial Majesty the German Emperor,

Commander-in-Chief of the German Armies, order, for the

maintenance of the internal and external security of the

counties of the Government-General:--

ARTICLE I.--Any individual guilty of incendiarism or of wilful

inundation, of attack, or of resistance with violence against

the Government-General or the agents of the civil or military

authorities, of sedition, of pillage, of theft with violence, of

assisting prisoners to escape, or of exciting soldiers to

treasonable acts, shall be PUNISHED BY DEATH.

In the case of any extenuating circumstances, the culprit may be

sent to penal servitude with hard labour for twenty years.

ARTICLE II.--Any person provoking or inciting an individual to

commit the crimes mentioned in Article I. will be sent to penal

servitude with hard labour for ten years.

ARTICLE III.--Any person propagating false reports relative to

the operations of war or political events will be imprisoned for

one year, and fined up to L100.

In any case where the affirmation or propagation may cause

prejudice against the German Army, or against any authorities or

functionaries established by it, the culprit will be sent to

hard labour for ten years.

ARTICLE IV.--Any person usurping a public office, or who commits

any act or issues any order in the name of a public functionary,

will be imprisoned for five years, and fined L150.

ARTICLE V.--Any person who voluntarily destroys or abstracts any

documents, registers, archives, or public documents deposited in

public offices, or passing through their hands in virtue of

their functions as government or civic officials, will be

imprisoned for two years, and fined L150.

ARTICLE VI.--Any person obliterating, damaging, or tearing down

official notices, orders, or proclamations of any sort issued by

the German authorities will be imprisoned for six months, and

fined L80.

ARTICLE VII.--Any resistance or disobedience of any order given

in the interests of public security by military commanders and

other authorities, or any provocation or incitement to commit

such disobedience, will be punished by one year's imprisonment,

or a fine of not less than L150.

ARTICLE VIII.--All offences enumerated in Articles I.--VII. are

within the jurisdiction of the Councils of War.

ARTICLE IX.--It is within the competence of Councils of War to

adjudicate upon all other crimes and offences against the

internal and external security of the English provinces occupied

by the German Army, and also upon all crimes against the

military or civil authorities, or their agents, as well as

murder, the fabrication of false money, of blackmail, and all

other serious offences.

Article X.--Independent of the above, the military jurisdiction

already proclaimed will remain in force regarding all actions

tending to imperil the security of the German troops, to damage

their interests, or to render assistance to the Army of the

British Government.

Consequently, there will be PUNISHED BY DEATH, and we expressly

repeat this, all persons who are not British soldiers and--

(a) Who serve the British Army or the Government as spies, or

receive British spies, or give them assistance or asylum.

(b) Who serve as guides to British troops, or mislead the German

troops when charged to act as guides.

(c) Who shoot, injure, or assault any German soldier or officer.

(d) Who destroy bridges or canals, interrupt railways or

telegraph lines, render roads impassable, burn munitions of war,

provisions, or quarters of the troops.

(e) Who take arms against the German troops.

ARTICLE XI.--The organisation of Councils of War mentioned in

Articles VIII. and IX. of the Law of May 2, 1870, and their

procedure are regulated by special laws which are the same as

the summary jurisdiction of military tribunals. In the case of

Article X. there remains in force the Law of July 21, 1867,

concerning the military jurisdiction applicable to foreigners.

ARTICLE XII.--The present order is proclaimed and put into

execution on the morrow of the day upon which it is affixed in

the public places of each town and village, The Governor-General

of East Anglia,

=COUNT VON SCHONBURG-WALDENBERG, Lieutenant-General.=

NORWICH, _September 7th_, 1910.

"I had betaken myself at once to the round tower of the church, next the

Stone Bridge, from which I had an excellent view both east and north.

The first thing that attracted my eye was the myriad flashings of rifle

fire in the dimness of the breaking day. They reached in a continuous

line of coruscations from Boreham Hall, opposite my right hand, to the

knoll by Little Waltham, a distance of three or four miles, I should

say. The enemy were driving in all our outlying and advanced troops by

sheer weight of numbers. Presently the heavy batteries at Danbury began

pitching shell over in the direction of the firing, but as the German

line still advanced, it had not apparently any very great effect. The

next thing that happened was a determined attack on the village of Howe

Street made from the direction of Hyde Hall. This is about two miles

north of Little Waltham. In spite of our incessant fire, the Germans had

contrived to mass a tremendous number of guns and howitzers on and

behind the knoll they captured last night, and there was any quantity

more on the ridge above Hyde Hall. All these terrible weapons

concentrated their fire for a few moments on the blackened ruins of Howe

Street. Not a mouse could have lived there. The little place was simply

pulverised.

"Our guns at Pleshy Mount and Rolphy Green, aided by a number of field

batteries, in vain endeavoured to make head against them. They were

outnumbered by six to one. Under cover of this tornado of iron and

fire, the enemy pushed several battalions over the river, making use of

the ruins of the many bridges about there which had been hastily

destroyed, and which they repaired with planks and other materials they

brought along with them. They lost a large number of men in the process,

but they persevered, and by ten o'clock were in complete possession of

Howe Street, Langley's Park, and Great Waltham, and moving in fighting

formation against Pleshy Mount and Rolphy Green, their guns covering

their advance with a perfectly awful discharge of shrapnel. Our cannon

on the ridge at Partridge Green took the attackers in flank, and for a

time checked their advance, but, drawing upon themselves the attention

of the German artillery, on the south end of the knoll, were all but

silenced.

"As soon as this was effected another strong column of Germans followed

in the footsteps of the first, and deploying to the left, secured the

bridge at Little Waltham, and advanced against the gun positions on

Partridge Green. This move turned all our river bank entrenchments right

down to Chelmsford. Their defenders were now treated to the enfilade

fire of a number of Hanoverian batteries that galloped down to Little

Waltham. They stuck to their trenches gallantly, but presently when the

enemy obtained a footing on Partridge Green they were taken in reverse,

and compelled to fall back, suffering terrible losses as they did so.

The whole of the infantry of the Xth Corps, supported--as we

understand--by a division which had joined them from Maldon, now moved

down on Chelmsford. In fact, there was a general advance of the three

combined armies stretching from Partridge Green on the west to the

railway line on the east. The defenders of the trenches facing east were

hastily withdrawn, and thrown back on Writtle. The Germans followed

closely with both infantry and guns, though they were for a time checked

near Scot's Green by a dashing charge of our cavalry brigade, consisting

of the 16th Lancers and the 7th, 14th, and 20th Hussars, and the Essex

and Middlesex Yeomanry. We saw nothing of their cavalry, for a reason

that will be apparent later. By one o'clock fierce fighting was going on

all round the town, the German hordes enveloping it on all sides but

one. We had lost a great number of our guns, or at any rate had been

cut off from them by the German successes around Pleshy Mount, and in

all their assaults on the town they had been careful to keep out of

effective range of the heavy batteries on Danbury Hill. These, by the

way, had their own work cut out for them, as the Saxon artillery were

heavily bombarding the hill with their howitzers. The British forces

were in a critical situation. Reinforcements--such as could be

spared--were hurried up from the Vth Army Corps, but they were not very

many in numbers, as it was necessary to provide against an attack by the

Saxon Corps. By three o'clock the greater part of the town was in the

hands of the Germans, despite the gallant way in which our men fought

them from street to street, and house to house. A dozen fires were

spreading in every direction, and fierce fighting was going on at

Writtle. The overpowering numbers of the Germans, combined with their

better organisation, and the number of properly trained officers at

their disposal, bore the British mixed Regular and Irregular forces

back, and back again.

"Fearful of being cut off from his line of retreat, General

Blennerhasset, on hearing from Writtle soon after three that the

Hanoverians were pressing his left very hard, and endeavouring to work

round it, reluctantly gave orders for the troops in Chelmsford to fall

back on Widford and Moulsham. There was a lull in the fighting for about

half an hour, though firing was going on both at Writtle and Danbury.

Soon after four a terrible rumour spread consternation on every side.

According to this, an enormous force of cavalry and motor infantry was

about to attack us in the rear. What had actually happened was not quite

so bad as this, but quite bad enough. It seems, according to our latest

information, that almost the whole of the cavalry belonging to the three

German Army Corps with whom we were engaged--something like a dozen

regiments, with a proportion of horse artillery and all available

motorists, having with them several of the new armoured motors carrying

light, quick-firing and machine guns--had been massed during the last

thirty-six hours behind the Saxon lines extending from Maldon to the

River Crouch. During the day they had worked round to the southward, and

at the time the rumour reached us were actually attacking Billericay,

which was held by a portion of the reserves of our Vth Corps. By the

time this news was confirmed the Germans were assaulting Great Baddow,

and moving on Danbury from east, north, and west, at the same time

resuming the offensive all along the line. The troops at Danbury must be

withdrawn or they would be isolated. This difficult manoeuvre was

executed by way of West Hanningfield. The rest of the Vth Corps

conformed to the movement, the Guards Brigade at East Hanningfield

forming the rearguard, and fighting fiercely all night through with the

Saxon troops, who moved out on the left flank of our retreat. The wreck

of the first Corps and the Colchester garrison was now also in full

retirement. Ten miles lay between it and the lines at Brentwood, and had

the Germans been able to employ cavalry in pursuit, this retreat would

have been even more like a rout than it was. Luckily for us the

Billericay troops mauled the German cavalry pretty severely, and they

were beset in the close country in that neighbourhood by Volunteers,

motorists, and every one that the officer commanding at Brentwood could

get together in this emergency.

"Some of them actually got upon our line of retreat, but were driven off

by our advance guard; others came across the head of the retiring Vth

Corps, but the terrain was all against cavalry, and after nightfall most

of them had lost their way in the maze of lanes and hedgerows that

covered the countryside. Had it not been for this we should probably

have been absolutely smashed. As it was, rather more than half our

original numbers of men and guns crawled into Brentwood in the early

morning, worn out and dead-beat."

Reports from Sheffield also showed the position to be critical.

BOOK II.

THE SIEGE OF LONDON.

CHAPTER I.

THE LINES OF LONDON.

The German successes were continued in the North and Midlands, and

notwithstanding the gallant defence of Sir George Woolmer before

Manchester and Sir Henry Hibbard before Birmingham, both cities were

captured and occupied by the enemy after terrible losses. London,

however, was the chief objective of Von Kronhelm, and towards the

Metropolis he now turned his attention.

After the defeat of the British at Chelmsford on that fateful Wednesday,

Lord Byfield decided to evacuate his position at Royston and fall back

on the northern section of the London defence line, which had been under

construction for the last ten days. These hasty entrenchments, which

would have been impossible to construct but for the ready assistance of

thousands of all classes of the citizens of London and the suburbs,

extended from Tilbury on the east to Bushey on the west, passing by the

Laindon Hills, Brentwood, Kelvedon, North Weald, Epping, Waltham Abbey,

Cheshunt, Enfield Chase, Chipping Barnet, and Elstree. They were more or

less continuous, consisting for the most part of trenches for infantry,

generally following the lines of existing hedgerows or banks, which

often required but little improvement to transform them into

well-protected and formidable cover for the defending troops. Where it

was necessary to cross open ground they were dug deep and winding, after

the fashion adopted by the Boers in the South African War, so that it

would be difficult, if not impossible, to enfilade them.

Special bomb-proof covers for the local reserves were also constructed

at various points, and the ground in front ruthlessly cleared of houses,

barns, trees, hedges, and everything that might afford shelter to an

advancing enemy. Every possible military obstacle was placed in front of

the lines that time permitted, abattis, military pits, wire

entanglements, and small ground mines. At the more important points

along the fifty miles of entrenchments, field works and redoubts for

infantry were built, most of them being armed with 4.7 or even 6 and 7.5

in. guns, which had been brought from Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth, and

Devonport, and mounted on whatever carriages could be adapted or

improvised for the occasion.

The preparation of the London lines was a stupendous undertaking, but

the growing scarceness and dearness of provisions assisted in a degree,

as no free rations were issued to any able-bodied man unless he went out

to work at the fortifications. All workers were placed under military

law. There were any number of willing workers who proffered their

services in this time of peril. Thousands of men came forward asking to

be enlisted and armed. The difficulty was to find enough weapons and

ammunition for them, to say nothing of the question of uniform and

equipment, which loomed very large indeed. The attitude of the Germans,

as set forth in Von Kronhelm's proclamations, precluded the employment

of fighting men dressed in civilian garb, and their attitude was a

perfectly natural and justifiable one by all the laws and customs of

war.

It became necessary, therefore, that all men sent to the front should be

dressed as soldiers in some way or another. In addition to that splendid

corps, the Legion of Frontiersmen, many new armed organisations had

sprung into being, some bearing the most fantastic names, such as the

"Whitechapel War-to-the-Knives," the "Kensington Cowboys," the

"Bayswater Braves," and the "Southwark Scalphunters." All the available

khaki and blue serge was used up in no time; even though those who were

already in possession of ordinary lounge suits of the latter material

were encouraged to have them altered into uniforms by the addition of

stand-up collars and facings of various colours, according to their

regiments and corps.

Only the time during which these men were waiting for their uniforms was

spent in drill in the open spaces of the Metropolis. As soon as they

were clothed, they were despatched to that portion of the entrenchments

to which their corps had been allocated, and there, in the intervals of

their clearing and digging operations, they were hustled through a brief

musketry course, which consisted for the most part in firing. The

question of the provision of officers and N.C.O.'s was an almost

insuperable one. Retired men came forward on every side, but the supply

was by no means equal to the demand, and they themselves in many

instances were absolutely out of date as far as knowledge of modern arms

and conditions were concerned. However, every one, with but very few

exceptions, did his utmost, and by the 11th or 12th of the month the

entrenchments were practically completed, and manned by upwards of

150,000 "men with muskets" of stout heart and full of patriotism, but in

reality nothing but an army _pour rire_ so far as efficiency was

concerned.

The greater part of the guns were also placed in position, especially on

the north and eastern portions of the lines, and the remainder were

being mounted as fast as it was practicable. They were well manned by

Volunteer and Militia Artillerymen, drawn from every district which the

invaders had left accessible. By the 13th the eastern section of the

fortifications was strengthened by the arrival of the remnants of the

Ist and Vth Army Corps, which had been so badly defeated at Chelmsford,

and no time was lost in reorganising them and distributing them along

the lines, thereby, to a certain extent, leavening the unbaked mass of

their improvised defenders. It was generally expected that the enemy

would follow up the success by an immediate attack on Brentwood, the

main barrier between Von Kronhelm and his objective--our great

Metropolis. But, as it turned out, he had a totally different scheme in

hand. The orders to Lord Byfield to evacuate the position he had

maintained with such credit against the German Garde and IVth Corps have

already been referred to. Their reason was obvious. Now that there was

no organised resistance on his right, he stood in danger of being cut

off from London, the defences of which were now in pressing need of his

men. A large amount of rolling stock was at once despatched to Saffron

Walden and Buntingford by the G.E.R. and to Baldock by the G.N.R., to

facilitate the withdrawal of his troops and stores, and he was given an

absolutely free hand as to how these were to be used, all lines being

kept clear and additional trains kept at his disposal at their London

termini.

[Illustration:

THE LINES OF LONDON

Rough sketch showing approximately the lines of entrenchments

constructed for the defence of the Metropolis.]

September 13 proved a memorable date in the history of England.

The evacuation of the Baldock-Saffron Walden position could not possibly

have been carried out in good order on such short notice, had not Lord

Byfield previously worked the whole thing out in readiness. He could not

help feeling that, despite his glorious victory on the ninth, a turn of

Fortune's wheel might necessitate a retirement on London sooner or

later, and, like the good General that he was, he made every preparation

both for this, and other eventualities. Among other details, he had

arranged that the mounted infantry should be provided with plenty of

strong light wire. This was intended for the express benefit of

Froelich's formidable cavalry brigade, which he foresaw would be most

dangerous to his command in the event of a retreat. As soon, therefore,

as the retrograde movement commenced, the mounted infantry began to

stretch their wires across every road, lane and byway leading to the

north and north-east. Some wires were laid low, within a foot of the

ground, others high up, where they could catch a rider about the neck or

breast. This operation they carried out again and again, after the

troops had passed, at various points on the route of the retreat. Thanks

to the darkness, this device well fulfilled its purpose. Froelich's

brigade was on the heels of the retreating British soon after midnight,

but as it was impossible for them to move over the enclosed country at

night, his riders were confined to the roads, and the accidents and

delays occasioned by the wires were so numerous and disconcerting that

their advance had to be conducted with such caution that as a pursuit it

was of no use at all. Even the infantry and heavy guns of the retiring

British got over the ground nearly twice as fast. After two or three

hours of this, only varied by occasional volleys from detachments of our

mounted infantry, who sometimes waited in rear of their snares to let

fly at the German cavalry before galloping back to lay others, the enemy

recognised the fact, and, withdrawing their cavalry till daylight,

replaced them by infantry, but so much time had been lost, that the

British had got several miles' start.

As has been elsewhere chronicled, the brigade of four regular battalions

with their guns, and a company of Engineers which were to secure the

passage of the Stort and protect the left flank of the retirement, left

Saffron Walden somewhere about 10.30 p.m. The line was clear, and they

arrived at Sawbridgeworth in four long trains in a little under an hour.

Their advent did not arouse the sleeping village, as the station lies

nearly three-quarters of a mile distant on the further side of the

river. It may be noted in passing that while the Stort is but a small

stream, easily fordable in most places, yet it was important, if

possible, to secure the bridges to prevent delay in getting over the

heavy guns and waggons of the retiring British. A delay and congestion

at the points selected for passage might, with a close pursuit, easily

lead to disaster. Moreover, the Great Eastern Railway crossed the river

by a wooden bridge just north of the village of Sawbridgeworth, and it

was necessary to ensure the safe passage of the last trains over it

before destroying it to preclude the use of the railway by the enemy.

There were two road bridges on the Great Eastern Railway near the

village of Sawbridgeworth, which might be required by the Dunmow force,

which was detailed to protect the same flank rather more to the

northward. The most important bridge, that over which the main body of

the Saffron Walden force was to retire, with all the impedimenta it had

had time to bring away with it, was between Sawbridgeworth and Harlow,

about a mile north of the latter village, but much nearer its station.

Thither, then, proceeded the leading train with the Grenadiers, four 4.7

guns, and half a company of Royal Engineers with bridging materials.

Their task was to construct a second bridge to relieve the traffic over

the permanent one. The Grenadiers left one company at the railway

station, two in Harlow village, which they at once commenced to place in

a state of defence, much to the consternation of the villagers, who had

not realised how close to them were trending the red footsteps of war.

The remaining five companies with the other four guns turned northward,

and after marching another mile or so occupied the enclosures round

Durrington House and the higher ground to its north. Here the guns were

halted on the road. It was too dark to select the best position for

them, for it was now only about half an hour after midnight. The three

other regiments which detrained at Sawbridgeworth were disposed as

follows, continuing the line of the Grenadiers to the northward. The

Rifles occupied Hyde Hall, formerly the seat of the Earls of Roden,

covering the operations of the Engineers, who were preparing the railway

bridge for destruction, and the copses about Little Hyde Hall on the

higher ground to the eastward.

The Scots Guards with four guns were between them and the Grenadiers,

and distributed between Sheering village and Gladwyns House, from the

neighbourhood of which it was expected that the guns would be able to

command the Chelmsford Road for a considerable distance. The Seaforth

Highlanders for the time being were stationed on a road running parallel

to the railway, from which branch roads led to both the right, left, and

centre of the position. An advanced party of the Rifle Brigade was

pushed forward to Hatfield Heath with instructions to patrol towards the

front and flanks, and, if possible, establish communication with the

troops expected from Dunmow. By the time all this was completed it was

getting on for 3 a.m. on the 13th. At this hour the advanced guard of

the Germans coming from Chelmsford was midway between Leaden Roding and

White Roding, while the main body was crossing the small River Roding by

the shallow ford near the latter village. Their few cavalry scouts were,

however, exploring the roads and lanes some little way ahead. A

collision was imminent. The Dunmow force had not been able to move

before midnight, and, with the exception of one regular battalion, the

1st Leinsters, which was left behind to the last and crowded into the

only train available, had only just arrived at the northern edge of

Hatfield Forest, some four miles directly north of Hatfield Heath. The

Leinsters, who left Dunmow by train half an hour later, had detrained at

this point at one o'clock, and just about three had met the patrols of

the Rifles. A Yeomanry corps from Dunmow was also not far off, as it

turned to its left at the cross-roads east of Takely, and was by this

time in the neighbourhood of Hatfield Broad Oak. In short, all three

forces were converging, but the bulk of the Dunmow force was four miles

away from the point of convergence.

It was still profoundly dark when the Rifles at Hatfield Heath heard a

dozen shots cracking through the darkness to their left front. Almost

immediately other reports resounded from due east. Nothing could be seen

beyond a very few yards, and the men of the advanced company drawn up at

the cross-roads in front of the village inn fancied they now and again

saw figures dodging about in obscurity, but were cautioned not to fire

till their patrols had come in, for it was impossible to distinguish

friend from foe. Shots still rattled out here and there to the front.

About ten minutes later the captain in command, having got in his

patrols, gave the order to fire at a black blur that seemed to be moving

towards them on the Chelmsford Road. There was no mistake this time. The

momentary glare of the discharge flashed on the shiny "pickel-haubes" of

a detachment of German infantry, who charged forward with a loud "Hoch!"

The Riflemen, who already had their bayonets fixed, rushed to meet them,

and for a few moments there was a fierce stabbing affray in the

blackness of the night. The Germans, who were but few in number, were

overpowered, and beat a retreat, having lost several of their men. The

Rifles, according to their orders, having made sure of the immediate

proximity of the enemy, now fell back to the rest of their battalion at

Little Hyde Hall, and all along the banks and hedges which covered the

British front, our men, rifle in hand, peered eagerly into the darkness

ahead of them.

Nothing happened for quite half an hour, and the anxious watchers were

losing some of their alertness, when a heavy outburst of firing

re-echoed from Hatfield Heath. To explain this we must return to the

Germans. Von der Rudesheim, on obtaining touch with the British, at once

reinforced his advanced troops, and they, a whole battalion strong,

advanced into the hamlet meeting with no resistance. Almost

simultaneously two companies of the Leinsters entered it from the

northward. There was a sudden and unexpected collision on the open

green, and a terrible fire was exchanged at close quarters, both sides

losing very heavily. The British, however, were borne back by sheer

weight of numbers, and, through one of those unfortunate mistakes that

insist on occurring in warfare, were charged as they fell back by the

leading squadrons of the Yeomanry who were coming up from Hatfield Broad

Oak. The officer commanding the Leinsters decided to wait till it was a

little lighter before again attacking the village. He considered that,

as he had no idea of the strength of the enemy, he had best wait till

the arrival of the troops now marching through Hatfield Forest. Von der

Rudesheim, on his part, mindful of his instructions, determined to try

to hold the few scattered houses on the north side of the heath which

constituted the village, with the battalion already in it, and push

forward with the remainder of his force towards Harlow. His first essay

along the direct road _via_ Sheering was repulsed by the fire of the

Scots Guards lining the copses about Gladwyns. He now began to have some

idea of the British position, and made his preparations to assault it at

daybreak.

To this end he sent forward two of his batteries into Hatfield Heath,

cautiously moved the rest of his force away to the left, arranged his

battalions in the valley of the Pincey Brook ready for attacking

Sheering and Gladwyns, placed one battalion in reserve at Down Hall, and

stationed his remaining battery near Newman's End. By this time there

was beginning to be a faint glimmer of daylight in the east, and, as the

growing dawn began to render vague outlines of the nearer objects dimly

discernible, hell broke loose along the peaceful countryside. A star

shell fired from the battery at Newman's End burst and hung out a

brilliant white blaze that fell slowly over Sheering village, lighting

up its walls and roofs and the hedges along which lay its defenders,

was the signal for the Devil's Dance to begin. Twelve guns opened with a

crash from Hatfield Heath, raking the Gladwyns enclosures and the end of

Sheering village with a deluge of shrapnel, whilst an almost solid

firing line advanced rapidly against it, firing heavily.

[Illustration:

BATTLE OF HARLOW

1^{ST} PHASE

about 5 a m Sept 13^{th}]

The British replied lustily with gun, rifle, and maxim, the big

high-explosive shells bursting amid the advancing Germans and among the

houses of Hatfield Heath with telling effect. But the German assaulting

lines had but six or seven hundred yards to go. They had been trained

above all things to ignore losses and to push on at all hazards. The

necessity for this had not been confused in their minds by maxims about

the importance of cover, so the south side of the village street was

taken at a rush. Von der Rudesheim continued to pile on his men, and,

fighting desperately, the Guardsmen were driven from house to house and

from fence to fence. All this time the German battery at Newman's End

continued to fire star shells with rhythmical regularity, lighting up

the inflamed countenances of the living combatants, and the pale

up-turned faces of the dead turned to heaven as if calling for vengeance

on their slayers. In the midst of this desperate fighting the Leinsters,

supported by a Volunteer and a Militia regiment, which had just come up,

assaulted Hatfield Heath. The Germans were driven out of it with the

loss of a couple of their guns, but hung on to the little church, around

which such a desperate conflict was waged that the dead above ground in

that diminutive God's acre outnumbered the "rude forefathers of the

hamlet" who slept below.

It was now past five o'clock in the morning, and by this time strong

reinforcements might have been expected from Dunmow, but, with the

exception of the Militia and Volunteer battalions just referred to, who

had pushed on at the sound of the firing, none were seen coming up. The

fact was that they had been told off to certain positions in the line of

defence they had been ordered to take up, and had been slowly and

carefully installing themselves therein. Their commanding officer, Sir

Jacob Stellenbosch, thought that he must carry out the exact letter of

the orders he had received from Lord Byfield, and paid little attention

to the firing except to hustle his battalion commanders, to try to get

them into their places as soon as possible. He was a pig-headed man into

the bargain, and would listen to no remonstrance. The two battalions

which had arrived so opportunely had been at the head of the column, and

had pushed forward "on their own" before he could prevent them. At this

time the position was as follows: One German battalion was hanging

obstinately on to the outskirts of Hatfield Heath; two were in

possession of the copses about Gladwyns; two were in Sheering village,

or close up to it, and the sixth was still in reserve at Down Hall. On

the British side the Rifles were in their original position at Little

Hyde Hall where also were three guns, which had been got away from

Gladwyns. The Seaforths had come up, and were now firing from about

Quickbury, while the Scots Guards, after suffering fearful losses, were

scattered, some with the Highlanders, others with the five companies of

the Grenadiers, who with their four guns still fought gallantly on

between Sheering and Durrington House.

CHAPTER II.

REPULSE OF THE GERMANS.

The terrible fire of the swarms of Germans who now lined the edges of

Sheering village became too much for the four 4.7 guns on the open

ground to the south.

Their gunners were shot down as fast as they touched their weapons, and

when the German field battery at Newman's End, which had been advanced

several hundred yards, suddenly opened a flanking fire of shrapnel upon

them, it was found absolutely impossible to serve them. A gallant

attempt was made to withdraw them by the Harlow Road, but their teams

were shot down as soon as they appeared. This enfilade fire, too,

decimated the Grenadiers and the remnant of the Scots, though they

fought on to the death, and a converging attack of a battalion from Down

Hall and another from Sheering drove them down into the grounds of

Durrington House, where fighting still went on savagely for some time

afterwards.

Von der Rudesheim had all but attained a portion of his object, which

was to establish his guns in such a position that they could fire on the

main body of the British troops when they entered Sawbridgeworth by the

Cambridge Road. The place where the four guns with the Grenadiers had

been stationed was within 3,000 yards of any part of that road between

Harlow and Sawbridgeworth. But this spot was still exposed to the rifle

fire of the Seaforths who held Quickbury. Von der Rudesheim therefore

determined to swing forward his left, and either drive them back down

the hill towards the river, or at least to so occupy them that he could

bring up his field-guns to their chosen position without losing too many

of his gunners.

By six o'clock, thanks to his enormous local superiority in numbers, he

had contrived to do this, and now the opposing forces with the exception

of the British Grenadiers, who still fought with a German battalion

between Durrington House and Harlow, faced each other north and south,

instead of east and west, as they were at the beginning of the fight.

Brigadier-General Lane-Edgeworth, who was in command of the British, had

been sending urgent messages for reinforcements to the Dunmow Force, but

when its commanding officer finally decided to turn his full strength in

the direction of the firing, it took so long to assemble and form up the

Volunteer regiments who composed the bulk of his command, that it was

past seven before the leading battalion had deployed to assist in the

attack which it was decided to make against the German right. Meantime,

other important events had transpired.

Von der Rudesheim had found that the battalion which was engaged with

the Grenadiers could not get near Harlow village, or either the river or

railway bridge at that place, both of which he wished to destroy. But

his scouts had reported a lock and wooden footbridge immediately to the

westward between Harlow and Sawbridgeworth, just abreast of the large

wooded park surrounding Pishobury House on the farther side. He

determined to send two companies over by this, their movements being

hidden from the English by the trees. After crossing, they found

themselves confronted by a backwater, but, trained in crossing rivers,

they managed to ford and swim over, and advanced through the park

towards Harlow Bridge. While this was in progress, a large force was

reported marching south on the Cambridge Road.

While Von der Rudesheim, who was at the western end of Sheering hamlet,

was looking through his glasses at the new arrivals on the scene of

action--who were without doubt the main body of the Royston command,

which was retiring under the personal supervision of Lord Byfield--a

puff of white smoke rose above the trees about Hyde Hall, and at top

speed four heavily loaded trains shot into sight going south. These were

the same ones that had brought down the Regular British troops, with

whom he was now engaged. They had gone north again, and picked up a

number of Volunteer battalions belonging to the retreating force just

beyond Bishop's Stortford. But so long a time had been taken in

entraining the troops in the darkness and confusion of the retreat, that

their comrades who had kept to the road, arrived almost simultaneously.

Von der Rudesheim signalled, and sent urgent orders for his guns to be

brought up to open fire on them, but by the time the first team had

reached him the last of the trains had disappeared from sight into the

cutting at Harlow Station. But even now it was not too late to open fire

on the troops entering Sawbridgeworth.

Things were beginning to look somewhat bad for Von der Rudesheim's

little force. The pressure from the north was increasing every moment,

his attack on the retreating troops had failed, he had not so far been

able to destroy the bridges at Harlow, and every minute the likelihood

of his being able to do so grew more remote. To crown all, word was

brought him that the trains which had just slipped by were disgorging

men in hundreds along the railway west of Harlow Station, and that these

troops were beginning to move forward as if to support the British

Grenadiers, who had been driven back towards Harlow. In fact, he saw

that there was even a possibility of his being surrounded. But he had no

intention of discontinuing the fight. He knew he could rely on the

discipline and mobility of his well-trained men under almost any

conditions, and he trusted, moreover, that the promised reinforcements

would not be very long in turning up. But he could not hold on just

where he was. He accordingly, by various adroit manoeuvres, threw back

his right to Down Hall, whose copses and plantations afforded a good

deal of cover, and, using this as a pivot, gradually wheeled back his

left till he had taken up a position running north and south from Down

Hall to Matching Tye. He had not effected this difficult manoeuvre

without considerable loss, but he experienced less difficulty in

extricating his left than he had anticipated, since the newly arrived

British troops at Harlow, instead of pressing forward against him, had

been engaged in moving into a position between Harlow and the hamlet of

Foster Street, on the somewhat elevated ground to the south of Matching,

which would enable them to cover the further march of the main body of

the retreating troops to Epping.

But he had totally lost the two companies he had sent across the river

to attack Harlow Bridge. Unfortunately for them, their arrival on the

Harlow-Sawbridgeworth Road synchronised with that of the advanced guard

of Lord Byfield's command. Some hot skirmishing took place in and out

among the trees of Pishobury, and finally the Germans were driven to

earth in the big square block of the red-brick mansion itself.

Here they made a desperate stand, fighting hard as they were driven from

one storey to another. The staircases ran with blood, the woodwork

smouldered and threatened to burst into flame in a dozen places. At

length the arrival of a battery of field guns, which unlimbered at close

range, induced the survivors to surrender, and they were disarmed and

carried off as prisoners with the retreating army.

* * * * *

By the time Von der Rudesheim had succeeded in taking up his new

position it was past ten o'clock, and he had been informed by despatches

carried by motor-cyclists that he might expect assistance in another

hour and a half.

The right column, consisting of the 39th Infantry Brigade of five

battalions, six batteries, and a squadron of Dragoons, came into

collision with the left flank of the Dunmow force, which was engaged in

attacking Von der Rudesheim's right at Down Hall, and endeavouring to

surround it. Sir Jacob Stellenbosch, who was in command, in vain tried

to change front to meet the advancing enemy. His troops were nearly all

Volunteers, who were incapable of quickly manoeuvring under difficult

circumstances; they were crumpled up and driven back in confusion

towards Hatfield Heath. Had Von Kronhelm been able to get in the bulk of

his cavalry from their luckless pursuit of the Ist and Vth British Army

Corps, who had been driven back on Brentwood the evening previous, and

so send a proportion with the 20th Division, few would have escaped to

tell the tale. As it was, the unfortunate volunteers were shot down in

scores by the "feu d'enfer" with which the artillery followed them up,

and lay in twos and threes and larger groups all over the fields,

victims of a selfish nation that accepted these poor fellows' gratuitous

services merely in order that its citizens should not be obliged to

carry out what in every other European country was regarded as the first

duty of citizenship--that of learning to bear arms in the defence of the

Fatherland.

By this time the greater portion of the retreating British Army, with

all its baggage, guns and impedimenta, was crawling slowly along the

road from Harlow to Epping. Unaccustomed as they were to marching, the

poor Volunteers who had already covered eighteen or twenty miles of

road, were now toiling slowly and painfully along the highway. The

regular troops, who had been engaged since early morning, and who were

now mostly in the neighbourhood of Moor Hall, east of Harlow, firing at

long ranges on Von der Rudesheim's men to keep them in their places

while Sir Jacob Stellenbosch attacked their right, were now hurriedly

withdrawn and started to march south by a track running parallel to the

main Epping Road, between it and that along which the covering force of

Volunteers, who had come in by train, were now established in position.

The 1st and 2nd Coldstreamers, who had formed Lord Byfield's rearguard

during the night, were halted in Harlow village.

Immediately upon the success obtained by his right column, General

Richel von Sieberg, who commanded the 20th Hanoverian Division, ordered

his two centre and left columns, consisting respectively of the three

battalions 77th Infantry and two batteries of Horse Artillery, then at

Matching Green, and the three battalions 92nd Infantry, 10th Pioneer

Battalion, and five batteries Field Artillery, then between High Laver

and Tilegate Green, to turn to their left and advance in fighting

formation in a south-westerly direction, with the object of attacking

the sorely-harassed troops of Lord Byfield on their way to Epping.

* * * * *

The final phase of this memorable retreat is best told in the words of

the special war correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," who arrived on

the scene at about one o'clock in the afternoon:

"EPPING, 5 P.M., _September 9_.

"Thanks to the secrecy preserved by the military authorities, it was not

known that Lord Byfield was falling back from the Royston-Saffron Walden

position till seven this morning. By eight, I was off in my car for the

scene of action, for rumours of fighting near Harlow had already begun

to come in. I started out by way of Tottenham and Edmonton, expecting to

reach Harlow by 9.30 or 10. But I reckoned without the numerous military

officials with whom I came in contact, who constantly stopped me and

sent me out of my way on one pretext or another. I am sure I hope that

the nation has benefited by their proceedings. In the end it was close

on one before I pulled up at the Cock Inn, Epping, in search of

additional information, because for some time I had been aware of the

rumbling growl of heavy artillery from the eastward, and wondered what

it might portend. I found that General Sir Stapleton Forsyth, who

commanded the Northern section of the defences, had made the inn his

headquarters, and there was a constant coming and going of orderlies and

staff-officers at its portals. Opposite, the men of one of the new

irregular corps, dressed in dark green corduroy, blue flannel cricketing

caps, and red cummerbunds, sat or reclined in two long lines on either

side of their piled arms on the left of the wide street. On inquiry I

heard that the enemy were said to be bombarding Kelvedon Hatch, and also

that the head of our retreating columns was only three or four miles

distant.

"I pushed on, and, after the usual interrogations from an officer in

charge of a picket, where the road ran through the entrenchments about a

mile farther on, found myself spinning along through the country in the

direction of Harlow. As I began to ascend the rising ground towards

Potter Street I could hear a continuous roll of artillery away to my

right. I could not distinguish anything except the smoke of shells

bursting here and there in the distance, on account of the scattered

trees which lined the maze of hedgerows on every side. Close to Potter

Street I met the head of the retreating army. Very tired, heated and

footsore looked the hundreds of poor fellows as they dragged themselves

along through the heat. It was a sultry afternoon, and the roads inches

deep in dust.

"Turning to the right of Harlow Common, I met another column of men. I

noticed that these were all Regulars, Grenadiers, Scots Guards, a

battalion of Highlanders, another of Riflemen, and, lastly, two

battalions of the Coldstreamers. These troops stepped along with rather

more life than the citizen soldiers I had met previously, but still

showed traces of their hard marching and fighting. Many of them were

wearing bandages, but all the more seriously wounded had been left

behind to be looked after by the Germans. All this time the firing was

still resounding heavy and constant from the north-east, and from one

person and another whom I questioned I ascertained that the enemy were

advancing upon us from that direction. Half a mile farther on I ran into

the middle of the fighting. The road ran along the top of a kind of flat

ridge or upland, whence I could see to a considerable distance on either

hand.

"Partially sheltered from the view by its hedges and the scattered

cottages forming the hamlet of Foster Street was a long, irregular line

of guns facing nearly east. Beyond them were yet others directed north.

There were field batteries and big 4.7's. All were hard at work, their

gunners working like men possessed, and the crash of their constant

discharge was ear-splitting. I had hardly taken this in when 'Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!'--four dazzling flashes opened in the air overhead,

and shrapnel bullets rattled on earth, walls, and roofs with a sound as

of handfuls of pebbles thrown on a marble pavement. But the hardness

with which they struck was beyond anything in my experience.

"It was not pleasant to be here, but I ran my car behind a little

public-house that stood by the wayside, and, dismounting, unslung my

glasses and determined to get what view of the proceedings I could from

the corner of the house. All around khaki-clad Volunteers lined every

hedge and sheltered behind every cottage, while farther off, in the

lower ground, from a mile to a mile and a half away I could distinguish

the closely-packed firing lines of the Germans advancing slowly but

steadily, despite the gaps made in their ranks by the fire of our guns.

Their own guns, I fancied, I could make out near Tilegate Green to the

north-east. Neither side had as yet opened rifle fire. Getting into my

car I motored back to the main road, but it was so blocked by the

procession of waggons and troops of the retreating army that I could not

turn into it. Wheeling round I made my way back to a parallel lane I had

noticed, and turning to the left again at a smithy, found myself in a

road bordered by cottages and enclosures. Here I found the Regular

troops I had lately met lining every hedgerow and fence, while I could

see others on a knoll further to their left. There was a little church

here, and, mounting to the roof, I got a comparatively extensive view.

To my right the long dusty column of men and waggons still toiled along

the Epping Road. In front, nearly three miles off, an apparently solid

line of woods stretched along the horizon, surmounting a long, gradual

and open slope. This was the position of our lines near Epping, and the

haven for which Lord Byfield's tired soldiery were making. To the left

the serried masses of drab-clad German infantry still pushed

aggressively forward, their guns firing heavily over their heads.

[Illustration:

BATTLE OF HARLOW

FINAL PHASE]

"As I watched them three tremendous explosions took place in their

midst, killing dozens of them. Fire, smoke, and dust rose up twenty feet

in the air, while three ear-splitting reports rose even above the

rolling thunder of the gunfire. More followed. I looked again towards

the woodland. Here I saw blaze after blaze of fire among the dark masses

of trees. Our big guns in the fortifications had got to work, and were

punishing the Germans most severely, taking their attack in flank with

the big 6-inch and 7.5-inch projectiles. Cheers arose all along our

lines, as shell after shell, fired by gunners who knew to an inch the

distances to every house and conspicuous tree, burst among the German

ranks, killing and maiming the invaders by hundreds. The advance paused,

faltered and, being hurriedly reinforced from the rear, once more went

forward.

"But the big high explosive projectiles continued to fall with such

accuracy and persistence that the attackers fell sullenly back, losing

heavily as they did so. The enemy's artillery now came in for attention,

and also was driven out of range with loss. The last stage in the

retreat of Lord Byfield's command was now secured. The extended troops

and guns gradually drew off from their positions, still keeping a

watchful eye on the foe, and by 4.30 all were within the Epping

entrenchments. All, that is to say, but the numerous killed and wounded

during the running fight that had extended along the last seven or eight

miles of the retreat, and the bulk of the Dunmow force under Sir Jacob

Stellenbosch, which with its commander, had, it was believed, been made

prisoners. They had been caught between the 39th German Infantry Brigade

and several regiments of cavalry, that it was said had arrived from the

northward soon after they were beaten at Hatfield Heath. Probably these

were the advanced troops of General Froelich's Cavalry Brigade."

CHAPTER III.

BATTLE OF EPPING.

The following is extracted from the "Times" of 15th September:

"EPPING, _14th September_, _Evening_.

"I have spent a busy day, but have no very important news to record.

After the repulse of the German troops attacking Lord Byfield's

retreating army and the arrival of our sorely harassed troops behind the

Epping entrenchments, we saw no more of the enemy that evening. All

through the night, however, there was the sound of occasional heavy gun

firing from the eastward. I have taken up my quarters at the Bell, an

inn at the south end of the village, from the back of which I can get a

good view to the north-west for from two to four miles. Beyond that

distance the high ridge known as Epping Upland limits the prospect. The

whole terrain is cut up into fields of various sizes and dotted all over

with trees. Close by is a lofty red brick water-tower, which has been

utilised by Sir Stapleton Forsyth as a signal station. Away about a mile

to my left front as I look from the back of the Bell a big block of

buildings stands prominently out on a grassy spur of high ground. This

is Copped Hall and Little Copped Hall.

"Both mansions have been transformed into fortresses, which, while

offering little or no resistance to artillery fire, will yet form a

tough nut for the Germans to crack, should they succeed in getting

through our entrenchments at that point. Beyond, I can just see a corner

of a big earthwork that has been built to strengthen the defence line,

and which has been christened Fort Obelisk from a farm of that name,

near which it is situated. There is another smaller redoubt on the slope

just below this hostelry, and I can see the gunners busy about the three

big khaki-painted guns which are mounted in it. There are a 6-inch and

two 4.7-inch guns I believe. This morning our cavalry, consisting of a

regiment of yeomanry and some mounted infantry, who had formed a portion

of Lord Byfield's force, went out to reconnoitre towards the north and

east. They were not away long, as they were driven back in every

direction in which they attempted to advance, by superior forces of the

enemy's cavalry, who seemed to swarm everywhere.

"Later on, I believe, some of the German reiters became so venturesome

that several squadrons exposed themselves to the fire of the big guns in

the fort at Skip's Corner, and suffered pretty severely for their

temerity. The firing continued throughout the morning away to eastward.

At noon I thought I would run down and see if I could find anything out

about it. I therefore mounted my car and ran off in that direction. I

found that there was a regular duel going on between our guns at

Kelvedon Hatch and some heavy siege guns or howitzers that the enemy had

got in the neighbourhood of the high ground about Norton Heath, only

about 3,000 yards distant from our entrenchments. They did not appear to

have done us much damage, but neither, in all probability, did we hurt

them very much, since our gunners were unable to exactly locate the

hostile guns.

"When I got back to Epping, about three o'clock, I found the wide single

street full of troops. They were those who had come in the previous

afternoon with Lord Byfield, and who, having been allowed to rest till

midday after their long fighting march, were now being told off to their

various sections of the defence line. The Guard regiments were allocated

to the northernmost position between Fort Royston and Fort Skips. The

rifles were to go to Copped Hall, and the Seaforths to form the nucleus

of a central reserve of Militia and Volunteers, which was being

established just north of Gaynes Park. Epping itself and the contiguous

entrenchments were confided to the Leinster Regiment, which alone of Sir

Jacob Stellenbosch's brigade had escaped capture, supported by two

Militia battalions. The field batteries were distributed under shelter

of the woods on the south, east, and north-east of the town.

"During the afternoon the welcome news arrived that the remainder of

Lord Byfield's command from Baldock, Royston, and Elmdon had safely

arrived within our entrenchments at Enfield and New Barnet. We may now

hope that what with Regulars, Militia, Volunteers, and the new levies,

our lines are fully and effectively manned, and will suffice to stay the

further advance of even such a formidable host as is that at the

disposal of the renowned Von Kronhelm. It is reported too, from

Brentwood, that great progress has already been made in reorganising and

distributing the broken remnants of the 1st and 5th Armies that got back

to that town after the great and disastrous battle of Chelmsford.

Victorious as they were, the Germans must also have suffered severely,

which may give us some breathing time before their next onslaught."

* * * * *

The following are extracts from the diary picked up by a "Daily

Telegraph" correspondent, lying near the body of a German officer after

the fighting in the neighbourhood of Enfield Chase. It is presumed that

the officer in question was Major Splittberger, of the Kaiser Franz

Garde Grenadier Regiment, since that was the name written inside the

cover of the diary.

From enquiries that have since been instituted, it is probable that the

deceased officer was employed on the staff of the General commanding the

IVth Corps of the invading Army, though it would seem from the contents

of his diary that he saw also a good deal of the operations of the Xth

Corps. Our readers will be able to gather from it the general course of

the enemy's strategy and tactics during the time immediately preceding

the most recent disasters which have befallen our brave defenders. The

first extract is dated September 15, and was written somewhere north of

Epping:

"_Sept. 15._--So far the bold strategy of our Commander-in-Chief, in

pushing the greater part of the Xth Corps directly to the west

immediately after our victory at Chelmsford, has been amply justified by

results. Although we just missed cutting off Lord Byfield and a large

portion of his command at Harlow, we gained a good foothold inside the

British defences north of Epping, and I don't think it will be long

before we have very much improved our position here. The IVth Corps

arrived at Harlow about midday yesterday in splendid condition, after

their long march from Newmarket, and the residue of the Xth joined us at

about the same time. As there is nothing like keeping the enemy on the

move, no time was lost in preparing to attack him at the very earliest

opportunity. As soon as it was dark the IVth Corps got its heavy guns

and howitzers into position along the ridge above Epping Upland, and

sent the greater portion of its field batteries forward to a position

from which they were within effective range of the British

fortifications at Skip's Corner.

"The IXth Corps, which had arrived from Chelmsford that evening, also

placed its field artillery in a similar position, from which its fire

crossed that of the IVth Corps. This Corps also provided the assaulting

troops. The Xth Corps, which had been engaged all day on Thursday, was

held in reserve. The howitzers on Epping Upland opened fire with petrol

shell on the belt of woods that lies immediately in rear of the position

to be attacked, and with the assistance of a strong westerly wind

succeeded in setting them on fire and cutting off the most northerly

section of the British defences from reinforcement. This was soon after

midnight. The conflagration not only did us this service, but it is

supposed so attracted the attention of the partially-trained soldiers of

the enemy that they did not observe the IXth Corps massing for the

assault.

"We then plastered their trenches with shrapnel to such an extent that

they did not dare to show a finger above them, and finally carried the

northern corner by assault. To give the enemy their due, they fought

well, but we outnumbered them five to one, and it was impossible for

them to resist the onslaught of our well-trained soldiers. News came

to-day that the Saxons have been making a demonstration before Brentwood

with a view of keeping the British employed down there so that they

cannot send any reinforcements up here. At the same time they have been

steadily bombarding Kelvedon Hatch from Norton Heath.

"We hear, too, that the Garde Corps have got down south, and that their

front stretches from Broxbourne to Little Berkhamsted, while Froelich's

Cavalry Division is in front of them, spread all over the country, from

the River Lea away to the westward, having driven the whole of the

British outlying troops and patrols under the shelter of their

entrenchments. Once we succeed in rolling up the enemy's troops in this

quarter, it will not be long before we are entering London."

"_Sept. 16._--Fighting went on all yesterday in the neighbourhood of

Skip's Corner. We have taken the redoubt at North Weald Basset and

driven the English back into the belt of burnt woodland, which they now

hold along its northern edge. All day long, too, our big guns, hidden

away behind the groves and woods above Epping Upland, poured their heavy

projectiles on Epping and its defences. We set the village on fire three

times, but the British contrived to extinguish the blaze on each

occasion.

"I fancy Epping itself will be our next point of attack."

"_Sept. 17._--We are still progressing, fighting is now all but

continuous. How long it may last I have no idea. Probably there will be

no suspension of the struggle until we are actually masters of the

Metropolis. We took advantage of the darkness to push forward our men to

within three thousand yards of the enemy's line, placing them as far as

possible under cover of the numerous copses, plantations, and hedgerows

which cover the face of this fertile country. At 4 a.m. the General

ordered his staff to assemble at Latton Park, where he had established

his headquarters. He unfolded to us the general outline of the attack,

which, he now announced, was to commence at six precisely.

"I thought myself that it was a somewhat inopportune time, as we should

have the rising sun right in our eyes; but I imagine that the idea was

to have as much daylight as possible before us. For although we had

employed a night attack against Skip's Corner, and successfully too, yet

the general feeling in our Army has always been opposed to operations of

this kind. The possible gain is, I think, in no way commensurable with

the probable risks of panic and disorder. The principal objective was

the village of Epping itself; but simultaneous attacks were to be

carried out against Copped Hall, Fort Obelisk, to the west of it, and

Fort Royston, about a mile north of the village. The IXth Corps was to

co-operate by a determined attempt to break through the English lining

the burnt strip of woodland and to assault the latter fort in rear. It

was necessary to carry out both these flanking attacks in order to

prevent the main attack from being enfiladed from right and left. At

5.30 we mounted, and rode off to Rye Hill about a couple of miles

distant, from which the General intended to watch the progress of the

operations. The first rays of the rising sun were filling the eastern

sky with a pale light as we cantered off, the long wooded ridge on which

the enemy had his position standing up in a misty silhouette against the

growing day.

[Illustration:

GERMAN ATTACK ON

THE LINES OF LONDON]

"As we topped Rye Hill I could see the thickly-massed lines of our

infantry crouching behind every hedge, bank, or ridge, their

rifle-barrels here and there twinkling in the feeble rays of the early

sun, their shadows long and attenuated behind them. Epping with its

lofty red water-tower was distinctly visible on the opposite side of the

valley, and it is probable that the movement of the General's cavalcade

of officers, with the escort, attracted the attention of the enemy's

lookouts, for half-way down the hillside on their side of the valley a

blinding violet-white flash blazed out, and a big shell came screaming

along just over our heads, the loud boom of a heavy gun following fast

on its heels. Almost simultaneously another big projectile hurtled up

from the direction of Fort Obelisk, and burst among our escort of Uhlans

with a deluge of livid flame and thick volumes of greenish brown smoke.

It was a telling shot, for no fewer than six horses and their riders

lay in a shattered heap on the ground.

"At six precisely our guns fired a salvo directed on Epping village.

This was the preconcerted signal for attack, and before the echoes of

the thunderous discharge had finished reverberating over the hills and

forest, our front lines had sprung to their feet and were moving at a

racing pace towards the enemy. For a moment the British seemed stupefied

by the suddenness of the advance. A few rifle shots crackled out here

and there, but our men had thrown themselves to the ground after their

first rush before the enemy seemed to wake up. But there was no mistake

about it when they did. Seldom have I seen such a concentrated fire.

Gun, pom-pom, machine gun, and rifle blazed out from right to left along

more than three miles of entrenchments. A continuous lightning-like line

of fire poured forth from the British trenches, which still lay in

shadow. I could see the bullets raising perfect sand-storms in places,

the little pom-pom shells sparkling about all over our prostrate men,

and the shrapnel bursting all along their front, producing perfect

swathes of white smoke, which hung low down in the still air in the

valley.

"But our artillery was not idle. The field guns, pushed well forward,

showered shrapnel upon the British position, the howitzer shells hurtled

over our heads on their way to the enemy in constantly increasing

numbers as the ranges were verified by the trial shots, while a terrible

and unceasing reverberation from the north-east told of the supporting

attack made by the IXth and Xth Corps upon the blackened woods held by

the English. The concussion of the terrific cannonade that now resounded

from every quarter was deafening; the air seemed to pulse within one's

ears, and it was difficult to hear one's nearest neighbour speak. Down

in the valley our men appeared to be suffering severely. Every forward

move of the attacking lines left a perfect litter of prostrate forms

behind it, and for some time I felt very doubtful in my own mind if the

attack would succeed. Glancing to the right, however, I was encouraged

to see the progress that had been made by the troops detailed for the

assault on Copped Hall and Obelisk Fort, and seeing this, it occurred to

me that it was not intended to push the central attack on Epping home

before its flank had been secured from molestation from this direction.

Copped Hall itself stood out on a bare down almost like some mediaeval

castle, backed by the dark masses of forest, while to the west of it the

slopes of Fort Obelisk could barely be distinguished, so flat were they

and so well screened by greenery.

"But its position was clearly defined by the clouds of dust, smoke, and

debris constantly thrown up by our heavy high-explosive shells, while

ever and anon there came a dazzling flash from it, followed by a

detonation that made itself heard even above the rolling of the

cannonade, as one of its big 7.5 guns was discharged. The roar of their

huge projectiles, too, as they tore through the air, was easily

distinguishable. None of our epaulments were proof against them, and

they did our heavy batteries a great deal of damage before they could be

silenced.

"To cut a long story short, we captured Epping after a tough fight, and

by noon were in possession of everything north of the Forest, including

the war-scarred ruins that now represented the mansion of Copped Hall,

and from which our pom-poms and machine guns were firing into Fort

Obelisk. But our losses had been awful. As for the enemy, they could

hardly have suffered less severely, for though partially protected by

their entrenchments, our artillery fire must have been utterly

annihilating."

"_Sept. 18._--Fighting went on all last night, the English holding

desperately on to the edge of the Forest, our people pressing them

close, and working round their right flank. When day broke the general

situation was pretty much like this. On our left the IXth Corps were in

possession of the Fort at Toothill, and a redoubt that lay between it

and Skip's Fort. Two batteries were bombarding a redoubt lower down in

the direction of Stanford Rivers, which was also subjected to a cross

fire from their howitzers near Ongar.

"As for the English, their position was an unenviable one. From Copped

Hall--as soon as we have cleared the edge of the Forest of the enemy's

sharpshooters--we shall be able to take their entrenchments in reverse

all the way to Waltham Abbey. They have, on the other hand, an outlying

fort about a mile or two north of the latter place, which gave us some

trouble with its heavy guns yesterday, and which it is most important

that we should gain possession of before we advance further. The Garde

Corps on the western side of the River Lea is now, I hear, in sight of

the enemy's lines, and is keeping them busily employed, though without

pushing its attack home for the present.

"At daybreak this morning I was in Epping and saw the beginning of the

attack on the Forest. It is rumoured that large reinforcements have

reached the enemy from London, but as these must be merely scratch

soldiers they will do them more harm than good in their cramped

position. The Xth Corps had got a dozen batteries in position a little

to the eastward of the village, and at six o'clock these guns opened a

tremendous fire upon the north-east corner of the Forest, under cover of

which their infantry deployed down in the low ground about Coopersale,

and advanced to the attack. Petrol shells were not used against the

Forest, as Von Kronhelm had given orders that it was not to be burned if

it could possibly be avoided. The shrapnel was very successful in

keeping down the fire from the edge of the trees, but our troops

received a good deal of damage from infantry and guns that were posted

to the east of the Forest on a hill near Theydon Bois. But about seven

o'clock these troops were driven from their position by a sudden flank

attack made by the IXth Corps from Theydon Mount. Von Kleppen followed

this up by putting some of his own guns up there, which were able to

fire on the edge of the Forest after those of the Xth Corps had been

masked by the close advance of their infantry. To make a long story

short, by ten the whole of the Forest, east of the London Road, as far

south as the cross roads near Jack's Hill, was in our hands. In the

meantime the IVth Corps had made itself master of Fort Obelisk, and our

gunners were hard at work mounting guns in it with which to fire on the

outlying fort at Monkham's Hall. Von Kleppen was at Copped Hall about

this time, and with him I found General Von Wilberg, commanding the Xth

Corps, in close consultation. The once fine mansion had been almost

completely shot away down to its lower storey. A large portion of this,

however, was still fairly intact, having been protected to a certain

extent by the masses of masonry that had fallen all around it, and also

by the thick ramparts of earth that the English had built up against its

exposed side.

"Our men were still firing from its loopholes at the edge of the woods,

which were only about 1,200 yards distant, and from which bullets were

continually whistling in by every window. Two of our battalions had dug

themselves in in the wooded park surrounding the house, and were also

exchanging fire with the English at comparatively close ranges. They

had, I was told, made more than one attempt to rush the edge of the

Forest, but had been repulsed by rifle fire on each occasion. Away to

the west I could see for miles, and even distinguish our shells bursting

all over the enemy's fort at Monkham's Hall, which was being subjected

to a heavy bombardment by our guns on the high ground to the north of

it. About eleven Froelich's Cavalry Brigade, whose presence was no longer

required in front of the Garde Corps, passed through Epping, going

south-east. It is generally supposed that it is either to attack the

British at Brentwood in the rear, or, which I think is more probable, to

intimidate the raw levies by its presence between them and London, and

to attack them in flank should they attempt to retreat.

"Just after eleven another battalion arrived at Copped Hall from Epping,

and orders were given that the English position along the edge of the

Forest was to be taken at all cost. Just before the attack began there

was a great deal of firing somewhere in the interior of the Forest,

presumably between the British and the advanced troops of the Xth Corps.

However this may have been, it was evident that the enemy were holding

our part of the Forest much less strongly and our assault was entirely

successful, with but small loss of men. Once in the woods, the superior

training and discipline of our men told heavily in their favour. While

the mingled mass of Volunteers and raw free-shooters, of which the bulk

of their garrison was composed, got utterly disorganised and out of hand

under the severe strain on them that was imposed by the difficulties of

wood fighting, and hindered and broke up the regular units, our people

were easily kept well in hand, and drove the enemy steadily before them

without a single check. The rattle of rifle and machine gun was

continuous through all the leafy dells and glades of the wood, but by

two o'clock practically the whole Forest was in the hands of our Xth

Corps. It was then the turn of the IVth Corps, who in the meantime, far

from being idle, had massed a large number of their guns at Copped Hall,

from which, aided by the fire from Fort Obelisk, the enemy's lines were

subjected to a bombardment that rendered them absolutely untenable, and

we could see company after company making their way to Waltham Abbey.

"At three the order for a general advance on Waltham Abbey was issued.

As the enemy seemed to have few, if any, guns at this place, it was

determined to make use of some of the new armoured motors that

accompanied the Army. Von Kronhelm, who was personally directing the

operations from Copped Hall, had caused each Corps to send its own

motors to Epping, so that we had something like thirty at our disposal.

These quaint, grey monsters came down through the Forest and advanced on

Epping by two parallel roads, one passing by the south of Warlies Park,

the other being the main road from Epping. It was a weird sight to see

these shore-going armour-clads flying down upon the enemy. They got

within 800 yards of the houses, but the enemy contrived to block their

further advance by various obstacles which they placed on the roads.

"There was about an hour's desperate fighting in the village. The old

Abbey Church was set on fire by a stray shell, the conflagration

spreading to the neighbouring houses, and both British and Germans being

too busy killing each other to put it out, the whole village was shortly

in flames. The British were finally driven out of it, and across the

river by five o'clock. In the meantime every heavy gun that could be got

to bear was directed on the fort at Monkham's Hall, which, during the

afternoon, was also made the target for the guns of the Garde Corps,

which co-operated with us by attacking the lines at Cheshunt, and

assisting us with its artillery fire from the opposite side of the

river. By nightfall the fort was a mass of smoking earth, over which

fluttered our black cross flag, and the front of the IVth Corps

stretched from this to Gillwell Park, four miles nearer London.

"The Xth Corps was in support in the Forest behind us, and forming also

a front to cover our flank, reaching from Chingford to Buckhurst Hill.

The enemy was quite demoralised in this direction, and showed no

indication of resuming the engagement. As for the IXth Corps, its

advanced troops were at Lamboume End, in close communication with

General Froelich, who had established his headquarters at

Havering-atte-Bower. We have driven a formidable wedge right into the

middle of the carefully elaborated system of defence arranged by the

English generals, and it will now be a miracle if they can prevent our

entry into the capital.

"We had not, of course, effected this without great loss in killed and

wounded, but you can't make puddings without breaking eggs, and in the

end a bold and forward policy is more economical of life and limb than

attempting to avoid necessary losses, as our present opponents did in

South Africa, thereby prolonging the war to an almost indefinite period,

and losing many more men by sickness and in driblets than would have

been the case if they had followed a more determined line in their

strategy and tactics. Just before the sun sank behind the masses of new

houses which the monster city spreads out to the northward I got orders

to carry a despatch to General von Wilberg, who was stated to be at

Chingford, on our extreme left. I went by the Forest road, as the

parallel one near the river was in most parts under fire from the

opposite bank.

"He had established his headquarters at the Foresters' Inn, which stands

high up on a wooded mound, and from which he could see a considerable

distance and keep in touch with his various signal stations. He took my

despatch, telling me that I should have a reply to take back later on.

'In the meanwhile,' said he, 'if you will fall in with my staff you will

have an opportunity of seeing the first shots fired into the biggest

city in the world.' So saying, he went out to his horse, which was

waiting outside, and we started off down the hill with a great clatter.

After winding about through a somewhat intricate network of roads and

by-lanes we arrived at Old Chingford Church, which stands upon a species

of headland, rising boldly up above the flat and, in some places, marshy

land to the westward.

"Close to the church was a battery of four big howitzers, the gunners

grouped around them silhouetted darkly against the blood-red sky. From

up here the vast city, spreading out to the south and west, lay like a

grey, sprawling octopus spreading out ray-like to the northward, every

rise and ridge being topped with a bristle of spires and chimney-pots.

An ominous silence seemed to brood over the teeming landscape, broken

only at intervals by the dull booming of guns from the northward. Long

swathes of cloud and smoke lay athwart the dull, furnace-like glow of

the sunset, and lights were beginning to sparkle out all over the vast

expanse which lay before us mirrored here and there in the canals and

rivers that ran almost at our feet. 'Now,' said Von Wilberg at length,

'commence fire.' One of the big guns gave tongue with a roar that seemed

to make the church tower quiver above us. Another and another followed

in succession, their big projectiles hurtling and humming through the

quiet evening air on their errands of death and destruction in I know

not what quarter of the crowded suburbs. It seemed to me a cruel and

needless thing to do, but I am told that it was done with the set

purpose of arousing such a feeling of alarm and insecurity in the East

End that the mob might try to interfere with any further measures for

defence that the British military authorities might undertake. I got my

despatch soon afterwards and returned with it to the General, who was

spending the night at Copped Hall. There, too, I got myself a shakedown

and slumbered soundly till the morning."

"_Sept. 19._--To-day we have, I think, finally broken down all organised

military opposition in the field, though we may expect a considerable

amount of street fighting before reaping the whole fruits of our

victories. At daybreak we began by turning a heavy fire from every

possible quarter on the wooded island formed by the river and various

back-waters just north of Waltham Abbey. The poplar-clad islet, which

was full of the enemy's troops, became absolutely untenable under this

concentrated fire, and they were compelled to fall back over the river.

Our Engineers soon began their bridging operations behind the wood, and

our infantry, crossing over, got close up to a redoubt on the further

side and took it by storm. Again we were able to take a considerable

section of the enemy's lines in reverse, and as they were driven out by

our fire, against which they had no protection, the Garde Corps

advanced, and by ten were in possession of Cheshunt.

"In the meanwhile, covered by the fire of the guns belonging to the IXth

and Xth Corps, other bridges had been thrown across the Lea at various

points between Waltham and Chingford, and in another hour the crossing

began. The enemy had no good positions for his guns, and seemed to have

very few of them. He had pinned his faith upon the big weapons he had

placed in his entrenchments, and those were now of no further use to

him. He had lost a number of his field guns, either from damage or

capture, and with our more numerous artillery firing from the high

ground on the eastern bank of the river we were always able to beat down

any attempt he made to reply to their fire.

"We had a day of fierce fighting before us. There was no manoeuvring. We

were in a wilderness of scattered houses and occasional streets, in

which the enemy contested our progress foot by foot. Edmonton, Enfield

Wash, and Waltham Cross were quickly captured; our artillery commanded

them too well to allow the British to make a successful defence; but

Enfield itself, lying along a steepish ridge, on which the British had

assembled what artillery they could scrape together, cost us dearly. The

streets of this not too lovely suburban town literally ran with blood

when at last we made our way into it. A large part of it was burnt to

ashes, including unfortunately the ancient palace of Queen Elizabeth,

and the venerable and enormous cedar-tree that overhung it.

"The British fell back to a second position they had apparently prepared

along a parallel ridge farther to the westward, their left being between

us and New Barnet and their right at Southgate.

"We did not attempt to advance farther to-day, but contented ourselves

in reorganising our forces and preparing against a possible

counter-attack, by barricading and entrenching the farther edge of

Enfield Ridge."

"_Sept. 20._--We are falling in immediately, as it has been decided to

attack the British position at once. Already the artillery duel is in

progress. I must continue to-night, as my horse is at the door."

The writer, however, never lived to complete his diary, having been shot

half-way up the green slope he had observed the day previous.

CHAPTER IV.

BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON.

Day broke. The faint flush of violet away eastward beyond Temple Bar

gradually turned rose, heralding the sun's coming, and by degrees the

streets, filled by excited Londoners, grew lighter with the dawn.

Fevered night thus gave place to day--a day that was, alas! destined to

be one of bitter memory for the British Empire.

Alarming news had spread that Uhlans had been seen reconnoitring in

Snaresbrook and Wanstead, had ridden along Forest Road and Ferry Lane at

Walthamstow, through Tottenham High Cross, up High Street, Hornsey,

Priory Road, and Muswell Hill. The Germans were actually upon London!

The northern suburbs were staggered. In Fortis Green, North End,

Highgate, Crouch End, Hampstead, Stamford Hill, and Leyton the quiet

suburban houses were threatened, and many people, in fear of their

lives, had now fled southward into central London. Thus the huge

population of greater London was practically huddled together in the

comparatively small area from Kensington to Fleet Street, and from

Oxford Street to the Thames Embankment.

People of Fulham, Putney, Walham Green, Hammersmith, and Kew had, for

the most part, fled away to the open country across Hounslow Heath to

Bedfont and Staines; while Tooting, Balham, Dulwich, Streatham, Norwood,

and Catford had retreated farther south into Surrey and Kent.

For the past three days thousands of willing helpers had followed the

example of Sheffield and Birmingham, and constructed enormous

barricades, obstructing at various points the chief roads leading from

the north and east into London. Detachments of Engineers had blown up

several of the bridges carrying the main roads out eastwards--for

instance, the bridge at the end of Commercial Road, East, crossing the

Limehouse Canal, while the six other smaller bridges spanning the canal

between that point and the Bow Road were also destroyed. The bridge at

the end of Bow Road itself was shattered, and those over the Hackney Cut

at Marshall Hill and Hackney Wick were also rendered impassable.

Most of the bridges across the Regent's Canal were also destroyed,

notably those in Mare Street, Hackney, the Kingsland Road, and New North

Road, while a similar demolition took place in Edgware Road and the

Harrow Road. Londoners were frantic, now that the enemy were really upon

them. The accounts of the battles in the newspapers had, of course, been

merely fragmentary, and they had not yet realised what war actually

meant. They knew that all business was at a standstill, that the City

was in an uproar, that there was no work, and that food was at famine

prices. But not until German cavalry were actually seen scouring the

northern suburbs did it become impressed upon them that they were really

helpless and defenceless.

London was to be besieged!

This report having got about, the people began building barricades in

many of the principal thoroughfares north of the Thames. One huge

obstruction, built mostly of paving stones from the footways, overturned

tramcars, waggons, railway trollies, and barbed wire, rose in the

Holloway Road, just beyond Highbury Station. Another blocked the

Caledonian Road a few yards north of the police-station, while another

very large and strong pile of miscellaneous goods, bales of wool and

cotton stuffs, building material, and stones brought from the Great

Northern Railway depot, obstructed the Camden Road at the south corner

of Hilldrop Crescent. Across High Street, Camden Town, at the junction

of the Kentish Town and other roads, five hundred men worked with a

will, piling together every kind of ponderous object they could pillage

from the neighbouring shops--pianos, iron bedsteads, wardrobes, pieces

of calico and flannel, dress stuffs, rolls of carpets, floorboards, even

the very doors wrenched from their hinges--until, when it reached to the

second storey window and was considered of sufficient height, a pole was

planted on top, and from it hung limply a small Union Jack.

The Finchley Road, opposite Swiss Cottage Station; in Shoot Up-hill,

where Mill Lane runs into it; across Willesden Lane where it joins the

High Road in Kilburn; the Harrow Road close to Willesden Junction

Station; at the junction of the Goldhawk and Uxbridge roads; across the

Hammersmith Road in front of the Hospital, other similar obstructions

were placed with a view to preventing the enemy from entering London. At

a hundred other points, in the narrower and more obscure thoroughfares,

all along the north of London, busy workers were constructing similar

defences, houses and shops being ruthlessly broken open and cleared of

their contents by the frantic and terrified populace.

London was in a ferment. Almost without exception the gunmakers' shops

had been pillaged, and every rifle, sporting gun, and revolver seized.

The armouries at the Tower of London, at the various barracks, and the

factory out at Enfield had long ago all been cleared of their contents;

for now, in this last stand, every one was desperate, and all who could

obtain a gun did so. Many, however, had guns but no ammunition; others

had sporting ammunition for service rifles, and others cartridges, but

no gun.

Those, however, who had guns and ammunition complete mounted guard at

the barricades, being assisted at some points by Volunteers who had been

driven in from Essex. Upon more than one barricade in North London a

Maxim had been mounted, and was now pointed, ready to sweep away the

enemy should they advance.

Other thoroughfares barricaded, beside those mentioned, were the Stroud

Green Road, where it joins Hanley Road; the railway bridge in the

Oakfield Road in the same neighbourhood; the Wightman Road, opposite

Harringay Station, the junction of Archway Road and Highgate Hill; the

High Road, Tottenham, at its junction with West Green Road, and various

roads around the New River reservoirs, which were believed to be one of

the objectives of the enemy. These latter were very strongly held by

thousands of brave and patriotic citizens, though the East London

reservoirs across at Walthamstow could not be defended, situated so

openly as they were. The people of Leytonstone threw up a barricade

opposite the schools in the High Road, while in Wanstead a

hastily-constructed, but perfectly useless, obstruction was piled across

Cambridge Park, where it joins the Blake Road.

Of course, all the women and children in the northern suburbs had now

been sent south. Half the houses in those quiet, newly-built roads were

locked up, and their owners gone; for as soon as the report spread of

the result of the final battle before London, and our crushing defeat,

people living in Highgate, Hampstead, Crouch End, Hornsey, Tottenham,

Finsbury Park, Muswell Hill, Hendon, and Hampstead saw that they must

fly southward, now the Germans were upon them.

Think what it meant to those suburban families of City men! The ruthless

destruction of their pretty, long-cherished homes, flight into the

turbulent, noisy, distracted, hungry city, and the loss of everything

they possessed. In most cases the husband was already bearing his part

in the defence of the Metropolis with gun or with spade, or helping to

move heavy masses of material for the construction of the barricades.

The wife, however, was compelled to take a last look at all those

possessions that she had so fondly called "home," lock her front door,

and, with her children, join in those long mournful processions moving

ever southward into London, tramping on and on--whither she knew not

where.

Touching sights were to be seen everywhere in the streets that day.

Homeless women, many of them with two or three little ones, were

wandering through the less frequented streets, avoiding the main roads

with all their crush, excitement, and barricade-building, but making

their way westward, beyond Kensington and Hammersmith, which was now

become the outlet of the Metropolis.

All trains from Charing Cross, Waterloo, London Bridge, Victoria, and

Paddington had for the past three days been crowded to excess. Anxious

fathers struggled fiercely to obtain places for their wives, mothers,

and daughters--sending them away anywhere out of the city which must in

a few hours be crushed beneath the iron heel.

The South Western and Great Western systems carried thousands upon

thousands of the wealthier away to Devonshire and Cornwall--as far as

possible from the theatre of war; the South Eastern and Chatham took

people into the already crowded Kentish towns and villages, and the

Brighton line carried others into rural Sussex. London overflowed

southward and westward until every village and every town within fifty

miles was so full that beds were at a premium, and in various places,

notably at Chartham, near Canterbury, at Willesborough, near Ashford, at

Lewes, at Robertsbridge, at Goodwood Park, and at Horsham, huge camps

were formed, shelter being afforded by poles and rick cloths. Every

house, every barn, every school, indeed every place where people could

obtain shelter for the night, was crowded to excess, mostly by women and

children sent south, away from the horrors that it was known must come.

Central London grew more turbulent with each hour that passed. There

were all sorts of wild rumours, but, fortunately, the Press still

preserved a dignified calm. The Cabinet were holding a meeting at

Bristol, whither the Houses of Commons and Lords had moved, and all

depended upon its issue. It was said that Ministers were divided in

their opinions whether we should sue for an ignominious peace, or

whether the conflict should be continued to the bitter end.

Disaster had followed disaster, and iron-throated orators in Hyde and

St. James's Parks were now shouting "Stop the war! Stop the war!" The

cry was taken up but faintly, however, for the blood of Londoners, slow

to rise, had now been stirred by seeing their country slowly yet

completely crushed by Germany. All the patriotism latent within them was

now displayed. The national flag was shown everywhere, and at every

point one heard "God save the King" sung lustily.

Two gunmakers' shops in the Strand, which had hitherto escaped notice,

were shortly after noon broken open, and every available arm and all the

ammunition seized. One man, unable to obtain a revolver, snatched half a

dozen pairs of steel handcuffs, and cried with grim humour as he held

them up: "If I can't shoot any of the sausage-eaters, I can at least bag

a prisoner or two!"

The banks, the great jewellers, the diamond merchants, the safe-deposit

offices, and all who had valuables in their keeping, were extremely

anxious as to what might happen. Below those dark buildings in Lothbury

and Lombard Street, behind the black walls of the Bank of England, and

below every branch bank all over London, were millions in gold and

notes, the wealth of the greatest city the world has ever known. The

strong rooms were, for the most part, the strongest that modern

engineering could devise, some with various arrangements by which all

access was debarred by an inrush of water, but, alas! dynamite is a

great leveller, and it was felt that not a single strong room in the

whole of London could withstand an organised attack by German engineers.

A single charge of dynamite would certainly make a breach in concrete

upon which a thief might hammer and chip day and night for a month

without making much impression. Steel doors must give to blasting force,

while the strongest and most complicated locks would also fly to

pieces.

The directors of most of the banks had met and an endeavour had been

made to co-operate and form a corps of special guards for the principal

offices. In fact, a small armed corps was formed, and were on duty day

and night in Lothbury, Lombard Street, and the vicinity. Yet what could

they do if the Germans swept into London? There was but little to fear

from the excited populace themselves, because matters had assumed such a

crisis that money was of little use, as there was practically very

little to buy. But little food was reaching London from the open ports

on the west. It was the enemy that the banks feared, for they knew that

the Germans intended to enter and sack the Metropolis, just as they had

sacked the other towns that had refused to pay the indemnity demanded.

Small jewellers had, days ago, removed their stock from their windows

and carried it away in unsuspicious-looking bags to safe hiding in the

southern and western suburbs, where people for the most part hid their

valuable plate, jewellery, etc., beneath a floor-board, or buried them

in some marked spot in their small gardens.

The hospitals were already full of wounded from the various engagements

of the past week. The London, St. Thomas', Charing Cross, St. George's,

Guy's, and Bartholomew's were overflowing; and the surgeons, with

patriotic self-denial, were working day and night in an endeavour to

cope with the ever-arriving crowd of suffering humanity. The field

hospitals away to the northward were also reported full.

The exact whereabouts of the enemy was not known. They were, it seemed,

everywhere. They had practically over-run the whole country, and the

reports from the Midlands and the North showed that the majority of the

principal towns had now been occupied.

The latest reverses outside London, full and graphic details of which

were now being published hourly by the papers, had created an immense

sensation. Everywhere people were regretting that Lord Roberts' solemn

warnings in 1906 had been unheeded, for had we adopted his scheme for

universal service such dire catastrophe could never have occurred. Many

had, alas! declared it to be synonymous with conscription, which it

certainly was not, and by that foolish argument had prevented the public

at large from accepting it as the only means for our salvation as a

nation. The repeated warnings had been disregarded, and we had,

unhappily, lived in a fool's paradise, in the self-satisfied belief that

England could not be successfully invaded.

Now, alas! the country had realised the truth when too late.

That memorable day, September 20, witnessed exasperated struggles in the

northern suburbs of London, passionate and bloody collisions, an

infantry fire of the defenders overwhelming every attempted assault; and

a decisive action of the artillery, with regard to which arm the

superiority of the Germans, due to their perfect training, was apparent.

A last desperate stand had, it appears, been made by the defenders on

the high ridge north-west of New Barnet, from Southgate to near Potter's

Bar, where a terrible fight had taken place. But from the very first it

was utterly hopeless. The British had fought valiantly in defence of

London, but here again they were outnumbered, and after one of the most

desperate conflicts in the whole campaign--in which our losses were

terrible--the Germans at length had succeeded in entering Chipping

Barnet. It was a difficult movement, and a fierce contest, rendered the

more terrible by the burning houses, ensued in the streets and away

across the low hills southward--a struggle full of vicissitudes and

alternating successes, until at last the fire of the defenders was

silenced, and hundreds of prisoners fell into the German hands.

Thus the last organised defence of London had been broken, and the

barricades alone remained.

The work of the German troops on the lines of communication in Essex had

for the past week been fraught with danger. Through want of cavalry the

British had been unable to make cavalry raids; but, on the other hand,

the difficulty was enhanced by the bands of sharpshooters--men of all

classes from London who possessed a gun and who could shoot. In one or

two of the London clubs the suggestion had first been mooted a couple of

days after the outbreak of hostilities, and it had been quickly taken up

by men who were in the habit of shooting game, but had not had a

military training.

Within three days about two thousand men had formed themselves into

bands to take part in the struggle and assist in the defence of London.

They were practically similar to the Francs-tireurs of the Franco-German

War, for they went forth in companies and waged a guerilla warfare,

partly before the front and at the flanks of the different armies, and

partly at the communications at the rear of the Germans. Their position

was one of constant peril in face of Von Kronhelm's proclamation, yet

the work they did was excellent, and only proved that if Lord Roberts'

scheme for universal training had been adopted the enemy would never

have reached the gates of London with success.

These brave adventurous spirits, together with "The Legion of

Frontiersmen," made their attacks by surprise from hiding-places or from

ambushes. Their adventures were constantly thrilling ones. Scattered all

over the theatre of war in Essex and Suffolk, and all along the German

lines of communication, the "Frontiersmen" rarely ventured on an open

conflict, and frequently changed scene and point of attack. Within one

week their numbers rose to over 8,000, and, being well served by the

villagers, who acted as scouts and spies for them, the Germans found

them very difficult to get at. Usually they kept their arms concealed in

thickets and woods, where they would lie in wait for the Germans. They

never came to close quarters, but fired at a distance. Many a smart

Uhlan fell by their bullets, and many a sentry dropped, shot by an

unknown hand.

Thus they harassed the enemy everywhere. At need they concealed their

arms and assumed the appearance of inoffensive non-combatants. But when

caught red-handed the Germans gave them "short shrift," as the bodies

now swinging from telegraph poles on various high-roads in Essex

testified.

In an attempt to put a stop to the daring actions of the "Frontiersmen,"

the German authorities and troops along the lines of communication

punished the parishes where German soldiers were shot, or where the

destruction of railways and telegraphs had occurred, by levying money

contributions, or by burning the villages.

The guerilla war was especially fierce along from Edgware up to

Hertford, and from Chelmsford down to the Thames. In fact, once

commenced, it never ceased. Attacks were always being made upon small

patrols, travelling detachments, mails of the field post-office, posts

or patrols at stations on the lines of communication, while

field-telegraphs, telephones, and railways were everywhere destroyed.

In consequence of the railway being cut at Pitsea, the villages of

Pitsea, Bowers Gifford, and Vange had been burned. Because a German

patrol had been attacked and destroyed near Orsett, the parish was

compelled to pay a heavy indemnity. Upminster, near Romford, Theydon

Bois, and Fyfield, near High Ongar, had all been burned by the Germans

for the same reason; while at the Cherrytree Inn, near Rainham, five

"Frontiersmen" being discovered by Uhlans in a hayloft asleep, were

locked in and there burned alive. Dozens were, of course, shot at sight,

and dozens more hanged without trial. But they were not to be deterred.

They were fighting in defence of London, and around the northern suburbs

the patriotic members of the "Legion" were specially active, though they

never showed themselves in large bands.

Within London every man who could shoot game was now anxious to join in

the fray, and on the day that the news of the last disaster reached the

Metropolis, hundreds left for the open country out beyond Hendon.

The enemy having broken down the defence at Enfield and cleared the

defenders out of the fortified houses, had advanced and occupied the

northern ridges of London in a line stretching roughly from Pole Hill, a

little to the north of Chingford, across Upper Edmonton, through

Tottenham, Hornsey, Highgate, Hampstead, and Willesden, to Twyford

Abbey. All the positions had been well reconnoitred, for at grey of dawn

the rumbling of artillery had been heard in the streets of those places

already mentioned, and soon after sunrise strong batteries were

established upon all the available points commanding London.

These were at Chingford Green, on the left-hand side of the road

opposite the inn at Chingford; on Devonshire Hill, Tottenham; on the

hill at Wood Green; in the grounds of the Alexandra Palace; on the high

ground about Churchyard Bottom Wood; on the edge of Bishop's Wood,

Highgate; on Parliament Hill, at a spot close to the Oaks on the Hendon

road; at Dollis Hill, and at a point a little north of Wormwood Scrubs,

and at Neasden, near the railway works.

The enemy's chief object was to establish their artillery as near London

as possible, for it was known that the range of their guns even from

Hampstead--the highest point, 441 feet above London--would not reach

into the actual city itself. Meanwhile, at dawn, the German cavalry,

infantry, motor-infantry, and armoured motor-cars--the latter mostly

35-40 h.p. Opel-Darracqs, with three quick-firing guns mounted in each,

and bearing the Imperial German arms in black--advanced up the various

roads leading into London from the north, being met, of course, with a

desperate resistance at the barricades.

[Illustration: THE BOMBARDMENT and DEFENCES of

LONDON

on Sept. 20^{th} & 21^{st}]

On Haverstock Hill, the three Maxims, mounted upon the huge construction

across the road, played havoc with the Germans, who were at once

compelled to fall back, leaving piles of dead and dying in the roadway,

for the terrible hail of lead poured out upon the invaders could not be

withstood. Two of the German armoured motor-cars were presently brought

into action by the Germans, who replied with a rapid fire, this being

continued for a full quarter of an hour without result on either side.

Then the Germans, finding the defence too strong, again retired into

Hampstead, amid the ringing cheers of the valiant men holding that gate

of London. The losses of the enemy had been serious, for the whole

roadway was now strewn with dead; while behind the huge wall of

paving-stones, overturned carts, and furniture, only two men had been

killed and one wounded.

Across in the Finchley Road a struggle equally as fierce was in

progress; but a detachment of the enemy, evidently led by some German

who had knowledge of the intricate side-roads, suddenly appeared in the

rear of the barricade, and a fierce and bloody hand-to-hand conflict

ensued. The defenders, however, stood their ground, and with the aid of

some petrol bombs which they held in readiness, they destroyed the

venturesome detachment almost to a man, though a number of houses in the

vicinity were set on fire, causing a huge conflagration.

In Highgate Road the attack was a desperate one, the enraged Londoners

fighting valiantly, the men with arms being assisted by the populace

themselves. Here again deadly petrol bombs had been distributed, and men

and women hurled them against the Germans. Petrol was actually poured

from windows upon the heads of the enemy, and tow soaked in paraffin and

lit flung in among them, when in an instant whole areas of the streets

were ablaze, and the soldiers of the Fatherland perished in the roaring

flames.

Every device to drive back the invader was tried. Though thousands upon

thousands had left the northern suburbs, many thousands still remained

bent on defending their homes as long as they had breath. The crackle of

rifles was incessant, and ever and anon the dull roar of a heavy field

gun and the sharp rattle of a Maxim mingled with the cheers, yells, and

shrieks of victors and vanquished.

The scene on every side was awful. Men were fighting for their lives in

desperation.

Around the barricade in Holloway Road the street ran with blood; while

in Kingsland, in Clapton, in West Ham, and Canning Town the enemy were

making an equally desperate attack, and were being repulsed everywhere.

London's enraged millions, the Germans were well aware, constituted a

grave danger. Any detachments who carried a barricade by assault--as,

for instance, they did one in the Hornsey Road near the station--were

quickly set upon by the angry mob and simply wiped out of existence.

Until nearly noon desperate conflicts at the barricades continued. The

defence was even more effectual than was expected; yet, had it not been

that Von Kronhelm, the German generalissimo, had given orders that the

troops were not to attempt to advance into London before the populace

were cowed, there was no doubt that each barricade could have been taken

in the rear by companies avoiding the main roads and proceeding by the

side streets.

Just before noon, however, it was apparent to Von Kronhelm that to storm

the barricades would entail enormous losses, so strong were they. The

men holding them had now been reinforced in many cases by regular

troops, who had come in in flight, and a good many guns were now manned

by artillerymen.

Von Kronhelm had established his headquarters at Jack Straw's Castle,

from which he could survey the giant city through his field-glasses.

Below lay the great plain of roofs, spires, and domes, stretching away

into the grey mystic distance, where afar rose the twin towers and

double arches of the Crystal Palace roof.

London--the great London--the capital of the world--lay at his mercy at

his feet.

The tall, thin-faced General, with the grizzled moustache and the

glittering cross at his throat, standing apart from his staff, gazed

away in silence and in thought. It was his first sight of London, and

its gigantic proportions amazed even him. Again he swept the horizon

with his glass, and knit his grey brows. He remembered the parting words

of his Emperor as he backed out of that plainly-furnished little private

cabinet at Potsdam--

"You must bombard London and sack it. The pride of those English must be

broken at all costs. Go, Kronhelm--go--and may the best of fortune go

with you!"

The sun was at the noon causing the glass roof of the distant Crystal

Palace to gleam. Far down in the grey haze stood Big Ben, the Campanile,

and a thousand church spires, all tiny and, from that distance,

insignificant. From where he stood the sound of crackling fire at the

barricades reached him, and a little behind him a member of his staff

was kneeling on the grass with his ear bent to the field telephone.

Reports were coming in fast of the desperate resistance in the streets,

and these were duly handed to him.

He glanced at them, gave a final look at the outstretched city that was

the metropolis of the world, and then gave rapid orders for the

withdrawal of the troops from the assault of the barricades, and the

bombardment of London.