FALL OF BIRMINGHAM.
The battle outside Birmingham was long, fierce, and furious. No more
desperately contested engagement had ever occurred in the history of the
British Empire. From the very first moment of the fight it was apparent
that the struggle would be a fearful one, both sides possessing
advantages; the British by reason of the magnificent defensive positions
they occupied, and the Russians by reason of their overwhelming numbers.
Against a defending force of 50,000 of all arms, 150,000 invaders--the
majority of whom were Russians--were now fighting, and the combat was
necessarily long and deadly. British Volunteers were conspicuous
everywhere by their bravery; the Canadians rendered most valuable
assistance, firing from time to time with excellent precision, and
holding their position with splendid courage; while the Irish Brigade,
who had moved rapidly from King's Cliffe by train and road, and had
arrived in time, now held their own in a position close to Kingsheath
House.
Many of the principal buildings in Birmingham had during the past day or
two been converted into hospitals, amongst others the Post Office, where
the trained nurses received very valuable assistance from the female
clerks. A train full of British wounded was captured early in the
evening at Barnt Green. It contained regular troops and civilians from
the Stratford force which had fallen back to Alcester, and the train
had been sent on from there in the hope that it would get through before
the enemy were able to cut the line. This, however, was not
accomplished, for the Russians inhumanely turned out the wounded and
filled the train with their own troops and ammunition. Then, under the
guidance of a Birmingham railway man of French nationality who had been
acting as spy, the train proceeded to New Street Station. It was
impossible for the officials at the station to cope with the enemy, for
they had only expected their own wounded, or they would, of course, have
wrecked the train by altering the points before it arrived in the
station. The Russians therefore detrained, and, led by their spy, made a
dash along the subway leading to the lifts ascending to the Post Office.
These were secured, and the Office was soon captured by the Russians,
who not only thereby obtained a footing in the very centre of the town
from which there was not much chance of dislodging them before
Birmingham fell, but they had also obtained possession of the most
important telegraph centre for the North and Midland districts of
England.
Before the first flush of dawn the whole of the country from Kings
Norton right across to Solihull was one huge battlefield, and when the
sun rose, bright and glorious, its rays were obscured by the clouds of
smoke which hung like a funeral pall over hill and dale. For a long
period the principal Russian battery on the Stratford Road was short of
ammunition, and, seeing this, the strong British battery at Northfield
moved quickly up into a commanding position at Drake's Cross, not,
however, before it had been considerably weakened by the Russian fire
from Bromsgrove Lickey. During this time, however, detachments of
Canadian marksmen had been detailed with no other purpose than to sweep
the Russian road at the exposed points of its course, and to fire at
everything and everybody exposed on the ridge. This was most effective,
and for quite half an hour prevented any supply of ammunition reaching
the enemy, thus giving the British battery an opportunity to establish
itself. At length, however, both batteries of defenders opened fire
simultaneously upon the Russian guns, and so thickly fell the shots,
that although ammunition had by this time been brought up, the enemy's
power in that quarter was completely broken.
From that time the fierce struggle was confined to cavalry and infantry.
Troops of Cossacks, sweeping up the banks of the Arrow, encountered
British Hussars and cut into them with frightful effect. The defenders,
fighting hard as the day wore on, hindered the enemy from gaining any
material advantage, though the latter forced the outer line of the
British shelter trenches on the slopes below the position of King's
Norton. The Canadians had laid mines in front of their trenches, which
were exploded just as the head of the Russian assaulting parties were
massed above them, and large numbers of the Tsar's infantry were blown
into atoms.
Bullets were singing along the valleys like swarms of angry wasps, and
the Russian losses in every direction were enormous.
Hour after hour the fighting continued. The British held good positions,
with an inner line of defence across from Selly Oak, Harborne, and
Edgbaston, to the high crest on the Hagley Road, close to the Fountain,
while the Russians swarmed over the country in overwhelming numbers. The
frightful losses the latter were sustaining by reason of the defenders'
artillery fire did not, however, disconcert them. But for the huge right
column of invaders advancing on Birmingham by way of Acock's Green, it
seemed an even match, yet as afternoon passed the firing in the valley
swelled in volume, and the mad clamour of battle still surged up into
the blue cloudless heavens.
The enemy could see on the sky-line the British reinforcements as they
came up from Halesowen by the road close to their battery on the bare
spot near the edge of their right flank, and it was decided at four
o'clock to deliver a counter flank attack on the left edge of the
British position, simultaneously with a renewed strenuous assault by the
tirailleurs from below. Soon this desperate manoeuvre was commenced, and
although the marching ground was good, the British guns swept them with
their terrible fire, and hundreds of the Tsar's soldiers dyed the
meadows with their blood.
It was a fierce, mad dash. The British attacked vigorously on every
side, fought bravely, straining every nerve to repulse their foe.
The battle had been the most fiercely contested of any during the
struggle, and in this desperate assault on King's Norton the Russians
had suffered appalling losses. The valleys and slopes were strewn with
dead and dying, and a bullet had struck the British commander, mortally
wounding him. As he was borne away to the ambulance waggon, the last
words on that noble soldier's lips were a fervent wish for good fortune
to the arms of the Queen he had served so well.
But the British were, alas! outnumbered, and at last retreating in
disorder, were followed over the hills to Halesowen and utterly routed,
while the main body of the enemy marching up the Bristol and Pershore
Roads, extended their left across to Harborne and Edgbaston. Meanwhile,
however, the guns placed on the edge of the city along the Hagley Road
near the Fountain, and in Beech Lane close to the Talbot Inn, as well as
the Volunteer batteries near St. Augustine's Church and Westfield Road,
opened fire upon the advancing legions. The two lower roads taken by the
enemy were well commanded by the British guns, and the Volunteers, with
the Canadians and Irish, again rendered most valuable assistance,
everywhere displaying cool and conspicuous courage. The walls of the new
villas along the Hagley Road, Portland Road, and Beech Lane had been
placed in a state of hasty defence, and rifles bristled everywhere, but
as the sun sank behind the long range of purple hills the fight was in
the balance. The British, as they stood, could almost keep back the foe,
but, alas! not quite.
There was soon a concentric rush for the hill, and as the cannons
thundered and rifles rattled, hundreds of the grey-coats fell back and
rolled down the steep slope dead and dying, but the others pushed on in
face of the frowning defences, used their bayonets with desperate
energy, and a few minutes later loud shouts in Russian told that the
ridge had been cleared and the position won. The battle had been long
and terrible; the carnage awful!
The British, making a last desperate stand, fought a fierce hand-to-hand
struggle, but ere long half their number lay helpless in the newly-made
suburban roads, and the remainder were compelled to leave their guns in
possession of the enemy and fly north to Sandwell to save themselves.
Then, as they fled, the Russians turned the British guns near St.
Augustine's upon them, causing havoc in their rear.
The shattered left column of the enemy, having at length broken down the
British defences, raised loud victorious yells, and, after reorganising,
marched down the Hagley Road upon the city, fighting from house to house
the whole way. The gardens in front of these houses, however, aided the
defenders greatly in checking the advance.
The sacrifice of human life during those hours from daybreak to sundown
had been frightful. The whole country, from Great Packington to
Halesowen, was strewn with blood-smeared corpses.
Having regard to the fact that the defending force consisted of only
50,000 men against 100,000 Russians, the losses inflicted upon the
latter spoke volumes for British pluck and military skill. Upon the
field 10,000 Russians lay dead, 30,000 were wounded, and 2000 were
prisoners, while the defenders' total loss in killed and wounded only
amounted to 20,000.
Indeed, had it not been for the reinforcements, numbering 50,000, from
the right column, which were by this time coming up with all speed from
Acock's Green, the Russians, in their terribly jaded and demoralised
state, could not have marched upon the city. As it was, however, the
occupation commenced as night drew on; the fighting that followed being
principally done by the reinforcements.
Leaving no fewer than 42,000 men dead, wounded, and captured, the
invaders pushed on into Birmingham. Though the citizens' losses had
already been terrific, nevertheless they found that they were still
determined to hold out. In all the principal roads leading into the
city barricades had been formed, and behind them were bands of desperate
men, well equipped, and prepared to fight on to the bitter end.
The first of these in the Hagley Road had been constructed at the
junction of Monument Road, and as the skirmishers and advance guard
approached, offered a most desperate resistance. In addition to a
vigorous rifle fire that poured from the improvised defences, three
Maxims were brought into play from the roofs of large houses, and these,
commanding the whole road as far as its junction with Beech Lane,
literally mowed down the enemy as they approached. Time after time the
Russians rushed upon the defenders' position, only to be hurled back
again by the leaden hail, which fell so thickly that it was impossible
for any body of troops to withstand it. By this the invaders' advance
was temporarily checked, but it was not long before they established a
battery at the corner of Norfolk Road, and poured shell upon the
barricade with frightful effect. Quickly the guns were silenced, and the
Russians at last breaking down the barrier, engaged in a conflict at
close quarters with the defenders.
The road along to Five Ways was desperately contested. The slaughter on
both sides was awful, for a detachment of Russians coming up the
Harborne Road had been utterly annihilated and swept away by the rifle
fire of defenders concealed behind loopholed walls. At Five Ways the
entrance to each of the five broad converging thoroughfares had been
strongly barricaded, and as the enemy pressed forward the British
machine guns established there caused terrible havoc. Behind those
barricades men of Birmingham of every class, armed with all sorts of
guns, hastily obtained from Kynoch's and other factories, struggled for
the defence of their homes and loved ones, working with a dash and
energy that greatly disconcerted the enemy, who had imagined that, in
view of their victory in the battle, little resistance would be offered.
In the darkness that had now fallen the scenes in the streets were
frightful. The only light was the flash from gun-muzzles and the glare
of flames consuming private houses and public buildings. The civilian
defenders, reinforced by Regular soldiers, Militia, and Volunteers, had
made such excellent preparations for defence, and offered such strenuous
opposition, that almost every foot the Russians gained in the direction
of the centre of the city was fought for hand to hand. Both right and
left Russian columns were now advancing up the Coventry, Stratford,
Moseley, Pershore, and Bristol Roads, and in each of those thoroughfares
the barricades were strongly constructed, and, being armed with Maxims,
wrought frightful execution.
Gradually, however, one after another of these defences fell by reason
of the organised attacks by such superior numbers, and the Russians
marched on, killing with bayonet and sword.
In the city, as the night passed, the fighting in the streets everywhere
was of the fiercest and most sanguinary description. In Corporation
Street a huge barricade with machine guns had been constructed opposite
the Victoria Law Courts, and, assisted by 200 Volunteers, who, inside
the latter building, fired from the windows, the enemy were held in
check for several hours.
Time after time shells fell from the Russian guns in the midst of the
defenders, and, bursting, decimated them in a horrible manner; yet
through the long close night there was never a lack of brave men to step
into the breach and take up the arms of their dead comrades. Indeed, it
was only when the enemy succeeded in setting fire to the Courts, and
compelling the defenders to cease their vigorous rifle fire from the
windows, that the position was won; and not until hundreds of Russians
lay dead or dying in the street.
In New Street the Irish Volunteers distinguished themselves
conspicuously. After the retreat they had been withdrawn with the
Canadians into the city, and, waiting in the side thoroughfares at the
opposite end of New Street, held themselves in readiness. Suddenly, as
the enemy rushed along in their direction, an order was given, and they
formed up, and stretching across the street, met them with volley after
volley of steady firing; then, rushing onward with fixed bayonets,
charged almost before the Russians were aware of their presence.
Without a thought of his own personal safety, every Irishman cast
himself into the thick of the fray, and, backed by a strong body of
Canadians and fusiliers, they succeeded in cutting their way completely
into the invaders, and driving them back into Corporation Street, where
they were forced right under the fire of four Maxims that had just at
that moment been brought into position outside the Exchange.
Suddenly these guns rattled out simultaneously, and the Russians, unable
to advance, and standing at the head of the long broad thoroughfare,
were swept down with awful swiftness and with scarcely any resistance.
So sudden had been their fate, that of a force over two thousand strong,
not more than a dozen escaped, although the defenders were taken in rear
by the force of 500 Russians who had occupied the Post Office on the
previous night.
From Corporation Street a brilliant, ruddy glow suffused the sky, as
both the Law Courts and the Grand Theatre were in flames, while St.
Mary's Church and the Market Hall had also been fired by incendiaries.
In the panic and confusion, conflagrations were breaking out everywhere,
flames bursting forth from several fine shops in New Street which had
already been sacked and wrecked. Maddened by their success, by the
thirst for the blood of their enemies, and the rash deeds of
incendiaries, the Muscovite legions spread over the whole city, and
outrage and murder were common everywhere.
Away up Great Hampton Street and Hockley Hill the jewellery factories
were looted, and hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of gems and gold
were carried off, while the Mint was entered, afterwards being burned
because only copper coins were found there, and the pictures in the Art
Gallery were wantonly slashed by sabres and bayonets.
The scenes on that memorable night were awful. Birmingham, one of the
most wealthy cities in the kingdom, fell at last, after a most stubborn
resistance, for just before day broke the overwhelming forces of Russia
occupying the streets commenced to drive out the defenders, and shoot
down those who turned to resist. From Bordesley to Handsworth, and from
Smethwick to Aston, the city was in the hands of the enemy. The banks in
New Street were broken open, and the gold stuffed into the pockets of
the uncouth dwellers on the Don and the Volga, Chamberlain's Memorial
was wrecked, and Queen's College occupied by infantry. Cossack officers
established themselves in the Grand and Queen's Hotels, and their men
were billeted at the Midland, Union, Conservative, and other Clubs, and
at many minor hotels and buildings.
Before the dawn had spread, whole rows of shops were burning, their
brilliant glare illuminating the streets that ran with blood. It was a
fearful scene of death and desolation.
The majority of the citizens had fled, leaving everything in the hands
of the enemy, who still continued their work of pillage. In the streets
the bodies of 10,000 Russians and 3000 British lay unheeded, while no
fewer than 9000 of the enemy's infantry had been wounded.
The headquarters of the Russian army had at last been established in a
British city, for over the great Council House there now lazily flapped
in the fresh morning breeze the great yellow-and-black flag of the Tsar
Alexander.
And the Russian General, finding he had lost the enormous force of
61,000 men, spent the grey hours of dawn in nervous anxiousness, pacing
the room in which he had installed himself, contemplating the frightful
disaster, and undecided how next to act.
An incident illustrative of the fierceness of the fight outside the city
was published in the _Times_ several days later. It was an extract from
a private letter written by Lieut. J. G. Morris of the 3rd Battalion of
the York and Lancaster Regiment, and was as follows:--
"The sun that day was blazing and merciless. Throughout the morning our
battalion had lost heavily in the valley, when suddenly at about twelve
o'clock the enemy apparently received reinforcements, and we were then
driven back upon Weatheroak by sheer force of numbers, and afterwards
again fell further back towards our position on the high ground in
Hagley Road.
[Illustration: BIRMINGHAM OCCUPIED BY THE RUSSIANS.]
"In this hasty retreat I found myself with a sergeant and eighteen men
pursued by a large skirmishing party of Russians. All we could do was to
fly before them. This we did, until at length, turning into Beech Lane,
we found ourselves before a small, low-built ancient hostelry, the
King's Head Inn, with a dilapidated and somewhat crude counterfeit
presentment of King George II. outside. The place was unoccupied, and I
decided immediately to enter it. I could count on every one of my men;
therefore very soon we were inside, and had barricaded the little place.
Scarcely had we accomplished this when the first shots rang out, and in
a few moments the space outside where the cross-roads meet literally
swarmed with Russians, who quickly extended, and, seeking cover at the
junction of each of the five roads, commenced a terrific fusillade. The
windows from which we fired were smashed, the woodwork splintered
everywhere, and so thickly came the bullets that my men had to exercise
the utmost caution in concealing themselves while firing.
"In a quarter of an hour one man had been struck and lay dead by my
side, while at the same time the terrible truth suddenly dawned upon me
that our ammunition could not last out. Regulating the firing, I rushed
to one of the back windows that commanded the valley down to Harborne,
and saw advancing along the road in our direction, and raising a cloud
of dust, about a thousand Russian cavalry and infantry.
"Back again to the front room I dashed, just in time to witness the
enemy make a wild rush towards us. Our slackened fire had deceived them,
and as the storming party dashed forward, they were met by vigorous
volleys from our magazine rifles, which knocked over dozens, and
compelled the remainder to again retire.
"Again the enemy made a desperate onslaught, and again we succeeded in
hurling them back, and stretching dead a dozen or more. Meanwhile the
great force of Russians was moving slowly up the hill, and I knew that
to hold the place much longer would be impossible. From the rear of the
building a vigorous attack had now commenced, and moving more men round
to the rear, so that our fire would command the sloping approach to the
house, I gave an order to fire steadily. A moment later my sergeant and
two other men had been severely wounded, and although the former had had
his arm broken, and was near fainting from loss of blood, nevertheless
he kept up, resting his rifle-barrel upon the shattered window-ledge,
and pouring out the deadly contents of his magazine.
"A few minutes afterwards a bullet shattered my left hand, and the man
who crouched next to me under the window was a second later shot through
the heart, and fell back dead among the disordered furniture.
"Still not a man hesitated, not a word of despair was uttered. We all
knew that death stared us in the face, and that to face it bravely was a
Briton's duty. Only once I shouted above the din: 'Do your best, boys!
Remember we we are all Britons, and those vermin outside have wrecked
our homes and killed those we love. Let's have our revenge, even if we
die for it!'
"'We'll stick to 'em till the very last, sir, never fear,' cheerily
replied one young fellow as he reloaded his gun; but alas! ere he could
raise it to fire, a bullet struck him in the throat. He staggered back,
and a few moments later was a corpse.
"Undaunted, however, my men determined to sell their lives as dearly as
possible, and continued their fire, time after time repelling the
attack, and sweeping away the grey-coats as they emerged from behind the
low walls.
"Three more men had fallen in as many seconds, and another, staggering
back against the wall, held his hand to his breast, where he had
received a terrible and mortal wound. Our situation at that moment was
most critical. Only two rounds remained to each of my nine brave
fellows, yet not a man wavered.
"Looking, I saw in the fading twilight the dark masses of the enemy
moving up the steep road, and at that moment a round was fired with
effect upon those who had surrounded us. One more round only remained.
Then we meant to die fighting. Blinding smoke suddenly filled the
half-wrecked room, and we knew that the enemy had succeeded in setting
fire to the taproom underneath!
"I stepped forward, and shouted for the last time the order to my brave
comrades to fire. Nine rifles rang out simultaneously; but I had, I
suppose, showed myself imprudently, for at the same second I felt a
sharp twinge in the shoulder, and knew that I had been struck. The rest
was all a blank.
"When I regained my senses I found myself lying in Sandwell Hall, with
doctors bandaging my wounds, and then I learned that we had been rescued
just in time, and that my nine comrades had all escaped the fate they
had faced with dogged disregard for their own safety, and such noble
devotion to their Queen."
It was a black day for Britain. During the long hours of that fierce,
mad struggle many Victoria Crosses were earned, but the majority of
those who performed deeds worthy of such decoration, alas! fell to the
earth, dead.