One night after a very hard day in the trenches, when we were wet to
the skin, we had lighted fires to dry our tunics, and were at it when
we heard firing along our front, and then the Germans came at us like
madmen. We had to tackle them in our shirt-sleeves. It was mainly
bayonet work, and hard work at that. They were well supported by
cavalry, who tried to ride us down in the dark, but we held our ground
until reinforcements came, and then we drove them off with a fine rush
of our cavalry and infantry. At one point there was a fine race between
our battalion and one of the Lancer regiments as to which should get at
the Germans first. We were handicapped a bit because we hadn’t horses,
but we won in the end, and charged right into the German hordes with
the bayonet. After that the Lancers came up, and there wasn’t much left
for anybody else when the Germans were done with: _Private A. Tims_.