Abergavenny Chronicle

I OUR, ALLIES. I I The Cavaliers, I I [BY V. C. C. COLLUM.] I I Just as the British light cruiser is the smartest naval vessel afloat, so is the French Cavalry the smartest of all the mounted troops in the world. The very name for a French horseman suggests the spirit of our Ally's mounted soldiers; he is no mere trooper—he is a cavalicr, a word that suggests all the picturesque romance of the days of King Charles. Like our own cavalry-men, the French cavaliers have had a dull time of it. since the first battle of the Marne until quite recently, for they were dismounted, half j a battalion at the time, and sent into the trenches to act as infantrv for spells of a fortnight, while the other halt of the battalion staved in the rear with the horses. At least once a year the whole battalion would be wit hdrawn, and brigaded with the regiment, and then the entire brigade would be sent to some manoeuvring ground far behind the lines, in order to undergo cavalry training with the division to which it really belonged, In this way the French, while making use ) of their mounted troops in the trenches, and holding always half of them in reserve, were also able to keep them and their horses fit, and in good training for the day when they should once more go int-o battle over open country as real cavaliers, armed with sword and lance. I happened to spend my three years in France in one such cavalry manceuvring- ground-a beautiful plain country, dotted over with, immense woods planted in Napoleonic days. Over this ground the Germans marched towards Paris in 1914, and into it they pushed their way once more this spring. We came to know a certain cavalry division quite well, especi- ally one regiment of dragoons that came back there again and again to be billeted in the villages around. They were a fine lot of men, with a gallant Colonel and splendid officers, and prided themselves on their horses; when they were fighting, dis- mounted, on our front, many of them came to our hospital wounded. They were decent men, whom the wives and mothers il the villages loved we ll, and did not. fear for their young sisters and daughters. From the Colonel downwards, they liked the English, and would do anything they could to please and help English folk. Once, when we all thought that the great offensive, that would take us to Berlin had begun—it was in the early spring of last year-I stood at our hospital gate and saw the whole division ride away, having received the unexpected orders to go north—towards the British front. We thought, and they hoped, that the chance of the cavaliers had come and that thev would ride at last, lance in hand, against the Boches. It was a grand sight. They rode four abreast, and it took the whole ] morning for them to pass. There was I something very knightly abcut those sturdy young figures in their horizon- blue coats, looped up on either side to a button on the hip, their beautifully shaped blue steel helmets, and their tall lances; and the coat of every horse shone in the sun- light. Each regiment had its machine- gun detachment, and its baggage waggons and ambulance. It seemed to me that each squadron must have possessed a dog, for I never saw such a number of pets going up to the front. There was one on every cart! When our own regiment of dragoons rode by, many were the salutes from the officers and the cheery farewells of the cavaliers who had been our patients, or our neighbours, and friends of our own wounded. As they disappeared down the road, into a wood, I realised the wonderful invisibility of the French blue, for the woods were blue in the distance, and the blue cavaliers seemed to melt into them. Since then they have fought bloodily and lost heavily, as dismounted reserves, in the Forest of Villers-Cotterets, and they have spent another long year in the trenches near Rheims. And now I read that the Cavalry of General Gouraud's Army I)iii-st!ctl the fleeing Germans into country that has been theirs since 1914. I can imagine how they charged, those dragoons and hussars and cuirassiers and chasseurs! This is how a French dragoon, a friend of mine, describes a charge: "Suddenly, above the noise of horses' hoofs, the one word Charge! repeated by four thousand voices. I shouted, too. It seemed as If a frenzy had taken us, a sacred fury, so that we no longer belonged to ourselves. Things rushed by—they may have been trees. From the noise of the horses' hoofs on hard ground I knew that we crossed a road I felt as though leaping into a precipice. Then the con- fused impression of an avalanche—it was a horse and its rider falling, disappearing under the flying hoofs of my own charger. Others fell; there was a shock, cries, the noise of steel on steel. Tightening rein, my eyes full of dust, my face bespattered with mud and stones, seeing nothing, dis- tinguishing nothing in this cloud of the cavaliers riding beside me, boot. to boot, I only knew that my horse, as though he had wings, leapt over a great. struggling, formless mass Well—nothing will stop them now! Well done, the French Cavaliers!

YOU MAY SMOKE. {British Official. One of our men givea a German prisoner a light at a field dressing station.

LOOKING FOR HOME. Wiitish Official I Australian soldiers help a French mother and child to took for their home I in a shelled town.

ON ST. MARK'S, VENICE. OUnDtU 01 the Italian Navy practising with an antl.alrcraft IUD. [Briiish Official. Ounntrs of the Italian Navy practising with an anti-aircraft gun.

A SHEAF OF WAR STORIES. I I Thrilling Incidents of the Fighting on Land, on Sea, and in the Air A Brave Chief Engineer,, j 'A Brave Chi6f Engineer. A steamer was making six knots against B strong breeze, and there was a choppy sea running. Suddenly the track of a torpedo was seen, and a few seconds after- I wards there was a crash as the torpedo struck and exploded amidships. So great was the concussion that several of the crew were momentarily stunned, some being thrown from their bunks and in- jured. The master realised that the ship was sinking rapidly, and it was a question ) whether lie would be able to abandon her I before she went down. It was at this moment that the chief engineer performed a deed on which, in all probability, the lives of the crew depended. He was not in the engine-room at the time, but by the st ead y thTO b of the engines he knew well that had not been 3hut oil. To lower the boats in a choppy s-ea while the ship had so much way en was an impossibility, for they would have been f?)r the ivoui T), 1 1 ,v capsized the moment they touched the water. Already the deck was almost awash, and through the great hole in the ship's side the sea was pouring, but the chief engineer, with splendid disregard of his own personal safety, rushed below and shut off the engines. It was not a moment too soon. As the snip lost way, the boats were lowered and, with the i exception -of one man who had lost his life, all the crew were able to get off. First the injured were passed down, and then the others took their places and pulled hurriedly away to avoid being sucked j under as the steamer t-ook her final plunge. From the time when she was torpedoed to the time when she disappeared was less than five minutes. As it was, with one exception, all the crew were saved; had it not been for the prompt and heroic action of the chief engineer, the tale would have been very different. Heroism on the Otranto." I When the British cruiser Otranto collided with the steamship "Kashmir," near the Irish coast, a magnificent piece of rescue work was carried, out by the Mounsey," a British torpedo-boat des- troyer. The destroyer was called to the spot by a wireless message, and, by skilful handling, it succeeded in taking oil some three hundred United States troops, more than two hundred of the crew, and some French sailors. This was a great achievement, and another wonderful ex- hibition of bravery was shown by the men on the Otranto." Mr. T. L. Campbell, an American Y.M.C.A. Secretary, has told a representative of the Times" some details of the collision. Lieutenant- Commander Simmons, of the Otranto,' he states, advised the men on the decks to remove all their heavy clothes and to prepare to jump. When the collision occurred, the men had proceeded imme- diately to their assigned, boat stations, and there was absolutely no panic or excitement. The men removed their boots, leggings, and overcoats, and put on lifebelts. The destroyer made four trips to the Otranto,' coming up alongside and sheering off again with the heavy seas. Each time a proportion of the men jumped. Engineer-Officer Cook, of the destroyer, called out each time to our men to choer them up, telling them to keep a stiff upper lip,' and assuring them that they would be taken oft. Unfortunately, oany who jumped, missed the destroyer, fell between the vessels, and were drowned of crushed." Mr. Campbell spoke in th* highest terms of tho heroism displayed by the oiffcers and crow of the British destroyer. "Words fail me," he said, adequately to describe their behaviour. It was beyond all nraise. The-, took the chances of almost certain death, and at the greatest peril to themselves a.nd their ship they saved scores of our men who Vvould otherwise have been drowned. The officers of the Otranto also displayed an absolute devotion to duty, and at no time was any confusion. The Devonshire Regiment. A finely written history of the Devon- shire Regiment was published in the Timss n a few days 2:20. It was from the pen of the ITon. John Fortescue, and contained a quotation from GDllBral Berthelot's Order of the Day, on August 20th last. This French general, com- manding the Fifth French Army, wrote as follo,vs :_u On May 27th, 1918, the 2nd battalion of the Devonshire- Regiment repelled successive enemy assaults with gallantry and determination, and main- tained an unbroken front till a late hour. The staunchness of this battalion per- mit t.ed defences to be organised and their occupation by reinforcements to be com- pleted. Inspired by the sangfroid cf their gallant commander, the few survivors, though isolated without hope of assistance, fought to the last with unhesitating obedience to orders. Thus the whole battalion, colonel, 28 ofifcers, and 552 non- commissioned officers and men, responded with one accord and offered their lives in ungrudging sacrifice to the sacred cause of the Allies." This is the tribute of a foréign general to an English battalion. Sir Douglas Haig republished it in General Orders, for the information of ah ranks. Ii Their opportunity," writes Mr. For- tescue, came at last, and th-ey seized i-, Every officer and every man was required to fall; and the Devons answered to this supreme appeal as to all others. There is a pride too high for words and a mourn- ing too deep for tears. The epitaph cf this battalion is written on the colours of the Devons: 'Semper Fidelis.' It is sufficient, for these men were faithful ind,oe,cl-faitliful to their King, faithful to their country, faithful to their regiment, faithful to themselves." This is our Job. According to the London correspondent of the "Western Morning News," a. British officer is telling a capital story illustrating the grand spirit of the troops. It appears that, while the Canadians were struggling forward under fearfully heavy fire from machine-guns, they were rein- forced by tanks, to their very great relief. On the approach of these tanks, however, a Canadian boy stepped out, held up hia hand like a policeman on point duty, and waved the tank back, shouting: Look here, Tank, you take cover! This is cur job, and don't you interfere with it! ) ♦ •

NEVER AGAIN. I was shipmates with a German in the days before the war. For years we were together, In fair or dirty weather. And I loved him like a brot her on the sea and on the shore. But if we met to-day I'd shake my head and sav, t. Leinster, Lusitania, Arabic, and Falaba, These and twenty others are between us on the sea. And wherever I'm a-sailing, from Mata- pan to Malabar, The foc'sle isn't big enough for you as well as me." He'd sing about his sweethearts till sailor's heart would melt, And his voice was just divine When he sang about the Rhine, But—once I saw him fighting, and he hil below the belt. He may sail upon the sea, But nevermore with me. Leinster, Lusitania, Arabic, and Falab&, Coffins for the women and the kiddies that they bore And wherever I'm a-sailing, from Comorin to Calabar, If the crew has any Germans they or I must go ashore. G. F. N.

"The British Grand Fleet is the foundation stone of the cause of the whole of the Allies." -ADMIRAL SIMS I (United States Navy). ?- -1.. i