Free Eyewitness by Garrie Hutchinson Page A

happening, and also obtain something to eat. By this time it was getting on towards midday, and I had not long to wait before several boys came back who told us the most terrible things imaginable. As others arrived we were able to form a fair notion of what had happened. When zero hour came, and the first wave went off, it had very soon overtaken the tanks, which were mostly floundering around close in front. Some of them even fired on our own men, but no-one knows precisely how many they killed. As it was fatal to hesitate and wait for the tanks, the line advanced alone. As soon as it came in sight of the Huns the massacre commenced, the enemy lining his parapet and shooting down our boys like rabbits. Lots of them reached the wire, but as it had not been cut, they had to run along it until they came to an opening. This turning to a flank caused them to bunch together; and they fell in heaps on the wire and in front of it. The wonder is that any of them reached the trench. But reach it they did, and took the enemy’s front-line.
    By this time the first and second waves were mixed up, and as the second wave had to take the second trench, it was a job to tell who was charged with this duty and who was not. Those who did attempt it were shot through the head as soon as they showed themselves. It was here that Captain Williamson was last seen. He got out of the first trench, and, with revolver in hand, was making for the second trench all by himself. Precisely how he met his death no-one knows. For a long while afterwards there were rumours that he had been taken prisoner, but those who knew him best knew that Lofty would rather die than be taken by the Huns. He used to say so himself. If he had a chance, I know that a few Huns must have breathed their last before they finished him. I have heard men say afterwards that he showed bad judgement in getting out the way he did, and that his place was to induce others to jump out first. I’m positive that Lofty did the only thing left for him to do. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, where a leader like Lofty goes, others will follow. He took a risk and it failed, but, no matter what he did, the result of the day could not have been different.
    Captains Fred Stanton and Bob Orr were both killed in much the same way, setting an example to their men. No matter what men like these did, they could not overcome the obstacles put in their way by General Gough and his staff. The tanks which were to make things so easy had all failed, but, on account of them, the artillery was not being used. Fighting through the communication trenches, our men reached and took the second trench, and after a while it developed into a bombfight up and down the trenches and communicating trenches. As noone could get back to the rear for supplies without being fired on at close range, it cut off all hope of help, and it was just a case of whose bombs could hold out the longest. The Hun could bring up all the bombs he wanted, and it was not long before this inequality began to tell. Our boys used up all they had, then used up all the Hun bombs they could find, and at last they were searching the dead to find them. Captain Murray, V.C., of the 13 th , was here, there and everywhere, and, when at last he saw no other way to escape capture, he gave the order: ‘Everyone for himself.’ There were lots who never heard it, and fought on until surrounded by Huns who came in on them from the rear and the sides. Those who tried to break away were killed like flies, and it was only the foxy ones, who used their heads, that succeeded. Numbers leapt out and lay in shell holes until darkness set in, but those who lay ‘doggo’ too close to the German lines were collected by Hun patrols and sent back to Germany. Of course there were no end of wounded, who were helpless; the dugouts were full of them. One man deserves mentioning – John Snugs. When it was ‘Everyone for himself’ he refused to go, and stayed with the