Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 465
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[Page 465]
had been partly covered with little heaps of manure ready for spreading & behind these heaps one two or three men took up positions so as to offer as small a target as possible to the Hun Machine guns.
During the height of this combat a private was noticed to be walking about in the most nonchallant manner, for the purpose of seeing that every man had a clear target without endangering the lives of any of their own men in front of them the field having a slight slope. The "firing" men looked up & laughingly said, By Jove Cobber! That is pretty cool work & so it was. It certainly "drew" the admiration of all who saw it. Actually offering his own life as a sacrifice just for the object of preventing possible casualties through zealous "errors". The man came through that danger without a scratch.
The whole work of taking the trench, clearing the village, & holding the wood did not take much more than an hour. It was fortunate the men had known what they had to do for by the time the work was over A Coy was not represented by a single Officer 4 had been hit during the charge & 2 had by some means got out of place. However it is never absolutely necessary for the officer to be present in any action, for if the men know what has to be done they do it at all costs whether the officer is present or not & so far as the individual man is concerned he never cares whether he is present or not. In the present instance after the charge had been given not a single officer appeared on the scene (belonging to A Coy) till four days after the action.
The men did the work of charging taking the trench clearing the village & holding the wood not knowing or caring whether an officer was present or not & none were seen excepting the "Casualty Cases" till the Battalion moved back to the tent billet at Ligny-Thilloy