Volume 2: Letters written on active service, M-W, 1914-1919 - Page 19
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[Page 19]
& then on us.
We appeared to be particularly marked & sent back word that we would have to retire, especially as those on our left were falling back. There was a slight hollow back down where we had to go & they had the range to a yard. How we got back with very few losses I don't know. There were about seventy of us in a pocket at the end of this hollow. First we sent a sergeant back with 20 men then George took another batch & when they were all clear I came back with the rest.
Going for all I was worth one shell in front, another behind, another just to the right, smothered in sand I didn't know whether to duck or dodge. I suppose we were all the same. I ran straight ahead jumped the holes where the shells had just landed.
All this was taking place on the spurs of Mt Meredith our horses were behind. They came up the opposite side & got three more machine guns going from the very top.
Jumped on our horses & rode like mad, bullets flying everywhere & shrapnel bursting. Under cover of another ridge & then another gallop. Their artillery was first class & followed us all the way.
Poor McQuiggin from Rylstone one of the
[Lieutenant William McQiggin, a farmer of Rylstone NSW, joined the Army on 16 February 1915 and embarked from Sydney on HMAT A9 Shropshire on 17 March 1915 with the 1st Light Horse Brigade, 1st Light Horse Regiment, 3rd Reinforcements. He was killed in action in the Battle of Romani on 4 August 1916.]