1 86 Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



wounded, but not badly, and could have walked back, only he 

 was embedded in a shell-hole, and they had the greatest difficulty 

 in getting him out." 



The account of this " little affair as things go nowadays " 

 was given by that gifted writer, Mr. Philip Gibbs, in the Daily 

 Telegraph soon after the occurrence, and is worth quoting, 

 giving, as it does, a clear idea of what a " little affair " means. 

 It explains fully why Mr. Inglis, the Padre, could not collect 

 his thoughts to write letters while his boys were in the throes of 

 battle. 



GALLANT SHROPSHIRES 



By Philip Gibbs 



" The King's Shropshire Light Infantry have the names of 

 many great battles on their colours, as those of Nieuport and 

 Salamanca, and the Shropshire lads, country born and bred, who 

 h.ave followed the plough down the big brown furrows of our 

 great English soil have fought on many fields of Europe before 

 tliis war. The old stock has not weakened. A few days ago, 

 on the night of April 21st, they proved themselves again to have 

 very stout hearts and steady nerves, not afraid of obstacles 

 which would have spoilt the fighting spirit of men less brave. 



" It was not a great action in which they were engaged, 

 nothing more than the retaking of a captured trench, and in 

 this war such incidents will hardly find a record. But the 

 marvel of it was first the courage of the men, a courage that 

 made them stick to a job almost hopeless in its difficulties and 

 carry it through to success by sheer will-power. Imagine what 

 it was like to assault that position which had been taken from 

 us by the enemy on April 19th along the Ypres-Langemarck 

 road. When the Shropshires left their own trenches in the night 

 there was a heavy downpour of rain and they had in front of 

 them a great quagmire, through which they would have to wade 

 in order to reach the enemy's wire. 



" The ground had been churned up by shell-fire. High 

 explosives had dug out craters everywhere, very deep and filled 

 with mud and water. Old communication trenches had been 

 smashed up and become a welter of earth with rain-filled gullies. 



