"OUR LUCK WAS IN."
Reading edition
A thrilling incident in the wonderful retreat of the British from Mons is described by Sapper Wells of the Royal Engineers, who passes lightly over his own part in an extraordinary act of heroism.
"One of our officers asked for a man to go with him to blow up a bridge, so that the Germans could not follow us, and I went with him," says Wells.
"Well, to blow a bridge up we use guncotton and a wire fuse. It is safe enough if you take your wire well away, but this time it would not work. Our men in running back had stepped on the wire, so we had to go nearer to the bridge and try again. Even then it would not act, so the officer said to me, 'Get out of the way, Wells.' I said, 'No, I'll go with you.' We were the only two on the bridge and the Germans were shooting at us, but our luck was in. Well, we both lay down and I fired ten rounds at the guncotton with my rifle, and he did the same with a pistol, but it wouldn't work. If it had we should have gone with it, so you see what a shave we had. We made a dive back and got some more guncotton, and were making to have another go when an officer ordered us back, saying it was no use trying."