



Produced by Chris Curnow, Barbara Kosker, Lindy Walsh and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME




WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME


BY


D. H. PARRY

_Author of "Gilbert the Outlaw"; "The Scarlet Scouts"; "The V.C.: Its
Heroes and their Valour," etc. etc._


WITH FOUR COLOUR PLATES BY

ARCHIBALD WEBB


CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD

London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne




First Published 1917 [Illustration: "The Commandant threw up his arms
and pitched backward; Dennis dropped his weapon and caught him as he
fell"]




  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER                                                    PAGE

   1. AN UNCENSORED LETTER READ ALOUD                           1

   2. OFF TO THE FRONT                                         14

   3. "AT TEN O'CLOCK SHARP!"                                  22

   4. HIS FIRST TIME UNDER FIRE                                33

   5. HOW DENNIS CAME IN FOR A TASTE OF DISPATCH RIDING        42

   6. A TERRIBLE ADVENTURE AT DAWN                             50

   7. A FRIEND IN NEED                                         60

   8. IN THE ENEMY TRENCHES                                    70

   9. IN THE SNIPER'S LAIR                                     78

  10. IN WHICH DENNIS MEETS CLAUDE LAVAL, PILOTE AVIATEUR      87

  11. A DARING DASH                                            97

  12. IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY                               107

  13. A MAD GAMBLE FOR LIBERTY                                116

  14. THE SING-SONG IN THE DUG-OUT                            128

  15. "REEDSHIRES!--GET OVER!"                                136

  16. THE SILENCING OF THE GUNS                               146

  17. THE EXPLOITS OF A COMPANY                               155

  18. WITH THE LEWIS GUN--AND AFTER                           163

  19. WHAT THEY LEARNED ON THE GERMAN TELEPHONE               173

  20. THE LAST RUNG OF A BROKEN LADDER                        183

  21. VON DUSSEL'S REVENGE                                    191

  22. THE ROW IN THE RESTAURANT                               200

  23. "GAS!"                                                  210

  24. THE CHATEAU AT THE TRENCH END                           219

  25. FROM KITE BALLOON TO SADDLE                             229

  26. UNDER THE GERMAN EAGLE                                  240

  27. ON THE PART DENNIS PLAYED IN THE RECAPTURE OF BIACHES   247

  28. THE EXCITING ADVENTURES OF "CARL HEFT"                  255

  29. AN OLD FRIEND--AND A BITTER ENEMY!                      265

  30. UNDER THE ENEMY WALL                                    275

  31. WITH DASHWOOD'S BRIGADE                                 284

  32. THE REWARDS OF VALOUR                                   295




  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  "THE COMMANDANT THREW UP HIS ARMS AND PITCHED             _Frontispiece_
  BACKWARD; DENNIS DROPPED HIS WEAPON, CAUGHT HIM
  AS HE FELL"

                                                                      PAGE

  "DENNIS FLUNG HIS BOMBS INTO THE SPACE AND
  TREMENDOUS EXPLOSIONS ENSUED"                                         96

  "BEFORE THE GERMANS REALISED WHAT WAS HAPPENING,
  THERE WAS AN UGLY BIT OF BAYONET WORK"                               150

  "NOTHING COULD CHECK THE VICTORIOUS RUSH"                            286




WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME




CHAPTER I

An Uncensored Letter Read Aloud


Private Harry Hawke, of the 2/12th Battalion Royal Reedshire Regiment
(T.F.), sat on the step of the fire trench, his back against the
parapet, busy with the bolt of his rifle.

There were two things he loved more than anything else in life, and that
rifle was one of them. The other was his platoon commander, Captain Bob
Dashwood, who chanced to be coming along the communication at the
moment, and the Cockney private's eyes lit up as he saw him.

"Hallo, Hawke! All quiet?" said Captain Dashwood with a jerk of his head
in the direction of the German lines, only one hundred and twenty yards
across the mangled strip of Dead Man's Land that intervened.

"Quiet as the bloomin' grave, sir," replied Harry Hawke with a grin,
though he had almost to shout to make himself heard.

A howitzer battery was shelling the enemy from the wood on the left, and
the Germans were replying with "crumps," which luckily all went wide.

"Seen anything more of that sniper that picked Marshall and Brown off
last night?" questioned the captain.

"Not likely, sir. I got 'im 'arf an hour after we took over the relief,"
grinned the marksman of A Company, pointing with an oily finger to a
fresh notch cut on the rifle stock. "He tumbled out of the willer tree
flat, same as if you chucked a