1914: THE LAST STAND OF THE THIN RED LINE 127
and captured their machine gun and many loads of ammunition. On 27
December when on patrol duty with a few men, Lieutenant Butler swam
the Ekam River, which was held by the enemy, alone and in the face
of brisk fire. He completed his reconnaissance on the further bank and
returned to safety.^71
It compares nicely, if verbosely, to that of Samuel McGaw, gained in the
Ashanti War:
On 21 January 1874 at the Battle of Amoaful, West Africa, Lance-Sergeant
McGaw led his section through the bush in a most excellent manner and
continued to do so throughout the day, although badly wounded in the
engagement.^72
This style continued into 1915 as the war spread to new environments
and theaters of operation. The fringes of empire still had room for exploits
impossible in northwestern Europe. Some manifestly carried the echoes of
the White Man’s Burden:
On 3 September 1915, near Maktau, East Africa, during a mounted
infantry engagement, the enemy were so close that it was impossible to
get the more severely wounded away. Lieutenant [Wilbur Taylor] Dart-
nell, who was himself being carried away wounded in the leg, seeing
the situation, and knowing that the enemy’s black troops murdered the
wounded, insisted on being left behind, in the hope of being able to save
the lives of other wounded men. He gave his own life in a gallant attempt
to save others.^73
Some directly echoed the Crimean War, particularly a pair coming out
of the Mesopotamian campaign of 1915. Although the plan came from
London, the troops came from the Indian Establishment, which had been
thus far untouched by the momentous changes occurring on the Western
Front.^74 The heroic paradigm they brought with them was straight out of
the nineteenth century:
On 28 September 1915 during the advance on Kut-el-Amara, Mesopot-
amia, HMSComet, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Cookson, and
other armed vessels, were ordered, if possible, to destroy an obstruc-
tion which had been placed across the river by the Turks. When they
approached, very heavy rifle and machine-gun fire was open on them,
lily
(lily)
#1