WORLD WAR ONE NORTHAMPTON INDEPENDENT SOLDIER NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
PTE. S. WESTON of the 1st Northants, Dec, 1914.
Pte. Sam Weston of the 1st Northants Regiment, who is now in hospital with frostbite writes,
“At a little village just outside Ypres we had to take a position the Germans had entrenched,
and were bringing big guns up to it. We waited till night, and crept to within a hundred yards of
them. They we heard a charge, and we were at them like the wind. Before they could realise
what the matter we were in their trenches playing at pig-sticking. Some of us chased those who
got away, and when we came back I lost my way. It is not safe to go near our trenches at night
as our fellows can’t tell the difference between out uniform and the enemy’s. So I looked round
for a night’s sleep. Happening to see a farm, I made for it, and was soon inside. Imagine how
I felt when I was woken by Germans. One of their patrols had got lost and had come for the same
thing as I had. They took my rifle and kit, and then had look in my pockets. I had some cigarettes
which they were soon smoking. They put a guard over me, and the rest of them were soon asleep.
But not for long. In company with the Queen’s our regiment made a big advance that night, and I
must say I was very pleased when a dozen of our chaps took the farmhouse and the Germans,
who did not show any fight at all. I relieved one of them of his cigarettes for mine. As he had
three times as many as I had lost, I was better off after all.”
