et fighting between khaki and
grey, and then the air was rent with yells of rage and hate, shrieks
of pain, and the low wailing sobbing of the Irish keen.

During the retirement a despatch-rider reached the Munsters. He had a
message for them to retire "at once." It was not timed, but it was
probably the last of the three orders sent from Headquarters, and was
therefore written hurriedly. It seems also to have been written many
hours before it was delivered, as the bearer said he had been
compelled to hide for a long time from the Germans. But it was too
late. The Munsters were encircled by a ring of fire. The enemy had
worked round to their rear and now barred the way to the village of
Etreux. Major Paul Charrier, described as a hearty, genial Kerryman,
was in command of the Munsters. Three times he gallantly led his men
in an attack upon the key of the German position, a large mansion that
was loopholed and turned into a fortress. He was twice wounded, yet he
continued to lead, and in the last assault he fell to rise no more
with a bullet in his head. Eight other officers were also dead. Six of
the survivors were disabled. Between four and five hundred of the rank
and file were killed or wounded. Ammunition was run out. Not another
cartridge was to be found by the men in the bandoliers of their dead
and dying comrades. It was then 9 p.m. The men listened for sounds of
approaching relief, but none was heard. There was nothing left for the
remnant of the battalion, reduced to four officers and 256
non-commissioned officers and men, but to surrender. Only 155 men got
out of the trap, and most of these belonged to the regimental
transport. It came out afterwards that the Munsters had been engaged
against seven battalions of German infantry, three batteries of
artillery, many cavalry, and many Maxim guns.

So impressed were the Germans by the bravery of those Irish lads that
they paid every respect to the living and the dead. Captain H.S.
Jervis, the senior surviving officer, in letters written to the
bereaved wives and mothers of his fellows, states that the next day
the Germans allowed him to send out a burial party of his own men.
"They found Paul Charrier lying as he had fallen, head towards the
enemy," he tells Mrs. Charrier. "The sergeant told me he looked as if
he were asleep. They buried him, with eight other officers of the
regiment, in a grave separate from the men." More than that, when the
Germans learnt that