The Times of Tuesday contains a letter by a chaplain
of the forces (dated November 17th) describing an incident at the front which will warm the blood of all West-countrymen, and in a very special degree that of the men of Somerset :- "Attached to one of our divisions is a regiment of Yeomanry, the North Somerset; I saw them on Monday, and thought they were a fine lot of men, and so they proved to be : they are quite new to the game, but fought like veteran troops. One fine thing I heard of them : Some fresh German troops had come to attack; they were led by a big bearded officer, who came rushing up the hill waving his sword ; six of the Yeomen could not be restrained, but fixed their bayonets and leaped out of the trench, shouting they would show the Germans what Somerset boys could do ; they killed the officer and a number of Germans, but only one of the Yeomen returned. Fino fellows all of them. The regiment lost officers and men, but they have made a name for themselves and for their country for ever."
The " boys of Somerset" have clearly not lost that tradition of courage which they showed in the last battle fought on English soil—the battle of Sedgemoor. No doubt from the military point of view the six troopers behaved very ill, but
their countrymen will not condemn them for an action so gallant and so natural. One feels that the temptation to get to grips with the swaggering if gallant "bearded" giant and his men may well have been irresistible.
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